Arsenio Hall Show returns to mixed ratings

Arsenio Hall returned to late night television for the first time since 1994 was met with a lot of goodwill and decent ratings.

"The Arsenio Hall Show," which debuted in syndication Monday, garnered a 1.0/4 in the key 18-49 demographic, then dropped to 0.7/3, about a 30 percent drop in viewership.

But the show rebounded Wednesday, grabbing an 0.9 rating/4 share in the key demographic.

The average over three days, 0.9/4 in 18-49 and 1.0/4 in the 25-54 demographic, achieving a near tie with "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

"Leave it to the first black late-night host to take 19 years off work," said Hall, "and come back here and expect my job to still be waiting for me."

Hall had Chris Tucker on for his first guest, possibly on the same furniture from the earlier edition of the show, followed up by Ice Cube, Lisa Kudrow, Angela Bassett, Mark Harmon, Penn and Teller, and of course, Magic Johnson, in the first week.

And while "The Arsenio Hall Show" is focusing heavy on the nostalgia factor -- Snoop Lion visited, but performed his 1993 track "Who I Am" from back in the days when he was still Snoop Dogg -- other musical guests were aimed at a younger, fresher crowd -- Mac Miller and Ariana Grande are first week visitors.

Perhaps going forward, Hall will be able to find the sweet spot between celebrating the show's iconic history while moving forward -- and maybe it will involve Hillary Clinton stopping by during her presidential campaign to blast out a little Elvis on a saxophone.