Steve Harvey said that he was far from being upset after NBC canceled his talk show “Steve,” and he wasn’t going to ask the network to keep the show on-air.
The comedian, game show host, and actor made that point during an interview with The Associated Press that was published on Monday, Sept. 28. Harvey taped the last episode of his syndicated talk show in June of last year after its debut in 2012.
“One of my buddies called me and said ‘Maybe you should do a letter writing campaign?'” Harvey said about the advice he received after “Steve” was canceled. “I said ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’ People would say you should go up there and talk to them and sit down. I’m not doing none of that. I move on. I was on a talk show for seven years. … Seven’s a good run.”
He continued. “Life evolves all the time and it always changes. You got two things you can do with change: You can react to the change or you could participate in the change. I don’t react. I participate. I saw it coming. They had leaked it a year before that they were going to let the show go and replace it. I just went to work.”
Reports surfaced in September of 2018 that “Steve” was being replaced by Kelly Clarkson’s “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” something he blasted the network for at that time since they never told him about their plans.
But in December of 2019, Harvey announced that he would host a new talk show on Facebook Watch called “Steve On Watch,” which premiered on Jan. 6.
The show has been a success so far, with a reported 22 million viewers in its first season. The second season, which Harvey shoots from a home studio, premiered on Tuesday, Sept. 14.
Harvey said the move to Facebook Watch has been more than positive since he has more creative control compared to his NBC days. The “Family Feud” host also suggested that NBC treated him unfairly by canceling his talk show since the ratings were solid at that time.
“It was nothing wrong when the show got canceled on NBC. It was nothing wrong with it at all,” said Harvey. “The numbers were what they were. Anybody else could stay on TV with that. Trust and believe they can. Those same shows is on there with that number and a lesser number and still on TV.”
“I’m here to inspire people to never give up,” he added. “When the door closes in your face, quit standing there beating on the door. Some doors close for a reason. My time at NBC was what it was. It was a good time. I learned a lot. It really opened the door to come to Facebook and do something that hadn’t been done before, to take a full-fledged talk show and put it on the digital form.”
