Arsenio Hall’s much-vaunted return to late night looks
like it’s paying off… But with a caveat.

The Monday night debut of his new late night syndicated talk show beat every other
competing broadcast talk show, with a 1.0
rating and a 4 share in the key
adults ages 18 to 49 demographic, according to Nielsen.

And in Los Angeles,
where the show is broadcast on the KTLA TV station, the show was No. 1 in
its time period, with an excellent 3.2
household rating.

However, of course, this is only the beginning. Starting out with good
ratings is fine, but how will he fare during the on-going weeks? It’s not like
the old days when it was just him and Johnny
Carson. There’s a lot of late night competition out there among talk shows (and
don’t forget The Daily Show). The “nostalgia” thing he’s banking on can only take him so far, and might turn against him in the long run.

Furthermore, another serious problem he faces will be getting
good guests. Usually it’s easier to get big names as long as you’re doing well,
but if the ratings start slipping, it’s going to get much harder.

The next few weeks will determine if Arsenio’s show has a
future or not.