Steve Harvey Loses a 2nd Gig—Little Big Shots
The week’s just begun and it’s already been a bad one for Steve Harvey.
Soon after word got out that NBC had canceled Harvey’s eponymous TV talk show, news broke that Harvey had also lost his NBC gig as host of Little Big Shots, a variety show featuring talented little kids.
According to People, NBC is replacing Harvey on Big Shots with comedian Melissa McCarthy.
“Melissa’s just an incredible performer and incredible comedian,” NBC’s co-chairman of entertainment Paul Telegdy said in a statement, People reports, adding that as a 48-year-old mother of two, McCarthy “will bring a completely fresh perspective to it.”
Harvey is 62.
But, as The Root noted in its earlier coverage about NBC deciding to drop Harvey’s talk show, the decision to boot Harvey from Big Shots may have had less to do with “fresh perspective” and more to do with a feud between NBCUniversal and Endeavor’s IMG Original Content, the company that produces Harvey’s talk show.
NBC lost its ownership stakes in the talk show under the deal Harvey struck with IMG and was upset about that.
In any case, the new iteration of Big Shots will air Sunday nights at 8 p.m., sometime after football season.
In addition, according to People, Harvey’s producers are working on maybe getting another network to pick up the talk show.
PEEP THE EXPLANATION OF HOW IT WENT DOWN FROM THE COMMENTS:
Steve lost his talk show gig because he burned the network. While he was lecturing on “playing the game” his agents were engaging in double dipping. There’s a quiet war going on between content creators, studio/ networks and agents. For a few years, agencies have been putting together “package deals” which forces content creators to only hire talent from their agencies and gives the agents a more significant piece of the front and back end which cuts into the overall budget and residuals. They achieve this by creating production companies. Recently showrunners and top writers fired all of their agents and started dealing directly with studios which as led to a “writer vs. agencies” war.
Steve’s agents sold him on that bullshit, and while his new deal gave him more money up front, NBC lost money on the deal. Since his show was getting OK ratings, they found more profitable. Technically as he hasn’t fired his agents, he’s a scab. Studios are taking advantage of the agencies being set back on their heels and are cutting every loose end. Guess Steve didn’t wake up early enough to read Variety.
A decades-old contract between the groups has expired without a new deal on the horizon; the WGA has filed a lawsuit against Hollywood’s biggest agencies, instructing Guild members to fire their agents.
https://www.vulture.com/article/wga-hollywood-agents-packaging-explained.html
https://www.wga.org/members/membership-information/agency-agreement/writers-share-their-experiences
https://www.wga.org/members/membership-information/agency-agreement/writers-share-their-experiences
