The executive producers of Arsenio Hall’s new talk show, Neal Kendall and John Ferriter, gave music producer Chris McDonald a unique task when he came onboard: Book EDM artists.
“We want to be the first show in late night to showcase EDM,” McDonald says, noting that Kendall and Ferriter are fans of the genre and not bandwagon jumpers. “Other shows can’t quite figure out how to translate that to TV. It’s going to be tough, but we’re coming up with ideas on ways to pull it off.”
McDonald, who will book musical acts and produce their segments, has yet to confirm an EDM artist for “The Arsenio Hall Show,” which debuts Sept. 9. It marks Hall’s return to late night after a 19-year absence — and the most significant aspect of his return is that it’s through syndication and not a single network.
CBS Television Distribution sold the show with the Tribune Broadcasting station group signing up nearly a year ago to guarantee its launch. The show will air in the top 30 markets — WPIX in New York, KTLA in Los Angeles, WGN in Chicago — but to get that level of coverage means counting Manchester, N.H., for Boston; Hagerstown, Md., for Washington, D.C.; and Canton, Ohio, for Hall’s hometown of Cleveland.
“You don’t get to walk back in at the top of the mountain,” Hall says. “I don’t have [Jay] Leno money or [Jimmy] Kimmel money. I’m squeezing every inch of it. Instead of coming to the studio in a limo like I did in the last year of my show, I arrive in my Chevy Volt. Bottom line is, you have to cut every line.”
McDonald, who booked musicians for Tavis Smiley’s PBS show, refers to his approach for Smiley’s program as “MTV Unplugged”-inspired. “We want to be able to create the B-side or remix version of a song. Not necessarily with all of the acts, just some,” McDonald says. “When an artist comes on our show it has to be a different experience. We don’t care if we’re first or last.”
Hall is keenly aware that the demographic he appealed to in the early 1990s, when his competition was mainly Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show,” is being served by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Jimmy Fallon, who’ll take over “The Tonight Show” about five months into Hall’s inaugural season. He’s a big fan of Fallon’s “Late Night” — “the vivacity and the love for what he does, his musical tastes, his approach to comedy” — and believes success in the late-night ratings battles will be won by the hosts who best bring their personalities to the fore.
One way he’ll do that is by interviewing musicians more often than his competitors and bring on artists not necessarily in an album cycle, but haven’t been heard or interviewed on TV, such as Warner Bros. guitarist/singer Gary Clark Jr., who’s booked for October.
“My plan is to not take away from anyone. It’s to find an audience that thinks they don’t have a show,” Hall says. “The youngest [average] demo in late night, they will tell you, is 49. I say, ‘I know there are people with TVs who are under 48.’
“Everybody looks at the format as if it’s this scientific kind of thing,” Hall adds. “My taste is going to be part of the mix, and I stepped back into the business to present what’s ahead of the curve to a new generation. You can’t come back with a ’95 attitude in a 2013 suit. So the deal is to surround myself with everybody from Chris McDonald to my 13-year-old son-have people around me who can give me things to think about so I can grow.”