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ARSENIO HALL IS WORRIED. IT'S FRIDAY night in Atlanta, and the hometown Hawks have just succumbed to a one-point beating by Charles Barkley's Houston Rockets. Hall stands midcourt in the looming Omni arena, waiting to tape a scene for "Arsenio," his new ABC sitcom. Faulty equipment has already delayed shooting twice, and tonight's close game, with its threat of overtime, has ratcheted up the pressure further. Hall, you see, has borrowed some transportation--well, actually, he's borrowed Steven Spielberg's Learjet--and he's worried he won't be able to return it on time. "It's like a kid with his dad's car," says Hall, flashing his famous mile-long grin. "You gotta make curfew."
At least that's one plausible explanation for Arsenio's elevated blood pressure. But underneath, one suspects, the former talk-show host may be more than just a little edgy over his impending return to the tube. Facing slipping ratings at the height of the late-night wars two years ago, Arsenio beat a retreat from his outpost in syndication. "After the show was through, I just wanted to stay home, read a book, sleep and watch TV," he says. "I took time off to live a little." But now Eddie Murphy's former sidekick is rested, ready and gunning for the Seinfelds of the word. "Arsenio," he hopes, will bring him the distinction he's long coveted. "I'm scared to think it could be No. 1, because that's probably not realistic," he says. "But all my career I've been No. 2--No. 2 to Eddie, No. 2 to Leno--and this time I want to be No. 1."
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On "Arsenio," Hall plays Michael At-wood, a sportscaster for an Atlanta-based cable net who, after 37 years of bachelorhood, weds high-powered attorney Vivian Devereaux (Vivica A. Fox, who played Will Smith's plucky stripper fiancee in "Independence Day"). "We almost called it 'Black About You'," jokes Hall. The pilot, slated to air this Wednesday, mines familiar men-are-from-Mars territory, coming up with a few golden nuggets amid a fair bit of coal. Mostly, it's Hall's dealings with characters other than his wife that make the show worth a look. Alami Ballard contributes a deft deadpan touch as Vivian's little brother, a devious Harvard-educated slacker who has "temporarily" moved in with the couple, while Kevin Dunn lends a regular-guy charm to Al, Hall's lovelorn colleague. The show's framework is sound; it's up to the writers to hang a more creative fabric over its central conflict.
All of which snits Hall just fine. "To work with a group of people to make things funny feels so good," he says. "On the talk show it was just me, me, me all the time, and that wore me out." Even so, Hall harbors no bitterness over his earlier show's demise. "They asked me to stay longer, but it was my choice not to," he says. "I have to tell black people all the time it wasn't a conspiracy against the brothers when I left." But the man once dubbed "Obsequio" does still bristle over criticism of his palsy-walsy interviewing style. "You have people today who are called 'nice' talk-show hosts and they get applauded," he says. "When I did it! was kissing a--. It's bull."
This time around, Hall has turned to some genuine buddies for advice, including the Incredible Huxtable himself. "Bill Cosby helped with a script the week his son was killed," says Hall. "It was such a painful time, because he's always been there for me and I realized there was nothing I could do to help him." Cosby's main advice to his friend was to get the best writers he could, and to never forget that "if it ain't funny to you, it ain't funny." With that guiding precept, Hall has embarked on what he hopes will be a triumphant return. "I know people have been wondering where I've been," he says. "It's good to be in a situation where I'm making people laugh again." So, if you like the show, go ahead and howl. You'll be taking a load off the man's mind.
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