Steve Harvey’s new talk show is a hit, landing in second behind just Katie Couric as the most watched new talk show in the country.
With an average of 1.7 million viewers a day for the week that began Sept. 10, Harvey’s debut is considered the strongest debut for a new talk show since Dr. Oz started in 2009.
And the good news doesn’t end there for Harvey: his presence as the host of “Family Feud” has resulted in a 50 percent increase in the ratings of that venerable television institution since Harvey took over as host last year.
Combined with Harvey’s nationally syndicated radio show that goes out to 7 million listeners everyday and his two no. 1 New York Times bestselling books, “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man”—which was turned into the top-grossing black film of the year, “Think Like a Man”—and “Straight Talk, No Chaser,” a strong case can be made that Harvey is truly the king of all media.
Harvey told CNN last month that though he was a talk show novice, he was going to put his fate in God’s hands.
“I’ve never done a talk show,” he said while backstage at his final standup comedy show in Las Vegas. “I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I also know that God didn’t bring me this far to leave me, so He causes things to happen.”
Before his show debuted, Harvey was confident that he was offering something different to daytime television: a male perspective.
“I think the uniqueness of (my show) is the male perspective, which is missing from daytime television,” he told CNN.
“Steve is like that wise but funny uncle we all have,” Dawn Davis, Harvey’s publisher at Harper Collins said. “The one with sage advice at graduation, and a healthy but gentle dose of truth-talking at Thanksgiving.”
