Little Steven Invades TV With Super Bowl, Rock 'N' Roll Show

Posted on Jan 28th 2009 4:00PM by Nick Zaino
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This coming Sunday, Steven Van Zandt will join Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the Super Bowl halftime show, beaming into millions of homes around the world. It's a once-in-a-lifetime gig, but then again, Van Zandt is apotheosis of cool when discussing it.

"It's going to be fun," he tells Spinner, ever-cool. "Everybody should do that once."

While he's disappointed it won't be an all-Jersey Super Bowl, he's glad the days of pop-doused halftime's have passed. "I guess we have Janet Jackson to thank," he says. "Without her, there'd be no rock 'n' roll over there right? It would still be a pop music extravaganza."

If he has his way, the Super Bowl won't be Van Zandt's last television production. The former 'Sopranos' star hosts his own Underground Garage radio show, which has a potential audience of 38 million between terrestrial and XM/Sirius satellite outlets. And, he's looking to bring that rock 'n' roll audience to television.

"Our priority right now is to get a pilot on so we can get a TV show, reflecting the radio show," he says. "Shindig, Hullabaloo, kids dancing, bands playing type of show. We've been working on it for years, and we just have never been able to quite get one on yet."

Van Zandt's talked to several major stations about it, but he wants to find the right setup. It's not a stretch to see television marketing honchos tinkering with Van Zandt's vision -- perhaps some added synergy and another job for Ryan Seacrest. But Van Zandt says that hasn't been a problem in pitching the show.

"They know better," he says. "It's sort of the opposite problem, because most of them want me to host, and I don't really want to host. I want to have a younger host. I want it to be a teenage rock 'n' roll show. Maybe I'll make a cameo appearance or something."