TCA: Steve Harvey To Star in ABC Courtroom Comedy, ABC Salutes 50 Years of Disney World

Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey will star in ABC courtroom comedy ‘Judge Steve Harvey’ this fall. (Image credit: ABC/Ryan Berg)

ABC has ordered 10 episodes of courtroom comedy Judge Steve Harvey (working title), the network shared during its Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour session. With Harvey as the star, the one-hour unscripted comedy will premiere in 2022. Harvey “will welcome a variety of conflicts and characters to his courtroom–from small claims to big disputes and everything in between. Steve plays by his own rules, basing his courtroom on his own life experiences and some good old common sense,” said ABC. 

Harvey hosts Family Feud

Judge Steve Harvey is produced by Den of Thieves in association with Walt Disney Television’s alternative unit. Steve Harvey, Brandon Williams and Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager, Jared Morrell and Barb Bialkowski are executive producers, with Myeshia Mizuno the showrunner. 

ABC also announced it will air The Most Magical Story on Earth: 50 Years of Walt Disney World Friday, Oct. 1. Whoopi Goldberg will host the two-hour special. Christina Aguilera and Halle Bailey will perform in front of Cinderella Castle at Disney World, accompanied by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Anthony Anderson, Tom Brady, Candace Cameron Bure and John Stamos are among the stars scheduled to turn up.  

Goldberg is moderator on The View

The special “will take viewers through Walt Disney World’s humble beginnings in the swamplands of Florida and its evolution into a cultural phenomenon,” said ABC. “Through an expansive look into the past, present and future of the vacation destination, fans will get a never-before-seen-on-TV glimpse into the journey to bring Walt’s vision to life and a look at grand plans for the future.”

Disney executives past and present, including Bob Chapek, Bob Iger and Michael Eisner, will share their favorite memories of Walt Disney World. 

The special is produced by ABC News in association with ABC Entertainment and Disney Parks Global Content. David Sloan and Sally Conner are senior executive producers and Matt Lombardi is executive producer.

ABC also announced that season 13 of Shark Tank, which starts Oct. 8, welcomes four guest Sharks to the set. Emma Grede, CEO and co-founder of Good American and founding partner of SKIMS; actor Kevin Hart; Peter Jones from the BBC’s Dragons’ Den; and Nirav Tolia, co-founder of Nextdoor, will appear. The regular Sharks are Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary. Daniel Lubetzky, founder and executive chairman of KIND, also returns this season. 

Shark Tank is produced by MGM Television and Sony Pictures Television. Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill, Yun Lingner, Max Swedlow and Phil Gurin, Brandon Wallace, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary are the executive producers. The series is produced by MGM Television in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Finally, ABC shared that Anthony Anderson, Tituss Burgess, Laverne Cox, Marcia Cross, Anthony Michael Hall, Melissa Joan Hart, Vanilla Ice, Tara Lipinski, Haley Joel Osment, Donny Osmond, Andy Richter, Tori Spelling, Raven-Symoné, Nia Vardalos and Johnny Weir are among the stars showing up on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune this season. The season begins Sunday, Sept. 26. 

Pat Sajak and Vanna White host. 

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune is produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.