For a guy whose sitcom lasted only one season, Steve Harvey was certainly a popular guy this year.
Popular enough so that not one but two programmers were pursuing him to go back on the air with another half-hour comedy. In the end, it was fledgling network-wannabe the WB that won out over ABC for Harvey's services.And that was at least in part due to the fact that it was ABC that unceremoniously dumped Harvey's "Me and the Boys" in the spring of 1995. This despite the fact that ABC had given the comedian a commitment to air six episodes of a new sitcom he was developing.
Not that Harvey has any regrets about foresaking a major network for a pseudo-network whose future is still decidedly in doubt.
"It was a great trade, if you look at it," Harvey said here this week at the Television Critics Association's annual July press tour. "It's always better to be someplace somebody wants you than a place somebody don't want you. That's a good deal.
"That's like going from a foster home back to your real parents."
According to Harvey, making the switch was easy.
"I operate strictly on money. So if you got money, you can pretty much snatch me," he said. "I'll be at your house if you've got 10 thousand more a week. I'll entertain you and your little family."
Actually, it wasn't quite that easy. The WB's head of programming, Garth Ancier, had to do some convincing to get Harvey to come aboard. And there was that deal that the comedian had with ABC. As a matter of fact, ABC Entertainment Chairman Ted Har-bert told critics earlier this year that he was committed to getting Harvey back on the air on his network.
"Because ABC believed in Steve Harvey so much it took . . . about four months of romancing, including myself flying down to Dallas and having lunch with him to get him out of ABC," Ancier said. "Literally, we had to get him out of his commitment at ABC."
But, if you listen to Harvey, it's obvious that he's rather bitter about what happened to his previous sit-com.
"The network made the decision to take it off. I think it was an idiotic decision," Harvey said. "My parents are still upset about it. My mama's 81 - she purchased a handgun because of this. And that could mean trouble for all of us, 'cause my mama can't see that good. So some of y'all could be mistaken for ABC network execs one day. Get shot down in the parking lot, coming out of a convenience store.
"They're not going to send my mama to jail 'cause she's 81. Why she needs to do jail time just 'cause you got shot?"
As a matter of fact, "Boys" was canceled although shows that drew lower ratings remained on the ABC schedule. Harvey and his show got caught in a push by ABC to compete with NBC for 18-to-49-year-old viewers - and ABC's decision to drop shows that appealed mostly to kids.
"There was nothing wrong with `Me and the Boys.' I mean, it did numbers, which is what they tell you you have to do to stay on television," Harvey said. "My father taught me something a long time ago. He said, `You dance with who brung you.' ABC forgot what got them where they were - family program-ming. . . . They forgot about the family. They think that the family is so torn up in America that they don't need entertainment no more. But people do still sit down with their kids and watch TV. I watch TV with my kids. So WB is filling a niche."
And Harvey isn't angry with everyone at his former network.
"ABC fought a long time, but I'm very appreciative that everybody at ABC was not against `Me and the Boys' or Steve Harvey, just a couple of key decision-makers," he said. "Some of the people who I became friends with were able to do some things to help loosen the deal up. . . . But that's only because a lot of people at ABC really did like myself and my wife, Mary, and really wanted us to do well. And thought that it would be a better opportunity for us if they just let us go."
His decision to leave ABC was also based on the fact that he couldn't agree with the network about who would produce his new sitcom.
"I wanted to have a hand in who I wanted to do this next deal with. I wanted to be part of that selection process. And Garth Ancier gave me that opportunity," Harvey said.
"The other deal was just - `This is who we want you to do it with.' And I'm meeting guys that couldn't have possibly captured my voice if I put it on a recorder and gave it to them. I would be doing some ridiculous mess, man."
Harvey knows the risks this time around, however. His "Steve Harvey Show" is certainly no guaranteed hit - particularly on the low-viewership WB.
"I think that if I get canceled again, I'll handle it differently," Harvey said with a laugh. "I don't think I'll be the gracious person that I was the first time.
"I'm gonna start fires, things like that. I'm going out in a blaze. I'm gonna go out kicking and screaming this time. Cancel me again, won't be no more meetings like this here next time."
SIBLING RIVALRY: Now that Angela "Bay" Buchanan has been signed as the new co-host of CNBC's "Equal Time," she's setting her sights on beating her brother.
Her brother, of course, is Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Bay, of course, is Pat's campaign manager.
Beginning Monday, Bay Buchanan takes the seat opposite Dee Dee Myers, President Clinton's former press secretary, on the somewhat adversarial political talk show on the cable network. And Bay will be following in the footsteps of her brother, who has been the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" when not running for president.
Bay Buchanan acknowledges that it will be tough replacing Mary Matalin. And she knows that it's her job to help keep the ratings up. However, she has a more personal agenda.
"I have another interest in having more and more viewers - it's called sibling rivalry," she said. "I've talked to my brother and found out what the ratings were for `Crossfire' when he was on, and I've decided that'll be my goal. We've got to beat those, see. I'm going to make certain we do such a good job that we can beat what he was able to do over at CNN."
Actually, she ought to concentrate on being a good replacement for Matalin. With Matalin in the seat on the right, "Equal Time" has become an enjoyable, informative show over the years. Both Matalin and Myers were able to get their points of view across without stridency, and there was a definite chemistry between them.
And Bay Buchanan has a reputation for being strident - a reputation she lived up to when she appeared before television critics this week.
With her on the show, expect more confrontations.
"I do believe that I will . . . feel that it is my responsibility to bring (the guests) out. And if I disagree with them, to really challenge them and to try to make a case for what I believe as opposed to what they are presenting," she said. "I think there will probably be a little more tension, but at the same time respect."
Stay tuned . . .
LOSE THOSE LOCKS: When "Brotherly Love" returns for its second season in the fall, viewers will notice two obvious differences.
First, the show is moving from NBC to the WB.
And, second, star Joey Lawrence has short hair. Really short hair.
"I've had long hair my entire life and, I don't know, I'm sitting in the barber chair and he said, `You want to crop it off?' " Lawrence said. "And I was like, `Yeah, what the heck.' So we did it.
"I don't know whether it looks good, but it's certainly a lot easier in the morning."
And Lawrence isn't the only one who likes his new look. The executive producers of "Brotherly Love," Jim Vallely and Jonathan Schmock, also weighed in with their approval.
"I love it, too," Vallely said.
"Well, we don't have to worry about the hair dryers and I don't even have to use a brush," Lawrence said.
"It takes an hour and a half off of our schedule," Vallely inter-jected.
"It's saving us thousands of dollars," Schmock added.
LEARNED IT THE HARD WAY: The executive producers and creators of the upcoming WB sitcom "Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher" know whereof they speak.
Dennis Rinsler and Marc Warren each spent 10 years teaching in the New York City public school system.
"We have a wealth of stories to draw on," Warren said. "We still have a lot of friends who are teachers."
And some of the more outlandish scenes are actually based on fact.
"That's part of the fun," Warren said. "Like there's a scene on the self-defense class (that) is actually true. They taught us in New York City to defend ourselves from intruders using a clip board and a Bic pen."
Who would've thought.
HOW'S THAT AGAIN? Al Gid-dings, an award-winning underwater cinematographer and the co-director and producer of the upcoming Discovery Channel documentary "Galapagos: Beyond Darwin" was completely unaware of what he'd said after telling critics, "I didn't have any problem at all being at sea. It's sort of familiar ground."