Family Feud
Categories: 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | Goodson-Todman game shows | Game shows | Television spin-offs | ABC network shows | CBS network shows
| Family Feud | |
| Image:S7 C.jpg | |
| Format | Game show |
| Run time | approx. 0:30 (per episode) |
| Creator | Mark Goodson & Bill Todman |
| Starring | Richard Dawson; Ray Combs; Louie Anderson; Richard Karn |
| Country | USA |
| Network | ABC, CBS, syndication |
| Original run | (July 12, 1976 - June 14, 1985) (July 4, 1988 – September 8, 1995) (September 20, 1999 - ) |
| No. of episodes | ABC: 2,311
syndicated 1977-1985: 976 |
Family Feud is a popular television game show in the USA that pits two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey-type question posed of 100 people.
Contents |
Broadcast/show history
The Richard Dawson/ABC era
The longest running and most popular version of Family Feud, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, was hosted by Richard Dawson. The daytime version debuted on ABC on July 12, 1976. A nighttime syndicated version debuted in September 1977; it originally aired as a weekly series before expanding to two nights a week in January 1979 and to five nights a week in September 1980. Goodson originated the idea for Feud from one of his other hit game shows, CBS's Match Game. The first half of the "Super Match" round of Match Game included a studio audience survey where audience members gave their answers to a fill-in-the-blank phrase. The top three responses to that phrase were concealed on the board, and the contestant won more money by choosing a more popular answer. Family Feud was spun off from this survey concept. Dawson, the first host of Feud, was a regular panelist on Match Game.
The first pilot in 1975 was exactly the same in gameplay format as the version that came to air. The set was done in the same colors and style than the final version, but it was much smaller and closer together.
Family Feud was the highest-rated daytime game show for two seasons (1977-78 and 1978-79) until CBS's The Price is Right surpassed it. It was also the highest-rated syndicated game show from 1978 until 1984, when Wheel of Fortune took over the top spot. In May 1978, during the height of the show's popularity, ABC aired the first in a series of All-Star Family Feud prime time specials where teams of celebrities -- often the cast members of a television show -- played the game to raise money for various charities. The show won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Game Show in 1977, while Dawson won the Daytime Emmy for Best Host or Hostess in a Game Show in 1978. Richard Dawson's hosting style was very unusual: for example, he almost always kissed the female players, and gave some of the women and their children lollipops from a special "lollipop tree" at the end of each family podium. This personable style made him very popular as a game show host.
The last ABC daytime episode aired on June 14, 1985, with Dawson delivering an emotional farewell speech at the end of the show. The syndicated nighttime edition of Feud continued for three months afterwards, before wrapping up in September after eight years. (Viacom, the show's syndicator, offered reruns to stations for one year after that, packaged as The Best of Family Feud.) In its nine-year existence, 2,311 network daytime shows, 976 syndicated evening half-hour shows, and 17 ABC primetime hour-long specials (1978-1984) had been produced, with $1,557,150 given away to charity on 170 celebrity specials on the daytime and nighttime shows, and $14,833,000 won by contestants.
The CBS era
On July 4, 1988, CBS brought the show back with a new host, Ray Combs. A new syndicated primetime edition premiered two months later. CBS expanded the show from 30 minutes to one hour with the addition of a "Bullseye" round to the show and renamed it The New Family Feud Challenge on June 29, 1992. (The "Bullseye" round was added to the syndicated version that fall, when it was renamed The New Family Feud.) On Family Feud Challenge, two new families competed in the first half of the show, with the winner playing the returning champions in the second half. The CBS version went into reruns on March 29, 1993, and was canceled on September 10 of that year, when CBS decided to give back the hour to their local affiliates.
At the end of the 1993-1994 season, Combs was replaced by Richard Dawson in an effort to boost the syndicated version's declining ratings. The show also expanded to one hour and used a format similar to that of the Family Feud Challenge, with families from the original ABC version playing in the second half of the show. (Some stations, however, opted to carry only the second half-hour.) In large part due to the OJ Simpson trial pre-empting the daily broadcast, the show only lasted one more season with Dawson as host, ending on September 8, 1995, after six seasons. After many unhappy experiences, Combs committed suicide in 1996 at age 40.
The current version
In 1999 a third version premiered in syndication with host Louie Anderson. In 2002 Anderson was replaced as host by Richard Karn. This version is still airing and is produced by FremantleMedia (formerly Pearson Television), who currently owns the rights to the Goodson-Todman library of game shows.
Host contenders
In addition to the four regular hosts, there were additional contenders for the hosting spot as well.
- In 1988, Joe Namath was slated to host the show, but when producers discovered Combs, Namath was soon replaced.
- In 1999, Dolly Parton was Anderson's main challenger for the hosting job.
- In 2002. Marc Curry from Don't Forget Your Toothbrush auditioned for the job.
Substitute hosts include Sammy Davis, Jr., who guest hosted one round during the Richard Dawson era, and Caryn Lucas, the show's contestant coordinator, who temporarily replaced Dawson for part of one episode when he suffered broken ribs.
Announcers
Gene Wood was the original announcer of Family Feud. Johnny Olson announced the pilot, Johnny Gilbert substituted once during the Dawson era, and Charlie O'Donnell, Bob Hilton, Art James, and Rod Roddy filled in on occasion during the Combs era. Burton Richardson has been the show's announcer since 1999.
Episode status
All episodes are believed to exist. Reruns of the Dawson and Combs versions currently air on GSN, while the i network (formerly PAX) reruns the previous season of the current version.
Rules of the game
Representatives of the family are posed questions that have already been answered by 100 persons. An answer is considered correct if at least two people in the survey had answered the question in the same way, with more points given for answers that had been given by more persons (one point per person).
Sample questions are "Name a famous George" or "Tell me a popular family vacation spot."
The participants are not asked questions about what is true or how things really are. They are asked questions about what other people think are true. As thus, a perfectly logical answer may be considered incorrect because it failed to make the survey (e.g., for the question about Georges, George Jones was a popular country singer, but yet his name did not appear on the survey).
However, the questions often result in funny distortions by contestants, who give off-the-wall answers. A classic example is, "What month does a pregnant woman begin to show?" to which one contestant replied "September" (resulting in such uproarious laughter taping had to be stopped). In the British version of the show, a question was "Something you wouldn't try, not even once." to which a contestant replied "Sex on a train!" In an episode during the Richard Karn-era, a question asked contestants to name characters on The Andy Griffith Show; it was clear that one family – through their answers – had never seen the show. Someone once commented that Family Feud measures the social fitness of contestants.
Main game
Two family members face off to see which family would gain control of that particular question. Whoever guesses the more popular answer in the survey has the option to play the question or pass it to the other family. (If both answers are worth the same amount of points, control goes to the player that buzzed in first.) If a family guessed an answer that was not on the board (or sometimes failed to respond), they would get a "strike"; three "strikes" would cause the family to relinquish control of the board.
The other family then gets the chance to steal the points in the bank if they guessed one of the remaining answers. Any remaining answers are then revealed.
Questions are played for double and triple points toward the end of the game. The number of double- and triple-point questions in the game has varied over the years; Originally, when the goal was 200, the format was 1-1-2-2-2. On March 5, 1979, when 300 became the rule, there was 1-1-1-2-3 (same as most of the Combs' era and also used in Dawson's nighttime show), but two weeks later, it changed to 1-1-2-2-3. However, in the early 1980s, the format was changed to 1-1-3-3-3, which only occurred for a short amount of time. When the score was later increased to 400, the format was 1-1-1-1-2-2-2-3. From 1999-2003, 4 rounds were played, as 1-1-1-3. In the fourth round (Triple), the team in control of the question would only give it up after one "strike". In the current version, the first two questions are for single points, the third for double points, and the fourth for triple points. If neither family scores 300 points after four rounds, a "sudden death" question is played. Point values are still tripled, and the first person to ring in and guess the number one answer takes the points for their family. In the rare case that this does not give them 300, another sudden death question is played.
Fast Money round
The winner of the game goes on to play the Fast Money round, where the host asks two different family members the same five survey questions. One family member leaves the stage, and the other is given 20 seconds (15 seconds before 1994) to answer those questions. The number of people giving each answer is revealed once all five answers are given or time has expired (whichever comes first). The player earns one point for each person that the "survey says" gave that answer, and at least two people must have given that answer to be valid.
Once all the points for the first player are tallied, the second family member comes back on stage and is given 25 seconds (20 seconds before 1994) to answer the same five questions. Duplicate answers are not allowed; the host asks for another answer if the contestant gives one.
If one or both family members accumulate a total of at least 200 points, the family wins the top prize; if they score less than 200, they earn $5 for every point (Example: 198 x $5 = $990). From the show's beginning until 1992, the top prize a family could win in Fast Money was $5,000 on the daytime version and $10,000 on the syndicated version. The top prize has been $20,000 since 2001.
Rule changes
Originally, the first family to score 200 or more points advanced to Fast Money. The winning score increased to 300 on March 5, 1979 (though the 300-point rule had been in effect for all but the earliest syndicated episodes). During the 1984-1985 season (Richard Dawson's last), the target score was 400.
The "play or pass" option was eliminated when the show was revived in 1988, and the target score to win the game reverted to 300 points.
In 1992, a "Bullseye" round was added, in which contestants tried to build up the amount of money they could win in Fast Money from an initial bank. One at a time and starting with the team captain, the players were asked a series of five Family Feud-type questions; only the number one answer was accepted. During the first half of the Family Feud Challenge, families started with a $2,500 bank. The first question was worth $500, the second $1,000 and so on up to $2,500 for the fifth question; thus, the maximum jackpot for any one team was $10,000. During the second half of Challenge and under the half-hour syndicated format, question values were doubled and families built on a $5,000 bank for a possible jackpot of $20,000. The "Bullseye" round was played prior to the first question.
After the "Bullseye" round was added, the format of questions was changed to 1x-2x-3x. In addition, the value of a answer that "stole" would also be added to the bank.
During Dawson's return in 1994, the "Bullseye" round was renamed the "Bankroll" round. Both families were given banks of $2,500 and only three questions worth $500; $1,500; and $2,500 were asked for a top jackpot of $7,000. Question values were doubled in the second half of the hour-long format, building on a $5,000 bank for a possible jackpot of $14,000.
When the show was revived in 1999 with Louie Anderson hosting, the "bullseye" round was eliminated and the "play or pass" option was reinstated. Three regular rounds were played, and a fourth round was played for triple points -- but the family in control would only get one strike before they lost control in the triple round. Some felt that this rule was unfair, as a family who won the first three rounds could still lose the game in the fourth round after giving only one incorrect answer. Also, in this version, a family didn't necessarily have to win 300 points to win the game. After four rounds were played, the family who had the most points won the game.
The one-strike rule was eliminated at the beginning of Richard Karn's second season as host in the fall of 2003, and the format of the game reverted to that of the previous versions, where the first family to score 300 points wins. "Sudden death" rounds, which are played if neither family reaches 300 points after four rounds, were also added that year. In "sudden death," the first team to name the most popular answer to a question would earn enough points to reach the 300 target score.
Versions outside the USA
The Australian version aired on the Nine Network from 1977-1984 and was hosted by Tony Barber, Daryl Somers, and Sandy Scott. It was revived on the Seven Network in 1989 and aired until 1996. It was hosted by Rob Brough. A celebrity version aired in primetime in 1990-1991.
A Brazilian version of Family Feud, hosted by Silvio Santos, began in June 2005.
The British version of the show, which ran from 1980 to 2002 on ITV, was called Family Fortunes. The producers reportedly claimed that they considered the word "feud" too confrontational. It was hosted by Bob Monkhouse (until 1983), Max Bygraves (until 1985) and Les Dennis when it returned two years later, before the show was moved to daytime (in 2002) with Andy Collins as host. Peter Dickson replaced Stephen Rhodes as the show's announcer shortly before its move to the "daytime" schedule. It was cancelled after this series. On October 29, 2005, Family Fortunes returned as the "grand final" of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, which featured Carol Vorderman and Vernon Kay playing for charity, along with their own families, with Vorderman eventually emerging victorious.
The French-Canadian version is called La Guerre des clans ("War of the clans").
A version in Colombia is called 100 Colombianos Dicen, which means "100 Colombians Say".
The title of the French version, Une famille en or, means (literally) "a golden family" and (figuratively) "a family to treasure".
The German version is called Familienduell ("Family Duel"). The host was Werner Schulze-Erdel. The show was cancelled in 2003 because of low ratings.
In Greece the show has had two incarnations; the first, broadcast in the beginning of the '90s decade was known as Kondres (Clashings) and was presented by Vlassis Bonatsos. The second, which aired at the end of the same decade, went by the name of Kondra Plake (a pun on "Kondres" and a cheap type of wood) and its host was Spyros Papadopoulos.
The Indonesian version is called Famili 100. Shown beginning from mid-1990s, it has went on to become one of the most popular game shows in Indonesia.
A Mexican version of this show is called 100 Mexicanos Dijeron, which means "100 Mexicans Said", and is shown on Telefutura in the USA. It is produced by Televisa, the dominant network in Mexico. It is hosted by the square-jawed and ever-smiling Marco Antonio Regil.
The Polish version is called Familiada (a merging of the words familia and olimpiada, i.e. "Family Olympics"). The host is Karol Strasburger, a popular actor.
A version of Family Feud has aired in Switzerland as of 2005. It is called 5 Gegen 5, meaning "5 Against 5", and is hosted by Sven Epiney.
A version in Venezuela is called Que Dice la Gente?, which asks "What Say the People?"
As of 2005, a version of Family Feud has aired in Vietnam. Thailand has had its own version since 2003.
Famous Quotes
- "Survey says"
- "Good answer!" Image:3strikes.jpg "Awwwww."
References in popular culture
- Saturday Night Live has featured several sketches parodying Family Feud. The earliest known sketch, from 1978, featured the Coneheads as one of the families and Bill Murray in the role of Richard Dawson. Later sketches featured Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman as Ray Combs.
- In Living Color featured a Family Feud parody in which the Jackson Family played against the English Royal Family. The parody also included Ray Combs who portrayed himself.
- Episodes of Mama's Family (with Dawson) and 227 (with Combs) have featured characters appearing as contestants on Feud.
- Sesame Street once featured Dawson as host of a Feud parody, "Family Food."
- A television commercial for Old Navy clothing stores in 2002 featured another Feud parody, "Family Fleece."
- An episode of The Jetsons pitted the Jetsons against the Spacelys in an all out war on "Family Fallout."
- On the British satirical gameshow Have I Got News For You, team captain Paul Merton made a mocking reference to the percieved stupidity of many contestants on the UK version Family Fortunes. Also, the "uh-oh" sound heard on the British show when contestants gave an answer which was not among the answers given by the "hundred people surveyed" has become a common reference point in British popular culture.
- A November 1979 episode of ABC-TV's Angie starring Donna Pescow featured Richard Dawson playing himself on the popular game show. The set featured on the episode was not the original Family Feud set at ABC studios but a mock-up created for the sitcom.
- A May 2003 episode of NBC-TV's Watching Ellie featured Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Ellie trying to win a vacation by booking a faux family with her to appear on the show. Richard Karn played himself.
- A Family Guy DVD of Stewie Griffin, The Untold Story shows a cutaway of Peter potraying as a perverted version of Richard Dawson. The cutaway shows him greeting with a contestant named Betsie, after he kisses on her cheek, he puts his hand under Betsie's shirt and touches her right breast, then the left one. After that, he asks her a question that she has to answer in 3 seconds.
External links
- The show's official website
- UK Gameshows Page: Family Fortunes (UK title of the show)
- Family Feud (1976) at the Internet Movie Database
- Family Feud (1988) at the Internet Movie Database
- Family Feud (1999) at the Internet Movie Database
- Family Fortunes at the Internet Movie Database
- Funny Family Feud answers
- FamilyFeud Family Feud at Game Show Favorites.com
- A single-player version at Uproar.com (Requires Registration)
- A downloadable version at Yahoo.com