On Sept. 5, Steve Harvey is re-vamping his daytime talk show to be celebrity-filled. The newly-christened “STEVE” will be filmed in LA (“Steve Harvey” was in Chicago). This new venture has forced both his radio show and “Family Feud” to move production from Atlanta to L.A. According to the “STEVE” website:
“Steve” is where celebrities come to play in the daytime. It’s a one-hour variety show hosted by… Harvey featuring some of the biggest names in film, television and music. “Steve” will also feature funny and talented human interest guests, as well as daily audience games offering a chance to win big money and prizes.
The site also re-affirms the fact that Harvey is one of the – if not THE – hardest working people in show business:
In addition to “Steve” (Syndicated), Mr. Harvey is also the host of “Family Feud” (Syndicated), “Celebrity Family Feud” (ABC), “Little Big Shots” (NBC), “Little Big Shots: Forever Young” (NBC), “Funderdome” (ABC), Showtime at The Apollo (FOX), Miss Universe (FOX) and the hugely popular syndicated radio program “The Steve Harvey Morning Show”.
There are no reports of whether some stations have either dropped Harvey from their lineup, or added him in, because of the format change. [In the Upstate NY market I live in, “STEVE” will stay on the same station and in the same timeslot as “Steve Harvey”.]
Harvey has made plenty of headlines in 2017. In January, he returned to “Miss Universe” for the first time since he announced the wrong winner in Dec. 2015. During The Oscars “Envelope-gate” in Feb, Harvey was instantly mentioned by host Jimmy Kimmel on stage: “I blame Steve Harvey for this.”
In May, Harvey earned both the Outstanding Game Show Host and Outstanding Talk Show Host – Informative Daytime Emmys. Less than two weeks later, a memo to his talk show staff from this past Fall was leaked online. It included the following phrases:
“Do not come to my dressing room unless invited, IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED, Do not wait in the hallway to speak to me, I hate being ambushed, and Do not attempt to walk with me.”
Social media was divided on this. But just like with “Miss Universe”, Harvey knows how to bounce back: by shaking it off and poking fun at the “controversy” directly. In a new promo for “STEVE”, Harvey addresses suggestions from a Suggestion Box. He reads this from a card:
“Will you be doing more emails to the staff? This is actually from the staff. We just wanted to get a heads-up.”
Harvey then looks into the camera and says, “Really?”
I’m anxious to see what Harvey has in store. I’ve been wanting him to do more celebrity interviews since he began “Steve Harvey” back in 2012. Last year, Harry Connick, Jr. entered the daytime TV world as the lone “celebrity-oriented” male figure of the pack. Since then, Ryan Seacrest has joined-in with Kelly Ripa. Now Harvey is ready to put his stamp on chatting with A-listers.