History Trivia / FamilyFeud

*** Since Double questions returned, the question may be swapped out (or otherwise modified). If a family sweeps the first two rounds, a swept Double will almost always be less than the amount needed to win. If the Singles are split, a swept Double will always be enough for what would've been a winning scenario. If a team does win after the Double, a commercial break is added to the Fast Money round before the second contestant returns to the stage.

** Pearson was rebranded as Fremantle during Louie Anderson's third season, and its distribution arm changed to Tribune Entertainment. As part of the deal, Fremantle and Tribune sought to improve on the show's fledgling ratings. One of the factors was Louie Anderson who was shown the door at season's end. The team also replaced most of the production staff with fresh faces.

* OnlyBarelyRenewed: Ratings during the Combs era were modest at best. Both versions peaked in early 1989 only to face stiff competition from trash talk and tabloid shows which started dominating the airwaves not too long after. The situation had become dire by 1993; the CBS version had been cancelled, and the syndicated version was struggling to stay afloat. In a last ditch effort to avoid being cancelled in 1994, Ray Combs was fired and Richard Dawson was brought back. While this succeeded in the show getting renewed for one season, that season wound up being its last.

* WagTheDirector: In lieu of shooting a pilot, Louie Anderson convinced Pearson to sell his ''Family Feud'' performance in a different way. He invited his family members to the stage of one of his shows, divided them up into teams and had them play a game of ''Feud''. It worked, and Louie got the job.

** After John O'Hurley's firing, Fremantle's list of potential replacements aside from Steve Harvey included George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer and Chris Tucker.

** Music/DollyParton did a pilot for what ended up being the 1999 revival, but didn't make the cut. Gordon Elliot and Doug Davidson were also considered early on. ''Variety'' reported that Davidson had been hired, but Davidson would later deny that this ever happened.

** Richard Karn signed a five-year contract upon being hired to host. Said contract guaranteed a raise after each year. After the fourth season wrapped up Fremantle or Tribune denied Karn the raise for the fifth. Irritated, Karn terminated his contract a year early and left in 2006.

** Pearson was rebranded as Fremantle during Louie Anderson's third season, and its distribution arm changed to Tribune Entertainment. As part of the deal, Fremantle and Tribune sought to improve on the show's fledgling ratings. One of the factors was Louie Anderson who was canned almost immediately. The team also replaced most of the production staff with fresh faces.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The third syndicated revival was announced by All-American Television in 1996 who targeted September 1997 for a premiere date. This revival was later postponed to early 1998 and then fall 1998 before finally debuting in September 1999, All-American bought out by Pearson by this point.

** During John O'Hurley's final season, Fremantle hired an entertainment consultant[[note]]who had previously been the CEO of Tribune Entertainment, the company that distributed ''Family Feud'' from 2001 to 2007[[/note]] to investigate the show's sagging ratings. Fremantle initially believed it was a distribution issue; however, the consultant's report named O'Hurley as one of the key factors for the show's decline, which resulted in Fremantle immediately firing him.

** Music/DollyParton did a pilot for what ended up being the 1999 revival, but didn't make the cut.
** Ryan Seacrest was approached to replace Anderson in 2002. As he was already set for life with ''Series/AmericanIdol'', he turned it down.

*** Since the very beginning, Fast Money losses have been $5 a point which has only a fifth of buying power in 2021 as it did in 1976. To put this in perspective, a single contestant who finishes in third on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' can win more money than a family who loses Fast Money on their first appearance and gets defeated in their second game. Of course, that money has to be split among five people. Alleviated a bit beginning with Harvey's sixth season; all families win or lose receive a $500 debit card for playing.

*** Since the very beginning, Fast Money losses have been $5 a point which has only a fifth of buying power in 2021 as it did in 1976. To put this in perspective, a single contestant who finishes in third on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' can win more money than a family who loses Fast Money on their first appearance and gets defeated in their second game. Of course, that money has to be split among five people...

** During John O'Hurley's final season, Fremantle hired an entertainment consultant[[note]]who had previously been the CEO of Tribune Entertainment, the company that distributed ''Family Feud'' from 2001 to 2007[[/note]] to investigate the show's sagging ratings, initially believing it to be a distribution issue. However, the consultant's report blamed the host as a key factor for the show's decline, which resulted in Fremantle firing O'Hurley.

** Late in John O'Hurley's final season, Fremantle hired a former Tribune[[note]]Tribune Entertainment distributed ''Family Feud'' from 2001 to 2007.[[/note]] executive to investigate the show's sagging ratings, initially believing it to be a distribution issue. However, the executive's report blamed the host as a key factor for the show's decline, which resulted in Fremantle firing O'Hurley.

** In late 1982, The Great Game Company (which would later become [=GameTek=]) announced plans to adapt seven game shows into video games for the Atari 2600, ''Feud'' among them. Unfortunately, they were being developed just as UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 started and the plans were put to an abrupt end. Of the seven games, only ''Feud'' got far enough for a prototype which is presumed to be lost.

* BuryYourArt: Since Steve Harvey gained popularity, Fremantle has been trying very hard to hide the versions emceed by other hosts. Perhaps justified with Anderson and Karn as their runs [[TheScrappy aren't that well-liked by the fan base]]. Dawson's original run is the only version to air on Buzzr, although it can only be seen in the most dead of hours and Sunday nights. They also put a little-known blooper on their official [=YouTube=] channel the day after he died. Dawson's 1994 return disappeared from GSN before 2000 and has come back sporadically (a single airing after Dawson’s death, the 2013 Thanksgiving marathon, and the Halloween episode in a 2016 marathon as well as the Burnett vs. White episode on Buzzr). With the launch of a Family Feud Classic channel on Pluto TV, things may be changing for the better.

* BuryYourArt: Since Steve Harvey gained popularity, Fremantle has been trying very hard to hide the versions hosted by other hosts. Perhaps justified with Anderson and Karn as their runs [[TheScrappy aren't that well-liked by the fan base]]. Dawson's original run is the only version to air on Buzzr, although it can only be seen in the most dead of hours and Sunday nights. They also put a little-known blooper on their official [=YouTube=] channel the day after he died. Dawson's 1994 return disappeared from GSN before 2000 and has come back sporadically (a single airing after Dawson’s death, the 2013 Thanksgiving marathon, and the Halloween episode in a 2016 marathon as well as the Burnett vs. White episode on Buzzr). With the launch of a Family Feud Classic channel on Pluto TV, things may be changing for the better.

* OldShame: Since Steve Harvey gained popularity, Fremantle has been trying very hard to hide the versions hosted by other hosts. Perhaps justified with Anderson and Karn as their runs [[TheScrappy aren't that well-liked by the fan base]]. Dawson's original run is the only version to air on Buzzr, although it can only be seen in the most dead of hours and Sunday nights. They also put a little-known blooper on their official [=YouTube=] channel the day after he died. Dawson's 1994 return disappeared from GSN before 2000 and has come back sporadically (a single airing after Dawson’s death, the 2013 Thanksgiving marathon, and the Halloween episode in a 2016 marathon as well as the Burnett vs. White episode on Buzzr).

** Steve Harvey nearly turned down the job after watching a tape provided by the producers, where John O'Hurley didn't react when a contestant responded to "What is your favorite pet?" with "a cow". Producers discouraged Harvey from making fun of dumb answers, but after Harvey made the crew laugh while taping a mock game, they changed their minds.

** Episodes of the original Richard Dawson version with stars from ABC soaps playing the game aren't included in Buzzr's rerun rotation, likely due to clearance and/or rights issues.

** All versions, save for Anderson and Roker, have aired religiously on Creator/{{GSN}} since the very beginning, but the network seems to be taking it to new heights with the Harvey version, which has gotten ''obscene'' amounts of ratings for the network since it began airing in March 2012. As a result, it's the only version of ''Feud'' to air on the network. Not only does GSN adore the show, but Steve Harvey as well, calling him their "favorite host". As of January 2018, the Harvey version airs roughly '''100 times a week''' on the channel. Holiday marathons have been regulated into showing only Harvey ''Feud'' since it started airing.

** For some reason, any episodes of the original Richard Dawson version with stars from ABC Soaps playing the game aren't included in Buzzr's rerun rotation.
** The final two weeks of the original ABC run were like this until GSN.

* BannedEpisode: After Tim of the Bliefnick Family (aired on January 22, 27, and 28, 2020) was accused of killing his wife, all three episodes with this family were banned by GSN.

* The "clang" when answers are revealed in the main game was previously used for correct guesses on ''Series/{{Showoffs}}.''

** Steve Harvey nearly turned down the job after watching a tape provided by the producers, where John O'Hurley didn't react when someone responded to "What is your favorite pet?" with "a cow". Producers discouraged Harvey from making fun of dumb answers, but after Harvey made the crew laugh while taping a mock game, they changed their minds.

** The producers were concerned about Steve Harvey's ability to be consistently funny, as the show tapes nearly 200 episodes a season. The staff offered to brief Steve on the questions and provide scripted responses to bad answers; Steve declined, instead improvising as previous hosts had done.

** Later on, the original version increased the winning goal to $400 in Fall 1984. This wouldn't have been too bad (families tended to score over $400 anyway, and sometimes over $500), but they also added a ''fourth'' Single question. The reason for all this was to give Richard Dawson less time in his opening monologues and more time for gameplay, but this resulted in the games running ''much'' longer, the later rounds being more rushed, the episodes more subject to editing, and generally further emphasizing the show's age.

** Ryan Seacrest was approached to replace Anderson in 2002, but turned it down for ''Series/AmericanIdol''.