Steve Hightower and Regina “Piggy” Grier: An underrated classic tv will they\won’t they pairing.

Kendall Rivers
3 min readDec 23, 2020

--

Steve Harvey and Wendy Raquel Robinson

There have been many iconic television will they\won’t they couples that sizzled on screen and compelled viewers to watch the show desperately hoping for and rooting for them to get together: Sam and Diane, David and Maddie, Dwayne and Whitley, Niles and Daphne, Lois and Clark (Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain), Tony and Angela, Jamie and Fancy, Thelma and Reuben, Urkel and Laura , Zack and Kelly etc. And they’ve all been pretty iconic in this genre, though there’s one couple in particular I think often gets overlooked and that is the on and off courtship of high school buddies Music teacher Steve Hightower and Principal Regina Grier (aka Piggy which was a name Steve called her in high school due to her weight) from The Steve Harvey Show the WB 1996–2002 sitcom.

This was a relationship that had a lot of layers to it like the friendship between the two that was there since childhood as well as opponents in competition and of course boss and employee. Steve and Regina were perfect for each other because they were the exact match for each other: An alpha male, full of himself playa versus the full of herself, highly intelligent alpha female. A match made in heaven; It was this constant battle between them that kept them apart but entertained us in the process. But there was also just the genuine sizzling chemistry between Steve Harvey and Wendy Raquel Robinson that just made this relationship one to root for. Two educated, smart and beautiful black people with sexual energy was captivating to 1990’s to early 2000’s audiences:

There was such spark between the two that most people never even notice that they never ever kissed throughout the entire six seasons of the show. It was a rule Steve had at the time due to being a devoted married man and he still wasn’t all that comfortable with acting so he couldn’t bring himself to distance himself from his character but so much. It’s a testament to the chemistry between the two that you don’t even notice this and in your mind you think they kissed multiple times.

With both Steve and Regina and the other classic couple Cedric Jackie Robinson and Lovita Alize Jenkins, black love was represented on both sides of the spectrum and was funny as well as romantic and sexy.

In short, Steve and Regina should most certainly be mentioned when it comes to iconic television will they\won’t they couples because it was a long journey but it was well worth the wait when they did get together and the show didn’t “jump the shark” but actually improved with the writers mining the relationship between the two as a couple trying to work out being in a relationship while balancing their work dynamic as well as two differing personalities. They just loved each other and that’s what classic television romance is all about.

--

--

Kendall Rivers

Kendall is a screenwriter who’s a huge fan of classic tv and movies. He enjoys creating good stories and characters. https://www.facebook.com/kendall.rivers.3