This Is the Real Reason 'Steve' Isn't Coming Back to Daytime Television

For several years, it seemed like Steve Harvey was appearing on a TV show every hour of the day. He had a daytime talk show, he was the host of Family Feud, and he was the emcee of competitions like Miss Universe and Fox's New Year's Eve program. But, The Steve Harvey Show  mysteriously disappeared from the daytime lineup in the spring of 2019, and fans were wondering why the successful show no longer was airing.

What happened to The Steve Harvey Show? The insane reason why the show will no longer air (and it has nothing to do with ratings), the show that already replaced it, and what Steve himself had to say on the matter. 

After seven popular seasons, it appeared as if Steve's talk show would end on his terms. But, the show was canceled on somewhat short notice back in June, leading Steve to feel a little burned by NBC, the network that carried it. 

Speculation over the real reason for the cancellation was circulating, and it became clear that NBCUniversal's disagreements with IMG Original Content were the cause. IMG Content took over the show during its fifth season, and could not come to an agreement with NBC to keep the show on the air.

The Steve Harvey Show began airing in 2012, and it was filmed in Chicago as a pseudo-replacement after the end of Oprah Winfrey's show. The ratings were stellar, which was a rarity for new daytime TV. By 2016, Steve signed a deal with IMG to move the show to California, and alter the format, even renaming the series Steve.

Steve was more centered on getting celebrity guests and having fun game segments, similar to Ellen. The new format was certainly more expensive to produce, and Steve was directly competing with shows he had stood apart from before. 

NBC still was the distributor of the show, but there was bad blood between the network and IMG for how the transition was handled.

After NBC chose not to renew the talk show, IMG attempted to find Steve a new home at another network. When none of the networks wanted to sign an expensive deal to keep Steve on the air, the show was canceled. 

The real nail in the coffin for Steve was when NBC ordered a new talk show to replace his own. The Kelly Clarkson Show was given a big order by the network, an elaborate set, a fairly big production budget, and, most importantly, Steve's old show time slot. 

Steve claimed that he was ready to stay on with NBC, but he learned that it might not exactly happen along with the rest of the world when Kelly's show was announced.

"I thought I was [staying at NBC], until they made an announcement a couple weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly Clarkson the networks — that’s my slot," Steve said at the Variety Entertainment Summit. 

Steve said he felt blindsided by the news, since he was the only male daytime talk show host on the air who has lasted more than seven years. 

But, Steve does still have his hosting gig with Family Feud, and he noted that he's looking for other avenues to put a talk show out, including streaming sites like YouTube or Facebook Watch.