Unfortunately, you're right on both counts, which gives you a better track record on this issue than Jay Leno.

It's not clear what circumstances led to his surprise appearance on Arsenio Hall's recently revived late-night talk show, but Leno showed up there in February to hand deliver an official-looking letter to the host. Leno read from the letter, which said that "this letter certifies that the Arsenio Hall Show is officially picked up and will continue for a second season!"

That suggests this was indeed an official announcement, and not just meddlesome speculation on the part of a now-unemployed Leno -- though of course it all could have been staged and Leno could have just been holding a copy of his phone bill.

And the fact that CBS, which produced the syndicated talk show, didn't contradict the high-profile news until more than two months later suggests that it was once the official line, but that the company just changed its mind.

A recent statement from Hall supports this theory. He's taking the disappointment in typical good humor and posted a photo of himself on social media (both Twitter and Instagram -- he's a good self-promoter) outside the show's studio, with the caption: "They picked me up for year 2. Then changed their mind. So I showed up today, to see if it changed again!"

CBS's change of mind is possibly explained by the show's ratings, which started fairly strong, but went into free fall afterwards. Indeed, in the two months between Leno's announcement and the cancelation announcement at the end of May, the show had lost another 100,000 viewers from its average, which represented an eighth of its total audience, according to the Nielsen rankings.

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