'Steve Harvey' to Return for Season Two

NBCU renewing talk rookie through 2016

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/10/2013 10:30:00 AM

NBCUniversal's rookie talker, Steve Harvey, has been renewed for a second season in national syndication, said Barry Wallach, president of NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution and David Goldberg, chairman and CEO of Endemol North America, on Thursday.

The eponymously-named show is currently sold in 98% of the country, including on all of the NBC Owned Television Stations. The show also is getting upgrades in Detroit, Phoenix, Portland, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Austin, Buffalo, Fresno, Ft. Meyers, Tucson, Honolulu, Des Moines, Madison, Tri Cities and Burlington, among many others. Steve Harvey already was cleared in most of the country in two-year deals,but this confirms the show will return next year. NBCUniversal also is actively extending the show with stations across the U.S. for three years through 2016.

"The instant success of Steve Harvey with the daytime audience is being greeted with long-term commitments from our station partners," said NBCU's Wallach in a statement.

"This project was a long time in the making and it would not have been possible without the incredibly talented Steve Harvey. His humor, honesty and insight were an immediate hit with the daytime audience," said Goldberg, also in a statement.

This season, Steve Harvey has been the only rookie talk show to improve over year-ago time periods, build on its lead-ins and grow over consecutive quarter-hour ratings in the November 2012 sweep, according to Nielsen Media Research. The show is averaging a 1.3 live plus same day household rating season to date and a 0.9 among women 25-54. 

Harvey, who just won the People's Choice Award for best new talk show host, also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program and syndicated game show, Family Feud, which is scoring its best ratings ever.

Each weekday, Harvey weaves universal relationship themes into his one-hour show, combining humor and wisdom to give viewers common-sense advice on a vast range of relatable topics such as marriage, romance, parenting, friendship and the workplace.

Steve Harvey is produced by Endemol USA with Harvey, Alex Duda and Rushion McDonald serving as executive producers. The show is taped before a live studio audience at WMAQ Chicago's state-of-the-art HD studios in downtown Chicago.