Woo-woo-woo: Arsenio Hall to host new MyNetworkTV show
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.
I’m back. Did you guess what it is? That’s right, it’s a funny “clips” show like America’s Funniest Home Videos or Most Outrageous Moments. The show will be an hour long and air on Wednesdays at 9pm starting this fall on MyNetworkTV, the network no one is sure they’ve even seen before but they probably have and just don’t know it.
Woof! Woof! Arsenio Back on TV
Arsenio Hall’s comeback is on.
The former late-night jokemeister has come aboard to emcee Funniest Moments, an hourlong clips-style reality show for MyNetwork TV in the vein of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Funniest Moments will premiere this fall on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
After the syndicated Arsenio Hall Show went off the air in May 1994 after five seasons, Hall struggled to retain his popularity.
He headlined the short-lived 1997 sitcom Arsenio and, the following year, costarred with Sammo Hung in the CBS series Martial Law. In 2003, he did a short stint hosting a revival of Star Search, popped up in a skit on Chappelle’s Show and, more recently, as himself in VH1’s Flavor of Love 3.
Besides landing a new TV gig, Hall, 53, continues to do stand-up in his spare time and is also lending his voice to the upcoming Weinstein Company animated comedy Igor, unspooling in September.
Japan: it’s the new UK
If you’ve had enough of shows being imported to the US from the UK, maybe some Japanese grown entertainment will work for you. On the heels of ABC’s upcoming Wipeout, and Fox’s Hole In The Wall, another popular Japanese game show could be crossing the Pacific.
Vin Di Bona Productions, of America’s Funniest Home Videos fame, has acquired the rights to Masquerade (Kasou Taishou). The show, which the linked article calls Japan’s longest running hit series, finds contestants using costumes, props, and sets to create performances that trick the eye. Sound confusing? I thought so too. There are a couple videos of just what that entails after the jump. Having now watched them, it is an interesting concept, but I don’t see it being an idea that works as a weekly series. As far as I can tell, it’s only done a couple of times a year in Japan. That sounds much more reasonable to me. Of course, I never would have guessed that dad getting hit in the nuts with a Wiffle ball bat would still be working after 19 years either.
[ via Reuters ]
ABC to Wipe Out with new reality show
If you love America’s Funniest Home Videos — and I know a lot of you do because the show’s been running since 1989 — you’re the likely target audience for something new from the network. ABC plans to produce Wipe Out, a new reality competition from producer Matt Kunitz (Fear Factor).
The idea for the show is to create — rather than collect a la AFHV — spills, splats, crashes and wipe outs ever seen on TV. Endemol USA (Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100) is producing the show for ABC.
The goal will be chuckles, not broken bones, but you never know what’ll happen when 24 contestants vie against each other in a progressively more complicated and difficult obstacle course. The number is eventually narrowed down to four combatants who enter the Wipe Out Zone, a variation of the Thunderdome (without the threat of death). He or she that emerges from the Zone will win $50,000. That’s at the end of every episode.
John Anderson, a familiar face from ESPN’s SportsCenter has been tapped at the host alongside Jill Wagner. Jill, by the way, is an actress. She played Larrin on Stargate: Atlantis and Krista Starr on Blade: The Series.