There’s a lot to be said for cross-promotion, even if it’s of the unspoken sort.
Case in point: Steve Harvey and “Family Feud.”
Harvey, who’s been (justifiably) getting a lot of ink this season for the success of his syndicated freshman talk show, “Steve Harvey,” also hosts the syndicated “Family Feud,” which airs here on Ch. 9 at 5 p.m.
Last season, “Family Feud” averaged around 4.4 million viewers — not bad, but nowhere near the 6.8 million viewers it averaged for the week ending Dec. 9. That’s a 48 percent increase from the same week last year, and I think it’s fair to say the ratings spike is due to Harvey’s exposure from his syndicated talk show (3 p.m./Ch. 4) — and to more viewers now aware of what he has to offer a daytime audience.
In other talk-show news, Britain’s “The Jonathan Ross Show” will make its US debut this Monday (8 p.m.) on Cinemoi (DirecTV/Ch. 259) and will air there every Saturday night starting next month. The show airs on ITV in England.
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“Who is the composer of ‘Swannee River’?”
Ch. 11 will air its annual New Year’s Eve/Day marathon of “The Honeymooners” (26 episodes over 13 hours — including the classic “99,000 Answer” episode referenced above) on Monday, Dec. 31 (11 p.m.-4 a.m.) and Tuesday, Jan. 1 (9 a.m.-5 p.m.).
And to think that a recent TV/magazine poll ranked “The Honeymooners” second, behind “Seinfeld,” as the best sitcom in TV history.
Are you kidding me?
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These are busy times for S. Epatha Merkerson.
The former “Law & Order” co-star (she logged nearly 20 years on the show) will, starting next month, host 10 episodes of TV One’s “Find Our Missing,” which spotlights “people of color — young and old — who have disappeared without a trace,” according to the network.
Merkerson, who’s repped by Bob McGowan, will also be seen in recurring roles on CBS’s “The Good Wife” (playing a judge) and in “Deception,” premiering Jan. 7 on NBC, where she’ll play the mother of Det. Joanna Padget (Meagan Good). In the show, Padget returns, undercover, to the wealthy family in which she grew up to solve the murder of a party-girl pharmaceutical heiress (who was once her good friend).
Merkerson is also currently on the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” — and will be seen in the upcoming Lionsgate release, “We The Peeples” opposite Kerry Washington (“Scandal”), David Alan Grier and Craig Robinson.
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Last, but not least:
* Monday night’s Knicks-Houston game — featuring the return of Jeremy Lin to the Garden — was this season’s highest-rated Knicks game on MSG (4.7 household rating) . . . Allison Hagendorf (The CW’s “The Next: Fame is At Your Doorstep”) will host “Times Square 2013, the New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Crossroads of the World.” It’s presented by The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment and streams from 6 p.m. to midnight on timessquarenyc.org, livestream.com and timessquareball.net . . . Out now on DVD: “Funny or Die Presents: The Complete Second Season”; “Elf-Man,” starring Jason “Wee Man” Acuna (“Jackass”) and Mackenzie Astin.