Talk show legend Arsenio Hall won Celebrity Apprentice this year, and now there are 3, yup, 3 networks considering giving him a talk show again. Arsenio's talk show on Fox TV is part of what made it possible for Fox to compete with ABC, NBC and CBS back in the 90s. His show went from 89-94 and was huge. He's been trying to get back into being a talk show host ever since. I'm not sure why he hasn't been. You've got some shows with absolutely no talent on them, and a guy like Arsenio hasn't had a good run since that show went off the air. But execs at some of the networks apparently liked what they saw when he was on Celebrity Apprentice, and are thinking about putting him back on his own show again.
I think he'd do really well in a late late show, the time slot David Letterman used to rule before he moved up to earlier time slots.
I remember Arsenio was blowing up as Semi, the sidekick to Eddie Murphy's character in Coming To America when his show took off. He started as a replacement for my personal friend, the legendary Joan Rivers, who famously was blackballed from television when she left the high profile gig as permanent guest host of The Tonight Show to start her own "The Late Show". While Joan arguably got a bad turn, and fought for years to attain the status she has now, her loss was a win for Arsenio Hall, who took her spot as host, then got his own show soon thereafter.
Tidbit: You may not know this, but C&C Music Factory's biggest hit, "Things That Make You Go Hmmm" was inspired by an Arsenio segment where he would mention the same.
Some other landmarks attributed to Arsenio and his show: Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, appeared on his show 12 days before his death. It was one of his last appearances and arguably one of the most memorable.
During a taping in 1991, a few members of Queer Nation, seated in the back of the audience, interrupted Arse's (he's a comedian, he won't mind) monologue to accuse him of not booking gay guests and being anti-gay. Arsenio defended himself, saying that indeed he'd had many gay guest, then named them. He went on to say that he didn't book guests based on their sexual orientation but instead he booked based on what they had going on at the time. He also mentioned that he has many gay friends, that many people in show business aren't out with their sexuality, and that it really was nobody's business what someone's sexual orientation is. It's also important to mention here that in Celebrity Apprentice, Arsenio Hall's charity was Magic Johnson's AIDS foundation, which helps people of all colors and orientations who are afflicted by AIDS and HIV.
About the time his show was cancelled, competition from various new talk shows from the likes of Chevy Chase, Pat Sajak, and Jon Stewart, as well as being pushed into late late late late time slots, signaled that the end was near for the Arsenio Hall show.
We wish you all the best Arsenio!
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