‘Magic Hour’ Third Failed Try to Copy Hall’s Success

In the final minute of “The Magic Hour,” hosted by Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a familiar, nostalgic and heartening sight materialized.

The Los Angeles Lakers legend, who had gotten the news just a few hours earlier that the plug was being pulled on his low-rated syndicated talk show, was holding a basketball. He was going to go out with a final shot to a hoop near the stage.

For a moment, Showtime was back. Despite losing his show after less than two months, Johnson hoped to leave on a high note with a swish of the basket.

The ball was on target, but it hit the rim and caromed off.

Game over.

The miss not only summed up the failure of “The Magic Hour,” but also may symbolize the end--at least for the time being--of syndicators trying to develop a younger, hipper series to do battle with Jay Leno and David Letterman.

The demise of “The Magic Hour,” which had been highly anticipated for more than a year but encountered a rash of difficulties when it finally came on the air June 8, marks the third failure in less than a year of a talk show that attempted to emulate the success of “The Arsenio Hall Show,” which left the air in 1994 after five seasons. “The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show” and “Vibe,” expensive, heavyweight projects that premiered last August to great hoopla, were given the ax earlier this year due to poor ratings and production difficulties.

Although industry experts had speculated that “The Magic Hour” might succeed where the others failed because of Johnson’s popularity and charisma, and his desire to attract a more mainstream audience, “The Magic Hour” was ultimately unable to overcome dwindling ratings and a heavy torrent of criticism that targeted Johnson’s diction and lack of show business experience, along with other comedic elements that fell short of expectations.

Said one major syndicator who asked not to be identified: “No one will take a shot on a black talk-show host to do late night for a while. Three have failed. That’s sad, because just because these shows didn’t make it doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity there. ‘Keenen’ and ‘Vibe’ showed there is an audience for this type of show, because viewers turned up in droves when they came on. They just didn’t stay around. They want a show badly.”

Bill Carroll, vice president of Katz Television Group, which sells advertising time on behalf of stations, added: “What we’re seeing now is an evolving situation. The failure of these shows is not one of concept, but of execution. Everyone made a reasonable try. That doesn’t mean someone else won’t try in the future. But I don’t think you’re going to see it in the short term.”

Johnson was asked in an interview following his final taping if he was disappointed that his fans--particularly in black communities where he has developed thriving movie theaters and other successful businesses--did not publicly rally against the constant lambasting of his show.

“I don’t look for anyone to fight my battles for me,” he said, with the slightest of edges in his tone. “The community may not have rallied around me, but the problem is, what are they going to do now? Now all three shows are off. They will have to find something else to do at 11 at night. There’s no other options now.”

“The Magic Hour,” seen locally on KTTV-TV Channel 11, will continue in reruns for another month. Then, Carroll predicted, stations will fill the hour with situation comedies. “Everyone will just go back to the old standby,” he said. “[Reruns of] sitcoms that may not have found a home before can find a late-night spot [now].”

Carroll said it would take “a breakthrough personality” to overcome the stigma of the failed shows. He said a talk show with Martin Short that is being developed by King World for late night next year may be able to attract a diverse, younger audience.

Other planned shows for daytime featuring Queen Latifah and the rap duo Salt-N-Pepa could also make the jump to late night. “These are being developed as more serious, topic-driven shows rather than variety shows,” Carroll said. But with the late-night success of the syndicated “Jerry Springer Show,” which began as a daytime program, those series could also make the transition.

“What happened before is that everyone was trying to develop an urban version of Leno,” Carroll said. “Maybe the answer is not to go that way. No one will be heralding the next Arsenio in the next year or so. All of his potential successors have gone.”

Hall was also on Johnson’s mind. “This should also let people know how powerful and good Arsenio was,” he said. “I have a new respect for him.”

Hall, one of Johnson’s best friends, made a surprise appearance at the final taping of “The Magic Hour,” and Johnson thanked him, Leno, Twentieth Television President Rick Jacobson and his staff and crew for their support.

Johnson said the final show was not difficult in the usual sense: “When you’re a professional, you go to work and do your job.” But there was also an obvious sadness in his voice.

“The only way it was hard was because of the people who worked here, who now have to go find jobs on Monday. That was the difficult thing,” he said quietly.

Of his own reaction to the cancellation, Johnson said, “I’m still upbeat. I took it and dealt with it, and I thanked Rick for giving me the opportunity. I’m the happiest man on earth, because I can’t believe I was actually doing this. I told Rick there’s no hard feelings, and I’m overjoyed to have had the opportunity. I’m looking forward to still being friends, and being a member of the Fox family.”

Johnson, who was one of the four executive producers of “The Magic Hour,” insisted that he was never crushed by the criticism of his hosting abilities and the show.

“I know who I am,” Johnson said. “When you know who you are and you like you, then you don’t worry about that. They want you to get mad, they want you to attack them, come back. I don’t do that because I’m happy with me.

“I’ve got too many things going for me. I enjoy what I’m doing and what I’m going to do. This show fulfilled a small part of my life. The other things I do are so much bigger--what I do in the inner city.”

He said this is not the end of his entertainment career. He still will keep his production company, and there will soon be an announcement about getting his own record label. “I have five scripts in front of me. They want me to be in movies. I might take a crack at that. Or I may get back into sports,” he said.

Thursday was a hard day for Johnson in more ways than one. Just a few hours after the wrap of the show, he boarded a plane to travel to bury his grandfather on Friday.

Nevertheless, the trademark smile was still shining.

“I’m not a get-down person,” Johnson said. “I don’t hold a grudge or get upset about things. Any opportunity I get, I feel blessed. And how many times do you see an ex-athlete hosting a show? This may be the only time.”

A booming laugh erupted: “I made a little history. I’m happy about that.”