Arsenio’s Back And Ready For Take Two

The last time syndicated TV made a big impact with original content in latenight talk it was with Arsenio Hall. In 1989, the young comic took on Johnny Carson, attracted a hipper, younger audience and helped the sax-playing Bill Clinton become president. His latenight flight wasn’t long, but it was high. By the time distributor Paramount Television shut it down in 1994, everybody knew who Arsenio was. No need for a last name.

Now, two decades later, Hall’s new show will seek to determine whether there is room for the 57-year-old comic in a more competitive latenight world where his rivals are younger, but not necessarily hipper (or funnier).

With the backing of CBS Television Distribution, the music-heavy Arsenio Hall Show will debut next Monday (Sept. 9) on mostly CW and Fox affiliates at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. in virtually every U.S. TV market.

The show is much the same as Hall’s original, with many of the same executives. But there is a new band — The Posse, led by drummer Robin DiMaggio — and a new director, Leon Knoles, whose directing credits include PBS’s The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House and who for three years was technical director on Fox’s American Idol.

Hall, who has been promoting the show nonstop for more than a year, spoke with TVNewsCheck correspondent Kevin Downey about where his new program fits into the latenight landscape and on working right up to the last minute to draw in viewers.

An edited transcript:

What’s going on in the final days before the premiere?

There is a lot of lighting going on. I’m getting my band out of the rehearsal hall and onto the stage. We’re getting their look set up. We’re getting the furniture in for the interview area.

I don’t have the budget I’d like to have. But there is everything from dressing rooms to lights.

I have my last two employees on board. I have my whole staff down. My writers are starting to write so that we can have a few taped pieces in the can.

All that is going on, but at the same time I am trying to get every possible eyeball watching the show on Sept. 9, 2013. I’m doing interviews. I’m doing anything I can. When [CBS CEO] Les Moonves’ office calls and says I should co-host The Talk, I show up there and do The Talk. I’m trying to get everyone’s attention.

At the studio, I’m doing mock interviews. Sometimes, I will interview a writer. I ask people like Johnny Gill to stop by so we can play talk show. We can work out how they walk out. We can have the band work things out.

The last Friday before we go on will be very exciting. I’m doing David Letterman. I did Dave’s show right after I left the old show. I told him I’d never go back. I’m sure he’ll throw that in my face.

Are you preparing material at comedy clubs?

I pop into comedy clubs. That’s about just feeling out that part of the show. But it’s different. In a comedy club, you’re holding a hand mic and there’s no teleprompter. Going to comedy clubs is about getting out there to get your soul into shape, if there is such a thing.

You have been a guest on The Tonight Show more than two dozen times the past few years. What did Jay Leno say when you told him you were going off on your own again?

He said, “Hall, I’ll tell you one thing. I could look at a list of who Johnny [Carson] had on and who you had on and I could tell whose show it was just by the guests.” He said my show was unique and different. He said, “Keep doing that.”

He told me that my show shouldn’t look like his. He’s doing his show for a whole different demographic. Jay and I were in a comedy club the night he told me that. His audience and my audience are totally different.

Where do you see your show fitting in with the rest of the latenight shows?

I don’t see myself competing with the other guys. It’s a different situation. I’m an alternative, little syndicated show. I’m not NBC or ABC. When you’re ABC, you have the NBA associated with the network. That affects your bookings. I don’t have that.

The bottom line is that talk shows are like cars. Not everyone will drive a Prius, but there’s an audience for that. My show isn’t like the Letterman monster or the Leno conglomerate.

I am shooting for the moon, but the reality is that I don’t even want to think about what [rating] I need to have.

So, the latenight pie is big enough for you to get a slice?

I realize it’s a much more crowded daypart than when Johnny Carson had the parents and I had the kids. It’s a different world. It’s a different business.

But I see room for me. When you look at the numbers for Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Chelsea Lately, David Letterman, you realize there are a lot of Americans who have not chosen a show at all.

The key to my success the first time around was attracting people who had not made a choice in latenight.

How will you gauge success with this show? Do you and your team have a Nielsen rating goal?

We have talked about break-even and what success is. We have talked about what would make Les Moonves and [Tribune president of programming and entertainment] Sean Compton do back flips and moon walk. But it’s all over the place. There is a number that advertisers want and there’s a number that we need to stay on the air. That is when I realized just how much this pie has been sliced.

The rating is much lower than it used to be. [Editor’s note: Arsenio averaged a 2.0 household rating its last season in 1993-94.]

The show’s director Leon Knoles has a lot of experience directing TV music specials. That’s not a coincidence, is it?

Oh, no. I was watching something my bass player was in, a concert. I called to see who directed it. It was Leon Knoles. So I said, “OK, he’s on my list of people I want to meet.”

Leon’s work speaks for itself. He’s great at shooting music. He’s great at shooting talk. But when I sat down with him, I realized he knows the way I work. I realized it was a match.

Will you interact with The Posse?

I’ll interact with all the band members. They all have interesting lives. My guitar player plays with TLC, Johnny Gill, and he was playing with Chaka Khan when I called him.

But the way I work is that I might find a cameraman who I like to talk to. You find what’s funny and you ride it.

On this show, you have quite a few people on the executive team from your previous show. How is that working out? Is everyone back in the groove or is this a new experience?

Having about half the team already knowing me creates a shortcut for the other 50 people to get up to speed. Getting back together, they know how I am, how I work and they know what I like and who I want to book.

What does the show’s set look like?

The set, to me, was always about being a little bit more intimate. I remember going to the Chris Rock Show. In New York, the studios are much smaller. There’s an intimacy about the room that works for comedy. So, I made a conscious effort to make the room have more of a New York feel.

But I also want the set to feel Arsenio-ish. I want people to feel comfortable in a way that makes them think I have been away for a long hiatus and I’m back with a small set change.

You have been promoting the show since June 2012. Any concerns that you went out too soon?

Obviously, I’m doing everything I can to get people to sample the show on Sept. 9, 2013. The rest is up to me to be funny and to have guests where I can send people to bed laughing.

The formula is very simple. Sigourney Weaver’s dad [Pat] created this vehicle a long time ago to get eyeballs at night and thread them into the morning show. It hasn’t changed much since then. Some people have a desk. I don’t. We’re all interviewing Matt Damon.

It’s just about getting people to make the choice to do that with you. You only need people to check you out a few times a week to be successful.