Steve Harvey's back on the WB this fall, in a kind of variety show they're calling "Steve Harvey's Big Time." And he'd just as soon we forget all those things he said about the WB at another press conference a while back, including, as one reporter put it, "that they were paying [Harvey] a lot less than white leads on lower-rated WB shows." "I've said a lot of things in my career in front of small and big audiences. I do best when I'm in front of 12,000 and up," said Harvey, one of the "The Original Kings of Comedy."

"The smaller the audience gets, the crazier my comments will be, see?" Harvey's new take: "I was dissatisfied not so much with the WB, just with television in general," where shows with African-American leads are undervalued by advertisers because they believe African-American viewers, who watch more television than some other demographic groups, are easily reached by buying commercials on other shows that also attract everyone else.

His solution?

"Advertisers must be forced, according to the ratings of a show, to pay the same amount of money for the ratings of this show and the same amount of money for the ratings of that show. They should not be allowed to decide within their little club, 糎e're not going to buy this show because it's predominantly African-American, and we're going to spread it over here because they'll go over and watch that anyway,' because then African-Americans don't get to make what they deserve to make when they have a hit show," he said.

WB executives, who seem unlikely candidates to help overthrow American capitalism anytime soon, were asked later what they thought of Harvey's comments.

"There is a truth in what he's say, that advertisers are trying to find people that they can't get easily," acknowledged WB chairman Jamie Kellner. "And they do pay a premium for those people."

On the other hand, Harvey himself may have less reason to beef this time around, since according to WB president Jed Petrick, his new show is proving to be a favorite among advertisers, and is being priced accordingly. So is Harvey being paid fairly?

"No doubt," said the comic, chuckling. "I have no complaints, man...the times I complained about my money, that's just part of the game, you know."