On May 30th the world heard the news that The Arsenio Hall Show would not return for a second season this fall, as it was decided by CBS Television Distribution that the ratings were not good enough for the show to come back.
“While there are many loyal fans of the show, the series did not grow its audience enough to continue,” said a CTD spokesperson in a statement. “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.”
The show had struggled in the ratings since debuting strong last September, and despite the ratings dip there was an announcement in February by Jay Leno who appeared on the show and stated during the opening monologue with Arsenio that the show was returning. But it seems that despite that announcement, CBS later declined to rekindle the show.
The show averaged a 0.8 household rating in 56 metered markets, down 20% from its time slots last year, according to Nielsen. It had a 0.4 adult 18-49 rating, flat, and a 0.4 adult 25-54 rating, down 20%.
“When I started this adventure with CTD and Tribune, we all knew it would be a challenge,” said Hall in a statement. “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.”
When the show was canceled we were told by our sources that several other cable networks were looking at the show to broadcast which included BET, OWN and the E! Network. Now our sources have told us that the show is looking like it wont come back at all and that’s due to the costs of the show which executives were unable to trim down. We were also told that the show- while it seems to be almost dead- can be revived if some costs are cut completely.
This story is still developing.
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