Maybe having Jay Leno announce your renewal on-air during your show wasn’t the best idea, after all.
Late today at the end of an off week, The Arsenio Hall Show found out its second season would not be happening this fall. Instead, CBS Television Distribution announced it’s canceling the show. Make that CANCELLED.
Arsenio isn’t coming back Monday, even. No chance for an on-air farewell.
Hall initially made his comeback to late-night TV talk last fall with a two-year syndication deal with the Tribune-owned TV affiliates. Leno himself made his first appearance in “retirement” three months ago to deliver the good news to Hall that he’d get a one-year reprieve.
And yet.
Not long after that, WPIX, the Tribune affiliate in NYC, bumped Arsenio from 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in favor of Seinfeld reruns.
The show launched with a 1.9 rating (1.0, ages 18-49) but dropped to 0.7 (0.3 in 18-49) by the end.
Official public statements:
“While there are many loyal fans of the show, the series did not grow its audience enough to continue,” the CBS TV Distribution spokesman said. “Arsenio is a tremendous talent and we’d like to thank him for all the hard work and energy he put into the show. We’d also like to thank Tribune and all our station group partners for their support of the show.”
From Hall? “When I started this adventure with CTD and Tribune, we all knew it would be a challenge – I’m gratified for the year we’ve had and proud of the show we created. I’d like to thank everyone on my staff for rallying around me and striving to make the best show possible every night.”
The last video uploaded by the show to its YouTube channel explored Fox Business reports on Arsenio crowd-sourcing an attempt to buy the L.A. Clippers.
The Clippers sold for $2 billion to Steve Ballmer yesterday.
Arsenio is the third late-night show to meet its end in 2014; The Pete Holmes Show will end after two “seasons” but less than a year on TBS in June; Chelsea Handler’s Chelsea Lately will end after seven years on E! in August. Craig Ferguson will leave The Late Late Show with CBS 10 years from his start date at year’s end; no replacement has been named for him yet.