{"id":631,"date":"2013-10-08T22:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T03:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2013-10-08T22:06:42","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T03:06:42","slug":"arsenio-better-get-better-for-tribunes-sake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2013\/10\/08\/arsenio-better-get-better-for-tribunes-sake\/","title":{"rendered":"'Arsenio' better get better \u2014 for Tribune's sake"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arsenio<\/a>

<\/a> Arsenio Hall<\/p><\/div>\n

Is Arsenio Hall\u2019s comeback already on the skids?<\/p>\n

One month after its auspicious debut as a nationally syndicated late-night talker, \u201cThe Arsenio Hall Show\u201d is showing signs of trouble in the ratings and behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

For Tribune Broadcasting, which is a partner in producing the show, the stakes couldn\u2019t be higher. Since its launch Sept. 9, it\u2019s been airing at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on Chicago flagship WGN-Channel 9 and on the company\u2019s other stations across the country.<\/p>\n

At a town hall meeting with employees in Chicago Oct. 2, Tribune Co. CEO Peter Liguori stressed how much was riding on Hall\u2019s ability to deliver late-night ratings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is incredibly important for us in terms of the lead-outs from late news, in terms of us having a little more fire power on the original programming front, when we package ad sales and when we go to cable operators,\u201d Liguori said. \u201cWe can try to talk about Arsenio and all of our original programming efforts to explain to cable operators that we\u2019re creating value for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before introducing Hall via satellite from Los Angeles, Liguori boasted to employees assembled here and tuned in around the country that the show\u2019s debut ratings \u201cwere the best numbers for a syndicated premiere in the last seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, Neal Kendall was suddenly out <\/a>as executive producer of the show amid reports that ratings had been dropping off for each of the four weeks it had been on the air. While the search for a replacement goes on, Eric Pankowski, senior vice president of programming for CBS Television Distribution, stepped in as interim exec producer.<\/p>\n

The decline of more than 40 percent nationally was mirrored in Chicago, where Hall\u2019s show dropped from a 2.5 household rating its first week on WGN to a 1.5. Among viewers between 18 and 49 \u2014 the show\u2019s target demo \u2014 it dropped from a 1.0 to 0.4, according to Nielsen.<\/p>\n

WGN hadn\u2019t been doing well in the 10 p.m. hour with syndicated reruns of \u201c30 Rock\u201d and \u201cTwo and A Half Men,\u201d but its numbers for \u201cThe Arsenio Hall Show\u201d so far in October have been even lower.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too soon to declare the show dead, but there\u2019s no way it can survive on Hall\u2019s charisma and nostalgia alone. Plagued by miserable monologues (hint: jokes are supposed to be laughed at<\/em> \u2014 not applauded), lame bits and lackluster guests, it needs to get a lot better. And fast.<\/p>\n

Hall acknowledged the challenge he faces when he spoke to Tribune Co. employees at the town hall meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe toughest part of doing the show is realizing that the word \u2018business\u2019 is larger than the word \u2018show,\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people love entertainment, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s show business.<\/em> And you have to understand that to make it the right show.\u00a0So I often have on another hat that\u2019s not a host hat. It\u2019s a producer hat. And I think that\u2019s the hardest part: The entertainer and the producer finding a synchronicity that works for Tribune.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Arsenio Hall\u2019s comeback already on the skids? One month after its auspicious debut as a nationally syndicated late-night talker, \u201cThe Arsenio Hall Show\u201d is showing signs of trouble in the ratings and behind the scenes. For Tribune Broadcasting, which is a partner in producing the show, the stakes couldn\u2019t be higher. Since its launch... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}