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62-443: There have been two different incarnations of The Arsenio Hall Show . The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, and ran until May 27, 1994. Nineteen years after the original series ended, Hall returned for a revival. It premiered on September 9, 2013, and was cancelled after one season, with the finale airing on May 21, 2014. Both series were produced by Hall's production company, Arsenio Hall Communications. The original series

124-457: A 24% drop from 1992–93 to 1993–94. Although Paramount did say publicly that the show was not in imminent danger of cancellation, Hall announced on April 18, 1994, that he was not going to continue the show, simply saying "it's time". The final episode aired on May 27, 1994. Shortly before The Arsenio Hall Show was canceled, Paramount 's merger with Viacom was finalized. Since this now meant that Paramount and MTV were corporate siblings, there

186-583: A Fox O&O) for syndicated sitcoms. Then-CBS affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore also retained the show when The Late Show started (being cleared by WNUV ). Arsenio also found itself losing some of its audience to cable, as MTV launched the daily thirty-minute program The Jon Stewart Show , which became popular in its own right. Subsequently, Fox decided to get back into the late-night television battle after several years, despite Arsenio drawing solid ratings on many of its affiliates. In September 1993,

248-523: A digitally pixelized view of the audience that made it impossible to identify them. A frequent joke in Hall's opening monologue suggested that he still lives in Cleveland and drives to Los Angeles every day to host the show. While on these alleged long drives, Hall ponders certain thoughts, referring to them as "things that make you go hmmm...." The running gag inspired a 1991 C+C Music Factory song by

310-523: A federal witness in the Witness Protection Program, Chicago Outfit hitman Nicholas Calabrese . Recidivism is described as a person's relapse into the criminal justice system without a new sentence within a three-year period. Fewer than 17% of protected witnesses who have committed crimes are caught committing other crimes. While this is far lower than the national average, notable instances of protected witnesses returning to

372-567: A guest on the show, playing " Heartbreak Hotel " on the saxophone (causing Arsenio to quip, "It's nice to see a Democrat blow something besides the election"). The appearance is often considered an important moment in Clinton's political career, helping build his popularity among minority and young voters. Clinton went on to win the election in November 1992. The program remained popular into 1993, airing on 178 stations throughout America. As

434-401: A guest.) The heated exchange went on for several minutes, and Hall continued to defend himself as both a comedian and a host, pointing out that he also had gay friends, and that a person's sexual preference was really nobody else's business. Fierstein eventually did become a guest on the show months later. In June 1992, then- presidential candidate Bill Clinton (who was a fan of the show) was

496-586: A joint venture created for the sale of advertising for their existing syndicated programs in September 1989. As a possible outgrowth of this sales joint venture, MCA and Paramount began plans for a new network, Premier Program Service . In 1999, Viacom acquired several other television production firms such as Spelling Entertainment Group (which owned Spelling Television , Worldvision Enterprises , Republic Pictures Television , and Big Ticket Entertainment ) and Rysher Entertainment (or at least its library). As

558-457: A mayor "'because that's how you do business in the city.' In his mind, he wasn't doing anything criminal," Shur said. A witness who agrees to testify for the prosecution is generally eligible to join the program, which is entirely voluntary. Witnesses are permitted to leave the program and return to their original identities at any time, although this is discouraged by administrators. In both criminal and civil matters involving protected witnesses,

620-563: A more convincing comeback." While also reporting Hall's talk show is similar to his original series, Variety gave a better review/reception of the revived show, stating "while he might not be the hippest guy in late-night anymore, Arsenio 2.0 can still emerge as a survivor". In 2013, the Orange County Register described the original run of show as "energenic, groundbreaking", and a "cultural phenomenon, noting Hall's confident personality, diverse guests and musical acts, and

682-566: A new late-night program and had garnered interest from Fox and TBS as to picking the show up. On June 18, 2012, Hall announced that he had brokered a deal with CBS Television Distribution and Tribune Broadcasting to bring his late-night talk show back to television. Although the show was agreed upon in time for the 2012–13 season, the agreement was to see Arsenio return at the beginning of the next season. The revived Arsenio Hall Show debuted on September 9, 2013. Stations that also carried Hall's original program, such as CBS-owned station KBCW in

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744-409: A pumping, whirling motion with their raised fists and howling "Woof, woof, woof". The labeling was a staple of Hall's opening monologue and almost always began with the phrase "Those are people who...." In one variation of Hall ridiculing the "Dog Pound", Hall designated the section as "People who are currently in a Witness Protection Program ", at which point a camera pans over to that section to reveal

806-450: A result, the size of Paramount's television library more than tripled, giving PDT a slew of new series to distribute, and included was the distribution rights to Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown . In 2002, it struck a deal with HDNet to distribute content that was meant to be short for HDTV . After Viacom split into two companies – one called Viacom and the other CBS Corporation – Paramount's television operations became part of

868-531: A search for a new show-runner, in an effort to revamp the show and boost ratings. Reruns were aired during the brief transition period until new episodes resumed the week of October 28. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey that same month, Hall and Winfrey discussed a "feud" between the two based on jokes he told nearly 20 years earlier about her weight and Oprah's partner, Stedman Graham . During their talk on Oprah's Next Chapter , Hall also mentioned his long-time friendship with Jay Leno , how David Letterman

930-503: A special set of tights with Hall's face on the back) with Bobby Heenan , Randy Savage , Roddy Piper , Bad News Brown , the Big Bossman , and Akeem with Slick and The Ultimate Warrior . Hall was also well known for his long fingers, which he would often use to point at the audience. Michael Wolff led the house band , which Hall called "Posse". During a December 1990 taping, three or four members of Queer Nation , seated in

992-411: A staple of the show. In the intro to the final episode, Richardson held his one-breath introduction for exactly twenty seconds, one of the few times he had done so. While being introduced (and as seen on show titles and promos ), Arsenio stood with his head down, hands together and legs apart, in the shape of the letter "A". One of the show's recurrent themes was affixing a humorous label to a section of

1054-407: A wide variety of guests not common on other talk shows. It became the show for entertainers to go to in order to reach the " MTV Generation ". The show was commonly dubbed a "Night Thing" and reflected a party or nightclub theme. Hall's friend M.C. Hammer was also a frequent interview and musical guest. Additionally, Hall interviewed " Jason Voorhees ", the main character from the popular Friday

1116-914: The San Francisco Bay Area and CFMT-DT in Toronto, picked up the revived series as well. Tribune-owned stations airing Arsenio included: KTLA in Los Angeles , KDAF in Dallas-Fort Worth , WPIX in New York City , WGN-TV in Chicago , KCPQ in Seattle and WDCW in Washington, D.C. The show also aired on CBS -owned stations affiliated with either CBS or The CW . Unlike Hall's previous series, this version

1178-900: The United States Department of Justice . The program is operated by the United States Marshals Service and is designed to protect threatened witnesses and their family members before, during, and after a trial when those witnesses have an association with the federal government. The program was originally authorized by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and later amended by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 . The amended issues included bail, sentencing reform, pleas for insanity, and penalties for drug offenses. The WITSEC program

1240-471: The 13th series of films around the time of the release of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan . Muppets creator Jim Henson also appeared on the show 12 days before his death in May 1990, marking one of Henson's last public appearances. Hall often featured World Wrestling Federation wrestlers, like Hulk Hogan (who first denied using steroids on the program), "Ravishing" Rick Rude (who made

1302-1006: The Department of Justice, while the protection of incarcerated witnesses is the duty of the Federal Bureau of Prisons . From the WITSEC program, the Emergency Witness Assistance Program was created in 1997 to fill "the need for immediate, non-protective, short-duration witness assistance not available through the Witness Security Program and the Short-Term Protection Program". A handful of states— California , Connecticut , Illinois , New York , Texas , and Virginia —and Washington, D.C. , have their own witness protection programs for crimes not covered by

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1364-602: The Minute ) and had not offered a late-night variety program since The Pat Sajak Show was cancelled in 1990. Among the reported 44 CBS stations that aired Arsenio at the time were WJW-TV , then the network's affiliate in Hall's hometown of Cleveland; WJBK-TV in Detroit (which, like WJW, is now a Fox affiliate ); WUSA in Washington, D.C. ; WAGA-TV in Atlanta (also now a Fox affiliate) and WBBM-TV in Chicago , one of

1426-565: The Paramount lot to CBS facilities. Currently, syndication rights to Paramount's theatrical film library lie with Trifecta Entertainment & Media . United States Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program ( WPP ), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC , is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by

1488-449: The U.S. Marshals Service since the program began in 1971. The program has a 100% success rate; no witness that has followed the rules and guidelines set out by the U.S. Marshals Service has ever died in WITSEC. According to Gerald Shur, who created the federal program, about 95% of witnesses in the program are "criminals". They may be intentional criminals, or people who are doing business with criminals, such as one engineer who bought off

1550-446: The U.S. Marshals cooperate fully with local law enforcement and court authorities to bring witnesses to justice or to have them fulfill their legal responsibilities. The program is highly secretive in order to ensure the safety of its participants. The leaking or sharing of information on these participants is taken seriously. A former federal law enforcement officer, John Thomas Ambrose, was convicted in 2009 of leaking information about

1612-796: The Viacom merger, though these have rarely been seen in syndication. Shortly after The Arsenio Hall Show was cancelled following the acquisition of Viacom, Paramount began distributing and producing MTV's The Jon Stewart Show for the syndication market. In 1987, Coca-Cola Telecommunications teamed up with Paramount Domestic Television (PDT), and Orbis Communications to form International Advertising Sales, which handled advertising of such programs produced by PDT, Orbis and Coca-Cola Telecommunications , including future programming for Merv Griffin Enterprises . MCA Television and Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) had formed Premier Advertiser Sales,

1674-440: The back row in different sections of the audience, interrupted Hall's opening monologue demanding to know why he never had any gay guests on the show. Hall's initial answer was that since most of the guests were not open about their sexuality, neither Hall nor the producers knew whether they were gay or not. When the protesters voiced their offense because the show failed to book filmmaker Gus Van Sant (whose My Own Private Idaho

1736-505: The dismissal of Joan Rivers . He was given a 13-week run, during which he became unexpectedly popular. During the monologue of his final appearance as host, Hall stated that he agreed to only do 13 weeks because he could only stay long as he had plans "to do other things". He subsequently began working on the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America . He ultimately signed with Paramount Television before Fox finally decided, after

1798-421: The fact, that it wanted to keep him. Hall had a fairly long connection with Paramount before this, having been the in-house comedian on Paramount's weekly music series Solid Gold for several years and co-hosting its final two years. Arsenio , debuting on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 1989, with guests Brooke Shields , Leslie Nielsen and Luther Vandross , was one of two late-night shows to premiere that month. The other

1860-436: The failure of The Jon Stewart Show , Paramount did not make another attempt at producing a late-night variety show. Nonetheless, they were not willing to give up on the idea fully and in 1998, Paramount developed a daytime variety show for comedian Howie Mandel . The Howie Mandel Show premiered in May 1998, but could not find an audience in what was then a syndicated landscape saturated with talk shows, and Paramount canceled

1922-599: The federal program. These state-run programs provide less extensive protections, in part because state governments lack the ability to issue federal documents such as Social Security cards to verify the new identity of protected witnesses. Another benefit of the federal program is that the Marshals Service provides payments to participants of about $ 60,000 on average, while also assisting them with finding housing and stable jobs under their new identities. There are two main types of witnesses who can be eligible for

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1984-624: The latter company. As a result, Paramount Domestic Television became CBS Paramount Domestic Television . That was in turn merged with King World Productions in 2007 to become CBS Television Distribution (CTD). However, because National Amusements retained majority control of both CBS and the new Viacom, CBS programs (including those under the original Paramount Television name) are still distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment ; starting in 2005, they have been released through CBS DVD/Blu-ray . However, some former Paramount programs, such as Entertainment Tonight , then moved from being produced at

2046-462: The network premiered The Chevy Chase Show running directly against Hall, Leno and Letterman. Fox demanded that all of its affiliates air Chase's show, leading the Fox stations airing Arsenio to either drop the series or relocate it to a less desirable time slot. Although The Chevy Chase Show was a critical and ratings flop and left the air after only five weeks, the stations that Arsenio had been or

2108-400: The network's owned-and-operated stations . Some of these stations picked up Hall's show to fill the void left by Sajak's cancellation, while many others had chosen to carry Hall's program in lieu of Sajak's. Another prominent group of stations that carried the program were affiliates of the still-young Fox, many of which picked up Arsenio to fill the gaps left when The Late Show , which never

2170-538: The night. Most of the rest dropped Hall when Letterman's show became a runaway hit. WUSA was one of the exceptions, having rebuffed an edict by CBS for all of its affiliates to clear the Late Show at the normal network time for their respective time zones, while in Milwaukee , Arsenio was paired by Fox affiliate WCGV-TV with the Late Show back-to-back, which was refused clearance by then-CBS affiliate WITI (now

2232-1126: The parodies that have been inspired by the show since it first aired. The revived Arsenio program was initially renewed for a second season on February 26, 2014; the announcement was made to that night's audience on air by Jay Leno in his first post– Tonight Show appearance. However, the decision was later reversed, and the program was cancelled by CBS Television Distribution and Tribune, on May 30, 2014. Season 1 began on January 3, 1989 and ended on August 11, 1989 (consisting of 159 episodes). Season 2 began on September 11, 1989 and ended on August 24, 1990 (consisting of 221 episodes). Season 3 began on September 10, 1990 and ended on August 15, 1991 (consisting of 212 episodes). Season 4 began on September 9, 1991 and ended on August 21, 1992 (consisting of 207 episodes). Season 5 began on September 8, 1992 and ended on August 20, 1993 (consisting of 212 episodes). Season 6 began on September 7, 1993 and ended on May 27, 1994 (consisting of 157 episodes). Second series began on September 9, 2013 and ended on May 21, 2014 (consisting of 158 episodes). Throughout

2294-492: The post-1960 shows by Desilu, and several first-run syndicated shows. Originally, the company (like other sister companies sharing the Paramount name) was owned by Gulf+Western , which was reincorporated as Paramount Communications in 1989. In 1987, it entered into an agreement with Tribune Entertainment Company whereby Paramount would distribute Geraldo , with Tribune producing. In 1989, both Tribune and Paramount worked again on The Joan Rivers Show , Paramount distributing

2356-408: The program and Tribune producing the series. Also that year, Paramount Domestic Television made its first foray into late-night television with the debut of The Arsenio Hall Show , hosted by Arsenio Hall himself. In 1990, Tribune and Paramount parted ways, with Tribune handling sales of the show in-house. In 1990, Maury Povich signed them to an exclusive pact with the studio. He then developed

2418-464: The program, "fact witnesses" and "expert witnesses." Fact witnesses provide factual information and/or personal knowledge to a case. Oftentimes, but not always, these witnesses were present at the scene of a crime. Expert witnesses provide technical or scientific testimony. Both types of witnesses will be compensated based on negotiations with a federal government attorney. As of 2020, approximately 19,000 witnesses and family members had been protected by

2480-590: The retirement of Johnny Carson in favor of Jay Leno the previous year. Letterman signed with CBS to do a late-night program which would compete head-to-head with The Tonight Show , and which would also compete with Hall's program. Unlike the situation that prevailed when he was competing against Sajak, Hall was now up against one of the most popular hosts in late night television. Several CBS stations, including WBBM-TV, dropped Hall's show when Late Show with David Letterman debuted in August or pushed it back further in

2542-697: The same title. " Things That Make You Go Hmmm... " reached No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Arsenio Hall Show, which premiered on 135 stations nationwide, was aimed primarily at, although not limited to, the younger urban audience. Eddie Murphy (a personal friend of Hall's), George Lopez and other performers were often featured, such as semi-regular guests including Andrew Dice Clay and Paula Abdul . The show quickly appealed to young people of all races and began to attract

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2604-462: The series with its host, singer/actress Nia Peeples , and it debuted on January 7, 1991, in syndication (usually following its parent series). Although initial ratings were high, especially in its larger markets, The Party Machine began sliding in the ratings quickly and the program was cancelled five months after its debut. Its final episode aired on September 15, 1991. Paramount Domestic Television Paramount Domestic Television ( PDT )

2666-435: The series, there were notable guests and several special episodes, including the 1000th show. Emmy Awards NAACP Image Awards People's Choice Awards In 1990, Hall decided to develop a companion program to his own as what he termed to be his show's "afterparty". This idea became The Party Machine , a 30-minute late night music show in the same vein as shows like Club MTV or Soul Train . Hall co-produced

2728-404: The show in early 1999. Paramount subsequently gave up on the variety format altogether and did not attempt it again before its television operations were folded into those of CBS. In the 2000s, VH1 aired a repacked version of the show called Arsenio Jams featuring musical performances and select interviews from the show's first run. In May 2012, Hall was said to be shopping around an idea for

2790-416: The show's host (in which she held the "O" in "Arsenio" for a long as five seconds right before Hall came out onto the stage, and then in the same breath, finally/immediately announced, "HALL!") was also a staple of the show. In mid-October 2013, executive producer Neal Kendeall stepped down due to creative differences. The senior VP of programming and development, Eric Pankowski, took over while Hall conducted

2852-702: The states to enable them to provide similar services. The precursor to WITSEC was the Federal Witness Protection Program, created in the mid-1960s by Gerald Shur , the attorney in charge of the Intelligence and Special Services Unit of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice. Most witnesses are protected by the United States Marshals Service under

2914-697: The studio audience in rows behind/near the band, called the "Dog Pound", based on the Dawg Pound fan section of Cleveland Stadium and later FirstEnergy Stadium of the Cleveland Browns National Football League team. Members of the original band called "the Posse" included John B. Williams, Starr Parodi , Peter Maunu, Terri Lyne Carrington (later replaced by Chuck Morris) who were led by jazz pianist Michael Wolff , jubilantly interacted with Hall, standing up and making

2976-552: The talk show, which was aired from 1991 to 1998. After that company was sold to Viacom in 1994, it absorbed the distribution functions of Viacom Enterprises the next year. Viacom had distributed the classic CBS library which included the pre-1960 Desilu library, alongside series from Viacom Productions and Carsey-Werner Productions library (Paramount lost the rights to the latter library in late 1994 when Carsey-Werner formed its own in-house distribution unit). PDT also gained syndication rights to series from MTV Networks with

3038-408: The updated show were mixed since its premiere week. According to Media Life Magazine , Hall's flashy, edgy and laid-back approach to late-night talk shows in the early 1990s was having little effect on audiences after its reincarnation. The New York Times reported the show had much familiarity and that "Mr. Hall's return to the screen was mostly a little sad. He is better than this and deserved

3100-400: The week before Sajak's, giving him a head start. While Hall's show became a near-instant hit, Sajak's show was a ratings flop and was canceled after little more than a year. Burton Richardson 's long intro of the show's host (in which he held the letter O in "Arsenio" for as long as ten seconds just before Hall came out on stage, and then in the same breath, immediately announced "HALL!") is

3162-448: The year went on, Hall and Paramount began having ratings problems due in large part to the premiere of three late-night series before the year was out. At the end of the 1992–93 season one of Hall's strongest bases consisted of CBS affiliates. At the time, CBS did not offer much in the way of late night programming other than its nightly crime drama rerun block and its overnight newscast CBS News Nightwatch (later replaced by Up to

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3224-435: Was The Pat Sajak Show on CBS , hosted by longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak . Unlike Sajak, Hall benefited from prior experience hosting a late-night program, especially when compared with Sajak's lack of emceeing experience outside of his Wheel duties. Hall also had a clear demographic to serve (whereas Sajak was targeting the already-taken demographic that was watching Johnny Carson ), and his show premiered

3286-415: Was a ready-made replacement for Arsenio and after a retooling and expansion, a syndicated version of The Jon Stewart Show was launched in late 1994. Despite being sold to most of the same Arsenio affiliates, The Jon Stewart Show was never able to find an audience in syndication as it had on MTV and the show was canceled after its lone season as a syndicated series. After the decline of Arsenio and

3348-520: Was able to find an audience, was finally canceled in 1988. This group, numbering 72 stations total, included WTXF-TV in Philadelphia , a station that Paramount acquired in 1991 . In the summer of 1993, David Letterman , who had spent over 13 years at NBC and the previous 11 as the host of the popular post- Tonight Show program Late Night , left the network due to his dissatisfaction with being passed over as host of The Tonight Show after

3410-500: Was an influence on him and the late-night talk show competition in general, including the 2010 Tonight Show conflict between Leno and Conan O'Brien . The debut episode beat out all late night shows in viewership that evening. However, after its premiere week in September 2013, the show's record-setting ratings dropped 40% (falling from an average 1.5 rating to 0.4 with 18–49 target audiences). While ratings spiraled downward, show executives were optimistic. Critical reactions to

3472-590: Was formally established under Title V of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, which states that the United States Attorney General may provide for the relocation and protection of a witness or potential witness of the federal government or a state government in an official proceeding concerning organized crime or other serious offenses. See 18 U.S.C. 3521, et seq. The Federal government also gives grants to

3534-417: Was in production at the time) or actor Harvey Fierstein , Hall defended the show by saying that Elton John had been a guest. Increasingly infuriated, Hall added that he booked guests due to his interest in what they were working on at the time, not because of their sexual preference. (Specifically, in the case of Fierstein, saying that if he was doing something that Hall found interesting, he would book him as

3596-540: Was produced and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television and taped at Stage 29 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. The second series was shot at Sunset Bronson Studios in Hollywood, and it was produced by Tribune Broadcasting , Octagon Entertainment and Eye Productions. It was distributed by CBS Television Distribution . Hall had been a host on The Late Show in 1987, another talk show on Fox , after

3658-407: Was still airing on were not immediately inclined to move it back, which caused more of a dip in the ratings. On February 7, 1994, Hall announced that he would be featuring controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan . He had also booked gospel singer Kirk Franklin and his singing group The Family for the show as well and promised that he would give them both equal time on the show, which

3720-784: Was taped at the Sunset Bronson Studios in Hollywood , whose lot houses KTLA. As with the original series, Hall referred to his house band as "The Posse 2.0" which consisted of Robin DiMaggio as the music leader/director and drummer, Alex Al on bass, Rob Bacon on guitar, Sean Holt on saxophone and Victoria Theodore on keyboards. Additionally, Hall's opening monologue still mostly consisted of jokes about current events. Hall ended each show by saying, "I'll see you in 23 (71 on each Friday show) hours." In another notable difference from Hall's previous show, Diana Steele's intro to

3782-433: Was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television , once the television arm of Paramount Pictures . It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming , the successor to Paramount Television Domestic Distribution , Paramount Television Sales , and Desilu Sales . Initially, it distributed the back library of Paramount Television and

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3844-474: Was to air eighteen days following the announcement, as he had drawn criticism for even considering booking Farrakhan as a guest. Instead, nearly the entire show was devoted to Hall interviewing Farrakhan and he received widespread criticism for conducting what was considered too "soft" of an interview. This resulted in a further ratings slide during the fifth season, with the Los Angeles Times citing

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