TVSquad

Hey, a lot happens in five shows. Let's get right into it!

COMEDY CORRESPONDENTS
Arsenio Hall was featured twice this week. His first appearance was in a segment that had potential called "This Is What They Said/This Is What They Meant." I was expecting to see video clips of celebrities, politicians and the like spouting their same bullcrap, and then having Hall tell us what he thinks they really meant. Instead, it was Leno reading quotes, including historically famous ones like Julius Ceasar's "Et tu, Brute!" The gag didn't make sense anymore, and even worse the bits weren't funny.

Luckily, he came back later in the week with an on-site spot at Yankee Stadium, where he interviewed players from both teams and even set up a bet against a Yankees player and Phillies fan Kevin Eubanks involving Snuggies.

Would you say that Arsenio Hall's show was a bomb? Yeah, neither would I.

But The St. Peterburg Times lumps Hall's show into a group that includes Magic Johnson, Chevy Chase, Pat Sajak, and Alan Thicke. They all hosted late night talk shows that never quite made it. And when I say never quite I made it, I mean they were gone in the blink of an eye. But Hall's show lasted about 6 seasons, and if I remember correctly was quite popular with younger viewers and gave Carson, Leno and Letterman some good competition in that demographic. I also don't agree with another statement, that Jon Stewart's talk show "sucked." I kinda liked it.

So will Jimmy Fallon's show be another short-lived show that couldn't compete? Or is it a different time now? A lot of people thought that another Jimmy, Kimmel, wouldn't last that long either. But it looks like he's here for the long haul.

Former talk show host Arsenio Hall hasn't been around much the past few years. He was a regular the last couple of seasons on CBS' Martial Law and has made guest appearances here and there, but for the most part he has stayed out of the limelight. Now Hall is coming back to television to host a new weekly reality show.

The show is called Funniest Moments and I'm sure you can guess what the show is without me even explaining it to you. Think about it for a moment while I go grab a cold drink out of the fridge.

As the race between Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barak Obama heats up for the Democratic party presidential candidacy, here comes news that should throw the spotlight onto Hillary...if she's savvy enough to say yes. During a recent visit to The Tyra Banks Show, Hillary revealed that "if (paired) with one of those really good partners" she would someday like to compete on Dancing with the Stars. When the powers that be at Dancing heard that, they wasted no time in sending the former first lady a formal invitation. While they acknowledge that the show is not currently in production, dancers from the show are performing around the country in Dancing with the Stars - The Tour. They invited Hillary to choose any one of the dancers and take a try at a cha cha, pasa doble or tango. Or, if she prefer, she could always call on hubby Bill for a pas de deux.

Okay, here's the deal. NBC Universal, known in the industry as NBC U (sounds like a university) is interested in producing a five-day-a-week, 30-minute version of their hit nighttime game show Deal or no Deal for syndication. They had originally wanted Arsenio Hall as host, but that deal fell through. So, NBC U executives decided to ask Deal host Howie Mandel to helm the syndication version.

Howie said no, and this has left network executives in a quandary. You see, stations have refused to commit to buying the 30-minute version of the show until a host is found. In addition, with Deal on the back-burner the fate of two additional game shows, Joker's Wild and Combination Lock, are uncertain.

NBC U can get Howie to be host of the syndicated version of Deal if they agree to his hefty asking price. Meanwhile, there are rumors that comedian Mark Curry is also being considered for host if they can't get Howie back to the table. I hope this all gets cleared up because I'd like to see a revival of Joker's Wild, especially with Arsenio Hall as host. I mean, think about it . . . 'Joker, Joker, Joker! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! (said with twirling fist in the air)'.

If tonight's episode of American Idol is any indication of how the entire season is going to be, then I think we're going to see a lot of great female singers and (unfortunately) a lot of gaucho pants. I was prepared for the talent, but I was not prepared for Randy's dawg pound. I hate the dawg pound. I usually hate it when celebrities trademark things unnecessarily, but I really wish that Arsenio Hall would have trademarked that back in the 90s, so we wouldn't have to put up with it now.

But enough of the small talk, let's get to it...