2012-13 syndication

[Jeremy Nelson]

Also, am I the only one here who actually looks forward to Arsenio making a comeback?

I am too. He was still fairly popular when he got cancelled, and he wasn't just popular; he was good, too.

Surprised to see Ricki Lake and Queen Latifah back in the fold, but even more surprised to see Trisha jump the pond; did Jeremy Kyle's show even register on the Nielsen scale?

[Jimmy Owen]

Also, am I the only one here who actually looks forward to Arsenio making a comeback?

I am too. He was still fairly popular when he got cancelled, and he wasn't just popular; he was good, too.

Surprised to see Ricki Lake and Queen Latifah back in the fold, but even more surprised to see Trisha jump the pond; did Jeremy Kyle's show even register on the Nielsen scale?

Kyle has been around a 0.5 all season.  Still good enough to be renewed for a second season, tho.

[Strikerz04]

My question is: what happens to Jeopardy in advance of Katie Couric's new talk show? This is, as far as I know, the first time Jeopardy and Inside Edition will be displaced by a regularly scheduled program.

Also, am I the only one here who actually looks forward to Arsenio making a comeback?

The Inquisitive One

/gotta have the Dog Pound and Burton Richardson announcing, or it's no deal

Jeopardy and Inside Edition (in Chicago at least) will be pushed back an hour.

And as for Arsenio...I've been waiting since the retrospective on VH1 in the last decade.

[PYLdude]

Also, am I the only one here who actually looks forward to Arsenio making a comeback?

I am too. He was still fairly popular when he got cancelled

The ratings had been down significantly for some time and bottomed out during his last season. To say he was "fairly popular" at that point is quite the misnomer.

[tvwxman]

The ratings had been down significantly for some time and bottomed out during his last season. To say he was "fairly popular" at that point is quite the misnomer.

"Fairly popular"? He was, and still is twenty years later, well-known based on just his first name. What more do you want?

[PYLdude]

The ratings had been down significantly for some time and bottomed out during his last season. To say he was "fairly popular" at that point is quite the misnomer.

"Fairly popular"? He was, and still is twenty years later, well-known based on just his first name. What more do you want?

Then why did his show get cancelled? He may still have had name recognition but it wasn't enough to get him a sixth season, was it? You're in television, you know how much ratings play into things.

[TLEberle]

Then why did his show get cancelled? He may still have had name recognition but it wasn't enough to get him a sixth season, was it? You're in television, you know how much ratings play into things.

Looking at the (relatively sane) Wikipedia page, it looks like a whole lot of outside circumstances there.

Really? A person's name recognition is the only thing that gets a show renewed? Come now.

[PYLdude]

Really? A person's name recognition is the only thing that gets a show renewed? Come now.

Don't know if I'm the target of that statement but my point was that okay fine, people may know who you are (and Arsenio Hall, good on him, he's been able to hang onto the public consciousness for most of the 18 years-at least to some degrees, there's been some points in there where he's vanished, come back strong, then disappeared again- since his show's been gone), but if they don't like your show for any reason (its timeslot, its quality, etc.) they're not gonna watch you. I think he can succeed the second time around.

What I'm surprised is that Paramount didn't try to keep him around for awhile longer- he had some CBS affiliates and a lot of Fox affiliates, but I think another treasure trove of affiliates of his were soon-to-be UPN affiliates, and I think it could've been worth a try to get him onto those stations (in NYC, he was on WWOR which was the network's flagship). Maybe too much damage had been done.

[tidefan12]

Really? A person's name recognition is the only thing that gets a show renewed? Come now.

Don't know if I'm the target of that statement but my point was that okay fine, people may know who you are (and Arsenio Hall, good on him, he's been able to hang onto the public consciousness for most of the 18 years-at least to some degrees, there's been some points in there where he's vanished, come back strong, then disappeared again- since his show's been gone), but if they don't like your show for any reason (its timeslot, its quality, etc.) they're not gonna watch you. I think he can succeed the second time around.

What I'm surprised is that Paramount didn't try to keep him around for awhile longer- he had some CBS affiliates and a lot of Fox affiliates, but I think another treasure trove of affiliates of his were soon-to-be UPN affiliates, and I think it could've been worth a try to get him onto those stations (in NYC, he was on WWOR which was the network's flagship). Maybe too much damage had been done.

I saw an interview Arsenio did with Tavis Smiley (which I think is circulating on YouTube) where he gave what certainly seemed to be a brutally honest post-mortem in an era of PR speak re: show cancellations.  He and David Letterman had the same agent, Mike Ovitz, a.k.a. "The Godfather" as anointed by Dave from the book "The Late Shift".  When Ovitz was able to get Letterman the 11:30 CBS gig, he sat down with Arsenio and explained what would most likely happen to his show (later clearances, lower-rated stations, loss of high profile affiliates, etc.) and recommended that it might be a good time to get out while the gettin' was good and try something different.  Remember, too, that part of his success came riding the coattails of Eddie Murphy, and while he was able to parlay that into gold the first time with a big feature film and, ultimately, the talk show, by 1994 his own star was fading and so was Eddie's, so his options probably weren't what they were five years prior.  

I have to wonder this time around if first-run syndication is the best route for him to take.  If it were, I can't imagine why Conan didn't try that post-"Tonight Show".  Maybe the landscape has changed enough in the past three years that the same objections Fox affiliates had for not wanting Conan 3 years ago (long term commitments to "TMZ" and other syndie properties, etc.) are no longer an obstacle.

[PYLdude]

I saw an interview Arsenio did with Tavis Smiley (which I think is circulating on YouTube) where he gave what certainly seemed to be a brutally honest post-mortem in an era of PR speak re: show cancellations.  He and David Letterman had the same agent, Mike Ovitz, a.k.a. "The Godfather" as anointed by Dave from the book "The Late Shift".  When Ovitz was able to get Letterman the 11:30 CBS gig, he sat down with Arsenio and explained what would most likely happen to his show (later clearances, lower-rated stations, loss of high profile affiliates, etc.) and recommended that it might be a good time to get out while the gettin' was good and try something different.  Remember, too, that part of his success came riding the coattails of Eddie Murphy, and while he was able to parlay that into gold the first time with a big feature film and, ultimately, the talk show, by 1994 his own star was fading and so was Eddie's, so his options probably weren't what they were five years prior.

If I were Arsenio I'd have fired him on the spot- Ovitz basically double-crossed him.

I agree with you that his options probably weren't great, but let's not forget that Paramount had stuck with him for the better part of eight years and he proved he could carry a show. I don't think Coming To America was the big boon for his career that everyone seems to think it was.

I have to wonder this time around if first-run syndication is the best route for him to take.  If it were, I can't imagine why Conan didn't try that post-"Tonight Show".  Maybe the landscape has changed enough in the past three years that the same objections Fox affiliates had for not wanting Conan 3 years ago (long term commitments to "TMZ" and other syndie properties, etc.) are no longer an obstacle.

Take away the Fox affiliates and you're left with the Tribune stations, who have their own commitments, the non-Fox owned MyNet stations, which have their own commitments, and not a whole lot else. That would've been Conan's worst option.

Seems Tribune's stations are hurting for late night programming now- Old Christine reruns aren't working as well, and they flopped with Entourage last year, maybe they have nothing to lose. IIRC most of the Fox stations are airing 30 Rock and/or The Office, plus The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons, and are gonna be picking Modern Family up when that goes into syndication in the next two years. (My Fox-owned MyNet also has the Tyler Perry Power Hour, My Name Is Earl, and South Park- gotta figure those would play in too.)

[clemon79]

If I were Arsenio I'd have fired him on the spot- Ovitz basically double-crossed him.

Oh, this ought to be good.

Please explain to the class why this is a double-cross and not an agent simply doing his job.

[PYLdude]

If I were Arsenio I'd have fired him on the spot- Ovitz basically double-crossed him.

Oh, this ought to be good.

Please explain to the class why this is a double-cross and not an agent simply doing his job.

Oh, think about it for a second...when your agent works to get another client a primo deal for a prime television spot at what will be largely at your expense because his other client is going to be on a lot of stations in a lot of timeslots you currently possess, what would you call it, if not a double-cross?

[clemon79]

Oh, think about it for a second...when your agent works to get another client a primo deal for a prime television spot at what will be largely at your expense because his other client is going to be on a lot of stations in a lot of timeslots you currently possess, what would you call it, if not a double-cross?

"Business."

The agent's job is to do the best he can for his client at that exact moment, and the agent's other clients should never ever ever figure in to that performance at all. That's how you become an ex-agent.

If Ovitz has the chance to get Letterman a kajillion-dollar deal on another network at 11:30 on the heels of NBC farking him over, he takes it. Period. That's why people like Letterman hire him to be his agent.

[PYLdude]

Oh, think about it for a second...when your agent works to get another client a primo deal for a prime television spot at what will be largely at your expense because his other client is going to be on a lot of stations in a lot of timeslots you currently possess, what would you call it, if not a double-cross?

"Business."

The agent's job is to do the best he can for his client at that exact moment, and the agent's other clients should never ever ever figure in to that performance at all. That's how you become an ex-agent.

If Ovitz has the chance to get Letterman a kajillion-dollar deal on another network at 11:30 on the heels of NBC farking him over, he takes it. Period. That's why people like Letterman hire him to be his agent.

Alright, fair point.

[Matt Ottinger]

Have to remember, none of this stuff happens in a vacuum.  It's never as simple as step A led to step B.  As much as Letterman's CBS ascension was a probable cause, so too was -- of all things -- The Chevy Chase Show.  That catastrophic failure was nevertheless a FOX network show, and FOX demanded that its affiliates make room for it.  I bet that Arsenio had more FOX stations than CBS ones, and Chevy's show -- by its very existence -- might have done more damage than Dave's.