Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994 TAG: 9404220172
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Tom Shales
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Not to compare Arsenio Hall in any way whatsoever with communism, but there is a temptation to gloat now that Hall and Paramount Communications have decided to cease production of ``The Arsenio Hall Show,'' Hall's syndicated late-night talkfest. Hall, after all, was the man who said he was going to ``kick Jay Leno's ass'' during a particularly blowhardy moment in the ongoing Talk Show Wars.
In the end, Hall was undone not by Leno but by David Letterman, whose gigantically successful ``Late Show'' on CBS has out-performed even the most optimistic network projections. Hall's ratings have fallen as Letterman has thrived. In some markets, Hall was bumped to a later time and in others, dropped altogether.
Hall's youthful constituency largely abandoned him for the greater pleasures of Letterman and his bountiful bag of tricks. One of Hall's more irritating habits over the years was in repeatedly declaring how ``hip'' he was. When you're truly hip, you don't have to say it yourself. Although Hall kept abreast of all the latest lingo and jargon, and with chameleon-like proficiency would cloak himself in the fad of the hour, beneath all the stylish paraphernalia, there never did seem to be much substance.
He had another bad habit: declaring himself not just a symbol for but also the anointed representative of African American people. In interview after interview he would recall that upon his debut, critics doubted that a black man could succeed as a talk-show host. What critics were those? Surely no reputable critic ever expressed such a loutish notion. But by saying that, Hall seemed to be trying to make any criticism of him seem racially tainted.
That the program was an ego trip for Hall was never much in doubt. It was ``The Arsenio Hall Show starring Arsenio Hall,'' his announcer would bellow, and here is now, Arsenioooo Hall! Then sliding walls would part and Hall would appear in dramatic silhouette while the crowd went berserk.
They would cheer, whistle, stomp, scream and, of course, they would ``woof woof woof.'' Arsenio's show always was more bark than bite.
What was best about the show, its fans would probably say, was that Hall would book music acts that other shows shunned. The program kept up with the latest trends in pop and rap and other forms of music and beat the competition when it came to booking the hot young stars first. The production, at Paramount studios in Hollywood, was loud and lavish. Hall deserves credit for promising a ``party'' and delivering one.
In recent weeks, though, Hall himself has come under a cloud. He booked Louis Farrakhan, the incendiary Nation of Islam leader, and pampered him with the same kind of powder-puff questions Hall used on rock stars and teen-age twinkies. Movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert canceled a subsequent appearance on Hall's show in protest over the Farrakhan gig.
When Hall's show premiered in January of 1989, I wrote a largely negative review that prompted a personal letter from the star. It was handwritten in gold ink on black paper. Hall called me a ``dinosaur'' and said he was on ``a one-way mission to the top.'' I shudder at entertainers who think of their careers as ``missions.''
In the same review, I found CBS's late-night ``Pat Sajak Show'' to be not so good but not so bad either. Of course, it was terrible, and was canceled quickly. Sajak failed to carve out a niche for himself; it was at this that Arsenio Hall triumphed.
He made it to the top, all right, but now his one-way mission seems to be headed in the other direction. So what do you say? Let's gloat - but only a little.
- Washington Post Writers Group
Tom Shales is TV editor and chief TV critic for The Washington Post.
by CNB