Following months of speculation, Steve Harvey’s daytime talk show Steve is officially done at NBC. Sources said that the season finale taped this week is indeed the last that will be distributed by NBCUniversal.


This nail-in-the-coffin news has been expected for nine months, since the outfit announced it would instead be offering up a new talk effort from Kelly Clarkson in Harvey’s time slot. That blow came only a year into the run of Steve, a reconceived version of his successful talker Steve Harvey which saw the host trade Chicago in for Los Angeles, briefly shift focus to celebrities (a la Ellen DeGeneres) and, most important, get an ownership stake with new partners and producers IMG.


It was the latter bit that is said to have initially frustrated NBCUniversal, but Steve’s failings weren’t entirely behind the scenes. After initially struggling with the change in format, Steve lost viewers. Recent audience tallies for the show have it down more than half a million viewers from the original’s last season. The show was no longer able to crack 2 million viewers, falling to 1.6 million viewers in recent weeks.


That fact likely hampered IMG’s attempts to show the show elsewhere. But no markets have signed on for a post-NBCU version of the series, so its coming June season finale will also be the series finale. IMG and Harvey are said to be exploring other options for his relationship and advice content in digital, cable and SVOD.


In 2018, Harvey acknowledged the transition had not gone as well as he had anticipated. “I’m a die-hard believer in reinvention,” he said. “But sometimes you just have to leave the wheel alone, and let it roll down the hill.”


Weep not for Harvey. The 62-year-old comedian has no shortage of other gigs. He also hosts the syndicated version of Family Feud, the Celebrity edition on ABC and multiple recurring emcee gigs.