Steve Harvey's New Show Excels in Stating the Obvious

Steve Harvey, former stand-up comedian, is riding a wave of popularity following the success of his aggressively marketed book, Think Like A Man, and the movie based on his book. Today marked the debut of his new talk show. It’s set in Chicago, it’s for ladies… Call it Broprah.

On the premiere episode, Steve smiled a lot. He was mildly funny, very polite. The topics tackled were pretty current. One of the producers, Alex Duda, spent almost ten years working on The Tyra Banks Show; the other is one of Harvey’s BFFs. They know what’s up.

BUT. Steve Harvey’s “no-nonsense” approach and advice actually skews more toward “no DUH.” For instance: In an “oversharenting” segment, he told a mom who posts pictures of her kids pooping and scribbling on walls to Facebook that she needs to scale back and not share so much. NO DUH. He warned her that when she posts pictures of her filthy house and her husband sees them, she runs the risk of making him reluctant to come home from work: “A man can’t constantly dread coming home.” Yes, Steve. You’re correct! That would be bad.

For a large segment that took up most of the show, Steve’s guest was Mike, the infamous dating spreadsheet guy. Steve Harvey’s groundbreaking advice for Mike? “Dress to impress. Think before you speak.” Of course, Steve Harvey has a way of saying these NO DUH statements like he invented these concepts, but since he’s saying stuff so obvious there is no way you cannot agree with him, the ladies in the audience applaud enthusiastically and you might even find yourself nodding your head in agreement. Mike wore shorts on a first date, and Steve and the date agreed that was too casual. When Mike said something about the date taking Steve’s side, Steve said: “98 percent of America is on my side right now.” Exactly! You probably won’t learn anything from Steve Harvey’s show, because it’s stuff you already know unless you are completely socially inept.

The success of Steve’s depends on women, since the daytime TV audience is largely female. And, as the Daily News reports:

But women trust him, he says, which is the main reason his self-help and life-experience book “Act Like a Woman, Think Like a Man” has sold an extraordinary 3 million copies.

Still, his gendered statements are the most annoying part about the show and his entire philosophy. Ladies may clap when they hear Steve’s dating advice — “Don’t ever talk to a woman without thinking first” — but, uh, NO DUH. And “don’t ever talk to a ANYONE without thinking first” would be a more powerful statement. The thrice-married comedian may fancy himself an expert on women and what they want to hear, but it’s a mystery to me why women accept his self-nomination as a dating guru. Even if the advice is obvious, haven’t we had enough of men telling us what to do?