Uhhh--- Arsenio Hall is...back???!

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

here

Well what do you think.

when his show was popular, it filled a niche and was funny and exciting enough to pass the muster.. but this is odd.

By the way I still liked him as Semi from Coming to America.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Oops.

Mods, can you move this to TV & Media?

 

[chardman]

Always enjoyed his show. Glad to see him making a comeback.

 

[shivkala]

I've been catching up on Penn's Sunday School through iTunes and Penn had him and Adam Carolla on as guests. To be honest, I'd only seen a few episodes of his talk show in the 90's and Coming to America, but other than that, I haven't given him much thought. The podcast was entertaining and Arsenio came off as a great person to know. I'd give a talk show with him a chance and hope it does well.

In a lot of ways, it seems his show was a spiritual predecessor of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, doing away with the tropes that had come to define late night talk shows. While Hall did not have a sidekick, but did have a band, Ferguson has a robotic sidekick, but no band, for example.

 

[Roshi]

I initially read "Arsenio Hall is black" and was going to answer "well, duh!"

 

[Kirby]

If they're going to revive an old talk show better Arsenio Hall than say Chevy Chase, Magic Johnson, or Alan Thicke. I say good for Arsenio if he can pull it off. I occasionally watched his show in college and it was fine for what it was, but truth be told I probably won't watch the new show only because I have better things to do and I'm not all that interested in talk shows these days. I'll occasionally watch Conan or Craig Ferguson but thats about it.

 

[Sysyphyx]

Arsenio is the first of seven seals. His return to television is a sign of the impending Apocalypse.

 

[RandyS]

If they're going to revive an old talk show better Arsenio Hall than say Chevy Chase, Magic Johnson, or Alan Thicke. I say good for Arsenio if he can pull it off. I occasionally watched his show in college and it was fine for what it was, but truth be told I probably won't watch the new show only because I have better things to do and I'm not all that interested in talk shows these days. I'll occasionally watch Conan or Craig Ferguson but thats about it.

When did Magic Johnson have a talk show?? I've NEVER heard THAT before. Of course, outside of the occasional Tonight Show, I never follow them. But I thought I'd heard of all of them, but this one is new to me.

 

[Forbin]

There was a fun little kung-fu cop show called Marshal Law, starring Sammo Hong (Jackie Chan's teacher) and Kelly Hu (!). Like Chan's movies, it blended martial arts with comedy, and was a LOT of fun, at least at the start. In it's short run, the producers never stopped screwing with the format and messing it up. After a while, they decided those stupid Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker films were brilliant, so they added Arsenio Hall as Sammo's partner.

Any fun the show was came to a crashing halt under Arsenio's terminal blandness and lack of talent.

I will never forgive him.

 

[the G-man]

If they're going to revive an old talk show better Arsenio Hall than say Chevy Chase, Magic Johnson, or Alan Thicke. I say good for Arsenio if he can pull it off. I occasionally watched his show in college and it was fine for what it was, but truth be told I probably won't watch the new show only because I have better things to do and I'm not all that interested in talk shows these days. I'll occasionally watch Conan or Craig Ferguson but thats about it.

When did Magic Johnson have a talk show?? I've NEVER heard THAT before.

The Magic Hour:

• 
  Soon after its debut, the series was panned by critics citing Johnson's apparent nervousness as a host, his overly complimentary tone with his celebrity guests, and lack of chemistry with his sidekick, comedian Craig Shoemaker. The series was quickly retooled with Shoemaker being relegated to the supporting cast which included comedian Steve White and announcer Jimmy Hodson. Comedian and actor Tommy Davidson was brought in as Johnson's new sidekick and Johnson interacted more with the show band leader Sheila E. The format of the show was also changed to include more interview time with celebrity guests.[1][2]
  Howard Stern appearance
  
  One vocal critic of The Magic Hour was Howard Stern. Stern would regularly mock Johnson's diction and hosting abilities on his popular morning show.[1] In an attempt to confront Stern (and to boost ratings), Stern was booked to appear on the show as a guest (along with Playmate Karen McDougal[3]). Stern appeared on the July 2 broadcast with the band, the Losers, and played the song "Wipe Out".[4] While being interviewed by Johnson, Stern asked Johnson about his lifestyle prior to contracting HIV and if he practiced safe sex with his wife. Stern also asked about "the white guy comedian", referring to Johnson's previous sidekick, Craig Shoemaker, who had been fired shortly before Stern's appearance for publicly calling the show "an absolute nightmare".[5][6]
  Cancellation
  
  The highly publicized episode featuring Stern increased viewership for a time,[5] but ratings soon dropped off. The series was canceled after eight weeks.[7]
  Johnson later blamed the demise of his talk show on a lack of support from African American celebrities who refused or could not appear on his show. Johnson claimed, "Their managers and agents keep them off of the black shows."[8]

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Good for Arsenio. I watched his show quite a bit and enjoyed it. I haven't been watching late night talk shows with regularity for several years now so I'll probably see it just ocassionally.

 

[Sheep]

There was a fun little kung-fu cop show called Marshal Law, starring Sammo Hong (Jackie Chan's teacher) and Kelly Hu (!). Like Chan's movies, it blended martial arts with comedy, and was a LOT of fun, at least at the start. In it's short run, the producers never stopped screwing with the format and messing it up. After a while, they decided those stupid Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker films were brilliant, so they added Arsenio Hall as Sammo's partner.

Any fun the show was came to a crashing halt under Arsenio's terminal blandness and lack of talent.

I will never forgive him.

I remember watching Martial Law and enjoying it. For reasons I don't remember, I stopped watching before Arsenio was added, though. That must have been an...interesting addition.

As noted above, you could do A LOT worse than Arsenio Hall as a talk show host. Don't forget Rick Dees, Joan Rivers and Dana Carvey in the list of "How in the world did these people get a late night talk show?".

 

[wissaboo]

he seems on a bit of a roll lately. His show was seen as a new hip late night talk show which up to then had really only been Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

I used to watch it. Till one night he told an audience member to shut the fuck up. Never felt the same about it after that

 

[doubleohfive]

There was a fun little kung-fu cop show called Marshal Law, starring Sammo Hong (Jackie Chan's teacher) and Kelly Hu (!). Like Chan's movies, it blended martial arts with comedy, and was a LOT of fun, at least at the start. In it's short run, the producers never stopped screwing with the format and messing it up. After a while, they decided those stupid Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker films were brilliant, so they added Arsenio Hall as Sammo's partner.

Any fun the show was came to a crashing halt under Arsenio's terminal blandness and lack of talent.

I will never forgive him.

The first Rush Hour is a fun comedy. The second isn't all that bad either. I mean, fuck Brett Rattner; he's an irredeemable asshole. But those two movies, while obviously not great cinema, are still fun movies. Just my personal opinion.

Also: Arsenio was great in Coming to America.

 

[gblews]

In a lot of ways, it seems his show was a spiritual predecessor of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, doing away with the tropes that had come to define late night talk shows. While Hall did not have a sidekick, but did have a band, Ferguson has a robotic sidekick, but no band, for example.

I'm going to disagree with this. Jimmy Fallon's show is much more in line with what Arsenio was doing back in early 90's. Fallon's show, like Arsenio's, openly courted young fans with the music heard on the show, not to mention the shows hip hop oriented culture.

The Magic Hour:

• 
  The format of the show was also changed to include more interview time with celebrity guests.[1][2]
  Howard Stern appearance
  
  One vocal critic of The Magic Hour was Howard Stern. Stern would regularly mock Johnson's diction and hosting abilities on his popular morning show.[1] In an attempt to confront Stern (and to boost ratings), Stern was booked to appear on the show as a guest (along with Playmate Karen McDougal[3]). Stern appeared on the July 2 broadcast with the band, the Losers, and played the song "Wipe Out".[4] While being interviewed by Johnson, Stern asked Johnson about his lifestyle prior to contracting HIV and if he practiced safe sex with his wife. Stern also asked about "the white guy comedian", referring to Johnson's previous sidekick, Craig Shoemaker, who had been fired shortly before Stern's appearance for publicly calling the show "an absolute nightmare".[5][6]
  Cancellation
  
  The highly publicized episode featuring Stern increased viewership for a time,[5] but ratings soon dropped off. The series was canceled after eight weeks.[7]
  Johnson later blamed the demise of his talk show on a lack of support from African American celebrities who refused or could not appear on his show. Johnson claimed, "Their managers and agents keep them off of the black shows."[8]

I remember the show and the episode with Howard in particular. The morning after the show, Howard took excepetion to Arsenio's introduction, calling Howard "the meanest, the nastiest, the dirtiest" DJ on radio or something like that. After Howard's appearance on the show, if I'm not mistaken, Sheila E. said on the air that they had "annointed the studio" with oils to rid the place of any bad spirits (so some such) that Howard may have left. The whole thing was pretty surreal.

Totally wrong format for Ervin. As open and engaging as he was as a player, his "natural" on air personality is very self conscious. He alsways seems kind of stiff to me, never cracks jokes, always serious. Don't get me wrong, though. I absolutely LOVE Magic.

Years ago I used to play basketball at the YMCA on Hollywood Blvd on Wednesday nights -- ladies night at the gym -- and Arsenio would be there some nights. His game reminded me of Meadowlark Lemon's and so did his mouth. He NEVER STOPPED TALKING THROUGH WHOLE GAME. He was the epitome of loud, rowdy, and wrong, as we used to say. I used to look at him, shake my head and think, what an asshole.

 

[Snaploud]

He won Celebrity Apprentice recently. That probably gave him a leg up in negotiations for the new talk show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The thing I miss most about Arsenio's show is the John B. Williams Poetry Moment.

 

[doubleohfive]

The thing I miss is betting with my brothers (we were kids at the time) about what Arsenio would wear on that night's show - a track suit or something formal with a jacket and tie?

I also remember Lea Thompson giving him her fake chest plate from Back the Future Part II

And what's not to love about this?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAz-SF-329E&feature=related[/yt]


[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaQZe6llqM8&feature=related[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfnJqqrxFe8&feature=related[/yt]

 

[scotpens]

Well, I guess if Ricki Lake can come back to TV, anybody can.

Johnson later blamed the demise of his talk show on a lack of support from African American celebrities who refused or could not appear on his show. Johnson claimed, "Their managers and agents keep them off of the black shows."

Magic Johnson's talk show failed because he sucked at being a talk-show host. It reminds me of the old joke:

"So, why do you think you didn't get the radio announcer's job?"

"B-b-b-because they d-d-d-d-don't like J-J-Jews!"

 

[shivkala]

In a lot of ways, it seems his show was a spiritual predecessor of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, doing away with the tropes that had come to define late night talk shows. While Hall did not have a sidekick, but did have a band, Ferguson has a robotic sidekick, but no band, for example.

I'm going to disagree with this. Jimmy Fallon's show is much more in line with what Arsenio was doing back in early 90's. Fallon's show, like Arsenio's, openly courted young fans with the music heard on the show, not to mention the shows hip hop oriented culture.

I just meant in the changes to the traditional format. I have to admit, I haven't watch Fallon's show. However, I see your point, seeing as how Fallon has the Roots as his house band.