‘Arsenio’ axed after just one season

Arsenio Hall’s comeback bid is ending far earlier than anticipated.

The comedian, whose new syndicated late-night show launched to strong ratings last fall, received a second-season pickup in February.

But on Friday, CBS Television Distribution reversed that decision, saying that the show had failed to see the ratings growth it needed to return.

“Unfortunately, ‘The Arsenio Hall Show’ will not return for a second season; while there are many loyal fans of the show, the series did not grow its audience enough to continue,” CBSTVD said in a statement Friday.

It is rare for a distributor to renege on an earlier renewal, but “Arsenio” simply didn’t live up to its initial promise.

“Arsenio” averaged a 0.7 Nielsen household rating and a 0.4 adults 18-49 rating in its first and only season.

That’s less than half the show’s ratings for its debut in September.

Though there was a lot of initial curiosity about Hall, who hosted a successful late-night show from 1989 to 1994, the hot initial ratings plummeted.

He was competing in an unusually volatile late-night environment. Midway through Hall’s first season, Jimmy Fallon took over as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

Fallon is drawing a younger audience than Leno attracted. That’s the same audience Hall was chasing.

Plus, the coming retirement of David Letterman, who will be replaced by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, will further shake things up. Colbert’s audience skews very young as well.

Against that sort of competition, Hall simply wasn’t drawing the numbers, and so CBSTVD decided to end the show now rather than risk ratings declines next season.

Hall’s not the only first-year program to be canceled this year. Here’s a look at how other new syndicated shows have fared:

“Bethenny”

The program hosted by “Real Housewives of New York’s” Bethenny Frankel was axed after just one season when it ranked 14th out of 17 talk shows.

“Queen Latifah”

Though her ratings are only slightly better than “Bethenny,” “Latifah” has been renewed for a second season.

“Paternity Court”

The show has also been renewed for season two after improving its timeslot over last year.

“The Test”

The season’s second-lowest-rated talk show has been canceled.

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