Steve Harvey Hosting Showtime at the Apollo Reboot
Fox’s revival of “Showtime At The Apollo” secured host Steve Harvey for its December 5th premiere. Harvey will host the two-hour special and a second, one-hour “Showtime At the Apollo” in early 2017. The network’s promise of a future sequel to the special is a sign of their good faith in talent-show variety-hour mash-up at one of Harlem’s most historic theaters. There are no talks of making the special anything more regular than occurring annually, but Fox is more than ready to re-introduce America to the gorgeous Apollo Theatre.
Comedy and musical talents will join Harvey in a souped-up production meant to imitate the theater’s syndicated show of the same name from the 1980’s. The reboot will feature elements of the Apollo’s hallowed Amateur Night, a live competition in its 82nd year where fresh talents stay on stage as long as the notoriously tough audience allows. Whether or not Fox’s reboot will include judges, a staple in almost all similar competition shows that adds the bonus of drawing in additional audiences, has not been disclosed. Although an unsuccessful relaunch of “Showtime” was attempted in 2005, led by Jamie Foxx and piloted by BET, the original syndicated show ended as recently as 2008. Perhaps as an infrequent production, billed as a television “event”, “Showtime” will find more traction with viewers.
