The Steve Harvey Show


The Steve Harvey Show is an American sitcom television series that aired on The WB from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002. It was created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan.

Synopsis

Steve Hightower is a 1970s funk legend who is now a music teacher/vice principal at Booker T. Washington High School on Chicago's West Side. Budget cutbacks meant Steve also had to teach drama and art, much to his surprise. Cedric Robinson is a Black coach at the high school, and Steve's longtime best friend. The principal of Booker T. Washington High is Steve's former classmate, Regina Grier, whom Steve affectionately calls "Piggy", because of the fact that she was overweight in childhood.
Steve forms a strong bond with two of his students: Romeo Santana, a stylish, rich, self-absorbed ladies' man, and the equally vacuous Stanley Kuznocki, nicknamed Bullethead - acting as their mentor, and gradually, accepts them as friends.
In season 2, the show introduced a new character, a secretary named Lovita Jenkins, a woman who is fundamentally in the good mood, but nonetheless, considerably unrefined in terms of disposition. Cedric and Lovita begin dating, and eventually marry and gave birth to a child. The show also featured a succession of young actresses who served as female foils to Romeo and Bullethead; the longest-lasting of these was Lori Beth Denberg as the overachieving, socially inept Lydia Gutman. Rapper The Lady of Rage also had a recurring role as Coretta "The Ox" Cox, a physically massive, brutish teenage girl in romantic pursuit of Romeo. Coretta would call Bullethead a "broke Brad Pitt" whenever he annoyed her, but would usually refer to Lydia as "Linda", "Lisa", or "Lucy".
Steve was part of a fictional music group called "Steve Hightower and the High Tops," who would temporarily reunite to perform on occasion. The members consisted of Steve, T-Bone, Pretty Tony, and Clyde. Two of their signature songs were "When the Funk Hits the Fan", and "Break Me Off a Piece of That Funk." Though Cedric was not an original member of the group, he usually sang with them on several events.
Minor recurring characters throughout the series included Cedric's grandmother named "Grandma Puddin'" and Regina's boyfriend, former NFL star Warrington Steele. Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell appeared in several episodes as "Junior" and "Vincent". Wayne Wilderson played Byron, a "bougie" type character who was a television producer and a member of the Onyx Club. Dwayne Adway played Jordan Maddox, a professional basketball player who was briefly married to Regina before dying during their honeymoon. Ernest Lee Thomas made a few appearances as the Reverend who eulogized Maddox, and who married Cedric and Lovita.

Episodes

Cast

Main

There were a few recurrent gags throughout the series. For instance, Lovita had several relatives named after products or items.
Steve also made several references to his popular hot spot "The Nasty Kitty" and his favorite working girl, Bubblicious, even though the strip club is never seen. Steve's topical humor of popular culture was also another recurring gag. One example of these puns: "When I see that woman, I'm like Shaq doing Shakespeare - I just don't know how to act!". Another recurring gag on the show was despite being a one-time famous musician in the universe of the show, Steve was always mistaken for being other famous musicians. For example, in an episode guest starring Jerry Springer, he refers to him as "That Cop from the Village People." Another episode featured singer Teena Marie, who when Steve went to introduce himself to see if she'd remember him, answers "Oh yes! Lionel! How are you? Give my best to the rest of The Commodores".
Occasional gags referenced Bullethead's trailer park lifestyle, and Romeo's full name. In one episode, he wrote all of his names on paper but not prepared his assignment, resulting in an "F". Lydia almost always displayed an obsession for her allegedly classmate, Arthur Rabinowitz, and for her favorite entertainer, Barbra Streisand; however, she had total disdain for classmates "Heather the cheerleader" and "Jennifer the cheerleader". One other gag was that teachers would explain to a student because of a condition or appearance.

Seasonal ratings in the United States

Series end

In 2001, Harvey decided to pursue other projects. He wished to end the show after the fifth season, but at the insistence of the WB network, reluctantly filmed a 13-episode sixth season.
The series ended with Regina mulling over a job offer to be a principal at a private school in California. Steve, who refused to go with Regina, acts supportive despite his feelings. Regina ends up taking the job; with encouragement from Lydia, Bullethead, and Romeo, Steve decides to go after her to reveal his true feelings. Lydia, Romeo, and Bullethead have all graduated by the series' finale. Meanwhile, Cedric and Lovita win the lottery and Lovita goes into labor.

Syndication

The series was first distributed to syndication to The WB, FOX, UPN, and independent affiliates in the United States by Columbia Tristar Television Distribution in September 2001, and remained airing in broadcast syndication in some U.S. markets on various local stations as late as 2008. From 2001-2005, reruns aired on New York's UPN station, WWOR-TV. From 2014 to June 2016, after Bill Cosby's rape allegation, The Cosby Show reruns were replaced on WPIX by reruns of The Steve Harvey Show. The show has started airing again in syndication as of 2015.
The series aired on BET until March 2009, and was on TBS in the United States until September 24, 2011, UK Channel Trouble. It was broadcast on Ion Television until March 16, 2009.
As of 2019, reruns of the show can be seen on BET Her and getTV.

Home media

In 2003, Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment released The Best of the Steve Harvey Show, Vol. 1, on Region 1 DVD. The disc features five episodes of the series.

Awards and nominations