Line #92 Trivia/FamilyFeud


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2	!General trivia:
3	* The format for ''Family Feud'' was derived from the "Audience Match" BonusRound on ''Series/MatchGame''.
4	* Ray Combs and Richard Dawson both died on June 2 -- Combs in 1996 from suicide, and Dawson in 2012 from esophageal cancer.
5	* Creator/PaulAlter gained his fame as a producer and director of the show and in 1982 won an MediaNotes/EmmyAward for it.
6	* The original ''Family Feud'' was ABC's longest-running daytime game show; the network hasn't had one since the 1990 version of ''Match Game'' ended in 1991.
7	----
8	!Specific trivia:
9	* ActorAllusion: Cedric the Entertainer appeared on ''Celebrity Feud'', and of course, he and Steve Harvey reminisced and joked about their history together as friends, colleagues, and later, Kings of Comedy.
10	* AdoredByTheNetwork:
11	** All versions, save for Anderson and Roker, have aired religiously on Creator/GameShowNetwork 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.
12	** Any other network that has aired Harvey ''Family Feud'', such as [=TVLand=][[note]]which had never aired a game show before or since[[/note]] and BET, pays special attention to it.
13	** The Dawson version, for a time, was adored by Creator/{{Buzzr}}, though not too much anymore.
14	** Affiliates are able to air the current syndicated version up to '''eight''' times a day, with up to two of the airings being new episodes depending on the time of year (e.g. In New York, three episodes air on WNYW FOX 5 while five others air on WWOR [=My9=]). The latter six feeds are always reruns. More than four feeds for one program is unheard of; most syndicated programs only offer two feeds, though ''Series/JudgeJudy'' offers four. This is a major factor in the show's high syndication ratings, as Nielsen counts all six of its feeds cumulatively, whereas ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'''s two feeds are counted separately, and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' holds the distinction of being the only daily syndicated program to only offer one feed. ''Feud'' originally offered four feeds, which increased to six in the early 2020's, then to eight in 2023.
15	* BannedEpisode: After Tim of the Bliefnick family (aired January 22, 27, and 28, 2020; listed in most episode guides as Season 21, Episodes 100, 103, and 105) was accused, and later convicted, of killing his wife, all three episodes with this family were pulled from the rerun rotation both in syndication and on GSN. Both rotations now skip from the January 21 episode (Tucker vs. Scott, with the latter losing to the Bliefnicks the next day) to January 29 (Maher vs. Winchester, the latter on their second day after defeating the Bliefnicks). All three episodes can be found on the Internet Archive, recorded from GSN in 2022.
16	* BeamMeUpScotty: It's "survey ''said''", not "says", and it's only ever used in Fast Money (never in the main game). However, this is said in ''Series/FamilyFortunes'' in all rounds.
17	* {{Corpsing}}:
18	** Richard Dawson completely lost it more than once on the show, most notably during the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoV_kSe7Dk "September"]] round.
19	** Steve Harvey also has the tendency to do this. One time he got frozen up while delivering Fast Money questions and the producers actually had to stop the timer while he got it together.
20	* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: When ABC's official website announced the celebrities appearing on the 2015 run of ''Celebrity Family Feud'', one of the shows advertised was "NFL American League stars vs. NFL National League stars". The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague is divided into ''conferences'', not leagues.
21	* EditedForSyndication:
22	** Originally, some episodes of the Ray Combs version ended with the contestant plug phone numbers being displayed as Ray signed off. In later reruns, this was replaced with a generic pixelated shot of the set and spinning Feud logo superimposing it, with Ray's voice left alone. This practice continued into the Dawson '94 version.
23	** First season reruns of the Louie Anderson version edit out part of the end credits (namely the "Recorded at CBS Television City" and "Play Feud online at www.uproar.com"), with Louie saying "Hey, you can play Feud online anytime at www.uproar.com, get online!"
24	** Repeats of the Karn, O'Hurley and Harvey versions have the closed captioning vamp edited out.
25	* ExecutiveMeddling: Each version has seen shades of this.
26	** Goodson and Todman wanted [[Series/{{Concentration}} Jack]] [[Series/NowYouSeeIt Narz]] to host after their first choice, [[Series/ChainReaction Geoff]] [[Series/{{Starcade}} Edwards]], turned them down.[[note]]He did so for two reasons: one, he had been given a bad description of the show, and thought it would be like ''The Neighbors'', an infamously-bad ABC game show. And two, he couldn't have taken the job if he wanted, as he had a deal pending with Creator/BobStewart for what eventually became ''Shoot for the Stars'' on NBC.[[/note]] ABC Entertainment president Fred Silverman on the other hand pushed for Dawson whose contract at the time stipulated that he could emcee one game show developed by G-T. Goodson tried to avoid Dawson redeeming said clause but Silverman overruled him.
27	** In one episode, Dawson called out a sponsor for objecting to his UsefulNotes/RichardNixon jokes. ABC threatened to edit out Dawson's remarks, but when Dawson threatened to quit the show in response, the network relented and aired the episode uncut.
28	** In Fall 1984, the winning goal was increased to $400. The reason for this was to give Richard Dawson less time in his opening monologues and more time for gameplay. This backfired, as both versions got further pummeled in the ratings battle and were cancelled less than a year afterward.
29	** The reason Dawson wasn't invited to host the 1988 revival. After the backstage troubles Dawson had given the crew during his run, Mark Goodson explicitly refused to work with him ever again and suggested someone else when CBS bought ''Family Feud'' from ABC. Though football great Joe Namath was considered, Howard Felsher recommended Ray Combs during the 1987 auditions.
30	** Ironically, this was also why Combs was kicked off the show. When the Bullseye round debuted in June 1992, the show had already begun a gradual downhill slide in ratings, but after the round's introduction on the syndicated version that September ratings nosedived even further (see TheyChangedItNowItSucks on the [=YMMV=] page for more info). Instead of canning the round, producers found a way to insert more gimmicks into the show, such as celebrity contestants and special-themed weeks, yet ''still'' nothing worked. As a last-ditch effort, Combs was fired and Dawson rehired in 1994, revamping everything cosmetic about the show in addition, in order to try and win over a younger audience. This and the O.J. Simpson trial led viewers away from the series until it was finally killed off mercifully in 1995.
31	** 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 Anderson who was shown the door at season's end. The team also replaced most of the production staff with fresh faces.
32	** 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.
33	** 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. O'Hurley, who still had another year on his contract, was immediately fired.
34	** Very likely a regular practice in the current syndicated version.
35	*** After Double questions returned, the staff quickly realized that a family could reach 300 points before the Triple round. To correct this, a question may be swapped out or otherwise modified so that a Triple round will always be played. 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.
36	*** In past versions, rounds were discarded due to malfunctions (two answers being revealed at once), or outside influence (someone offstage yelling out an answer). In the Harvey era, rounds have been played with no problem, only to be abruptly discarded after the third Strike because not enough points were revealed. This is known to have happened with at least one Single and one Triple, the latter because the points revealed weren't enough to win and the opponents had 0 (although the reason cited was "not wanting to look like they were showing favoritism").
37	*** At least one team in the Karn era has entered sudden death with 0, and Richard himself stated that they would need to find the #1 answer for ''two'' sudden death questions to win the game.
38	* HeyItsThatSound:
39	** The answer-reveal sound in Fast Money, first used on the Combs version, was previously used on ''Series/TriviaTrap''.
40	** Blurring the line between this trope and RecycledSoundtrack, the last bar of the original ''Feud'' theme is also used to introduce Grand Game on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', and was a victory cue on the aforementioned ''Trivia Trap''.
41	** The faceoff podium "ring-in" sound was later used on ''Series/{{ChildsPlay\|1982}}'' and ''Creator/BruceForsyth's Series/HotStreak''.
42	** The "clang" when answers are revealed in the main game was previously used for correct guesses on ''Series/{{Showoffs}}.''
43	* HostilityOnTheSet: Dawson was known for constantly being bitter and egotistical for most of the show's run, particularly in the later years. Creator/MarkGoodson later said that Dawson gave him ''tsoris'' (Yiddish for "trouble").
44	* InMemoriam:
45	** The 1991 Grand Ole Opry Week was dedicated to Dottie West, who was scheduled to appear that week.
46	** In a 2012 episode, Steve Harvey held a moment of silence to remember the late Richard Dawson.
47	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
48	** Both the Dawson and Combs versions ran on GSN for many years as companion pieces to one another before the Combs version was dropped from the network in the mid-2000s, with the Dawson version following suit some years later. They used to air regularly on Buzzr, but now the Dawson version is only given early morning hour slots on the weekends while the Combs version has been relegated to special events and occasional marathons. The situation was alleviated some in 2023, when a new channel dedicated to the Dawson and Combs versions was launched on streaming service Pluto TV; though it currently appears to be only cycling through early '80s Dawson episodes and Combs' first season, the hope is that more episodes will be added in the future.
49	*** In regards to GSN, episodes featuring the Bullseye round were rare even while the Combs era was running regularly. ''Family Feud Challenge'' hasn't been seen on the network (or at all outside of Website/YouTube) since before the Dark Period. ''New Family Feud'' (Combs' last two syndicated seasons, with the Bullseye game) was last seen on the network in 2008, but has since also been aired sporadically on Buzzr.
50	** In a case of VindicatedByHistory, the 1994-95 Dawson season has become one of the most highly-requested programs to air on GSN and Buzzr, partially due to this. It aired regularly on Game Show Network during its "Dark Period" from 1997-98 and disappeared sometime before 2000; its last television airing to date was an episode featuring Creator/CarolBurnett and Creator/BettyWhite that aired on Buzzr in 2019.
51	** Louie Anderson's version was rerun on [[Creator/IonTelevision PAX]] from 2002-04 and was only ever seen on GSN once, as part of a ''Feud'' marathon aired during Thanksgiving 2013. It too would find a home on Buzzr, in November 2017, though it didn't last long on the network.
52	** Richard Karn's version aired on the network beginning in 2007, with Creator/JohnOHurley's version coming to the network a year later. Both were dropped in the middle of the TheNewTens.
53	** Exactly one episode of the 2008 ''Celebrity Family Feud'' has been rerun; GSN aired it during the aforementioned Thanksgiving 2013 marathon.
54	* LongRunners: All together, ''Family Feud'' has been on the air for 45 years, save for a three-year hiatus from 1985-1988 and a four-year break from 1995-1999. Two different versions have ran concurrently from 1977-1985, 1988-1993 and 2015 onward.
55	** Although it's on its fourth host, the current revival has lasted longer than both Richard Dawson and Ray Combs' tenures combined. It's easy to forget this version of the show started back in ''1999''.
56	** Despite being surpassed by the current Syndicated run, the original ABC run lasted for almost 9 long years. The final episode tally for all three editions that were produced during the '76-'85 run were as follows: 2,311 half-hour ABC episodes, 976 half-hour Syndicated episodes, and 17 one-hour ABC Primetime episodes.
57	* MissingEpisode:
58	** 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. They were shown on GSN years ago, with the only skipped week on there being the second annual Saints Vs. Sinners special from the week of May 7, 1984.
59	** The final two weeks of the original ABC run were never aired by ABC themselves, and remained AWOL until the Game Show Network reruns.
60	* MoneyDearBoy: Steve Harvey has mentioned on his stand-up shows that he was iffy about signing on as host until he was told how much the job paid. While looking for his big break, Harvey lived out of his car for three years.
61	* NoBudget: ''Feud'' has had its share of budget problems.
62	** The first sign of this came in 1992 on both the network and syndicated versions. Instead of playing for $5,000 or $10,000 in Fast Money, depending on the version, this changed to base values of $2,500 or $5,000 if one team failed to get any top answers in Bullseye. The 1994-95 season, which had the Bankroll round instead of Bullseye, had this even worse with the maximum potential jackpot decreasing to $7,000 (instead of $10,000) or $14,000 (instead of $20,000).
63	** The current syndicated version screams of this.
64	*** The first two seasons which Anderson hosted had $10,000 as the Fast Money grand prize, which by 2001 had 34% of the buying power it had in 1977. Starting with the third season, which would be Anderson's last, the jackpot was increased to $20,000 which is still the grand prize to this day (if you don't count the one season where Bullseye returned).
65	*** If you win Fast Money at any point on the Harvey version, expect any return trips to consist of much harder questions. The number of families that have won even $40,000 in the current run is quite low. The fact that they tweak the difficulty of Fast Money became even more obvious during the Big Money Tournament, where Fast Money wins built the jackpot; it easily reached its potential $160,000 maximum, with quite a few #1 answers being worth over 40 or 50 points.
66	*** Since the very beginning, Fast Money losses have been $5 a point which has less than a fifth of buying power in 2024 as it did in 1976. To put this in perspective, a single contestant who solves no puzzles on ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' 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 participating families receive a $500 debit card for playing.
67	*** Since the Bullseye round was introduced in 1992, the main game has no longer been played for money, but for points. The original reason for this was to reallocate the budget previously used for main game winnings for the new potential top prize jackpot. Main game values have still been in points ever since, however, long after the Bullseye round was discarded, rendering the usage of "points" practically pointless other than for tradition's sake.
68	*** The staff only seems to want to pay royalties to a few snippets of the remixed Combs theme, resulting in [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks the same loops being played every time it's used]]. It gets worse as none of the original Face-Off cues are even used. The music package's use during Karn's first season averted this particular aspect, with the entire Combs theme used in the intro and one original face-off cue even getting a remix.
69	*** Using a pre-recorded introduction and closed captioning plug instead of having a real announcer in the studio when it worked fine for Burton Richardson in the pre-Harvey era.
70	* 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 stopped production, 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 a seventh season, that one wound up being its last.
71	* RealSongThemeTune:
72	** Christmas episodes during the Combs run, right up until ''Family Feud Challenge'', featured the Boston Pops' "Sleigh Ride" in the intro and at the end.
73	** A special 1991 "Beauties vs. Beasts" week, featuring models playing against professional wrestlers, used Al Capps' "[[https://youtu.be/6gAPMWvJNlU Olympic Fanfare]]" in the intro.
74	* RecursiveImport: The original ThemeTune was a remix of a new-car cue on ''The Price Is Right''. ''Price'' has since used the last few bars as an introductory sting for the Grand Game.
75	* RecycledSet:
76	** An unintentional example happened during Armed Forces Week in 1989. As the contestants enter from the audience, the curtains from ''The Price Is Right'' are visible.
77	** The 1994-95 set was a repainted and refurbished version of the set used when ''New Family Feud'' went to Opryland U.S.A. in 1993.
78	** The Karn-era set was used for the unsold pilot ''[[https://lostmediawiki.com/I%27m_With_Stupid_(partially_found_game_show_pilot_featuring_Graham_Norton;_2003) I'm With Stupid]]''.
79	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The third syndicated run 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.
80	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Though it was far from the only problem this version had, Dawson '94 suffered from frequent pre-emptions due to the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
81	* ScullyBox:
82	** On a Super Bowl Special, Ray stood on a folding chair from backstage and risked hitting his head against the game board in an effort to make himself the same height as the football players.
83	** On a week-long Soap Opera special on the Anderson version, Josh Ryan Evans from ''Series/{{Passions}}'' (who was only 3'2" due to dwarfism) stood on two of these: one for the contestant lecterns and the other to reach the Face-Off podium.
84	* ThrowItIn: The pre-1994 versions had three small lights situated high above each family's nameplate that indicated the number of Strikes a team had on any given question. For one set of Combs-hosted tapings from early 1992 (just before Bullseye was added to the game), the lights malfunctioned. The team members who played on those episodes were given sticks with the Strike logo on them, which they would hold up any time they got a Strike. These sticks were kept on for a few more weeks due to their usefulness, even after the lights had been fixed.
85	* TroubledProduction: Richard Dawson was constantly at odds with both Creator/MarkGoodson and show producer Howard Felsher, even barring the latter from the set.
86	* 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 stand-up shows in Las Vegas, divided them up into teams and had them play a game of ''Feud''. It worked, and Louie got the job.
87	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
88	** In a 2011 interview, Richard Dawson said that Creator/WilliamShatner had gotten a crack.
89	*** Shatner reportedly was the original choice and Goodson-Todman had no interest in Dawson until Dawson's agent threatened to have Dawson no longer say anything on ''Series/MatchGame''. (Granted, that's pretty much how Dawson behaved AFTER he got the Family Feud job...)
90	** On the newsgroup alt.tv.game-shows, [[Series/TreasureHuntUS Geoff Edwards]] [[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.game-shows/browse_thread/thread/15f6daa4bf1d6860/c75332bac642a06a?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#c75332bac642a06a confirmed]] that he had been tapped to host the original ''Feud'', but declined for two reasons: one was that at the time, he had a deal pending with Bob Stewart for what became ''Shoot for the Stars'' on NBC; the other was that he'd seen ''The Neighbors'' and thought ''Feud'' would've been like that. After Edwards bailed, Goodson and Todman pushed for Jack Narz to host before ABC Entertainment president Fred Silverman countered with Dawson.
91	** The rule where families had a chance to steal the bank almost didn't make it to the show. ABC executives didn't like the thought of a family building up a bank only for the opposition to claim it with one answer they missed. Goodson and Todman pushed for it on the grounds that it added excitement of the show. It gave the controlling family the incentive to come up with as many answers as possible.
92	** 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. They were being developed just as UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 started, so 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.
93	** Richard Dawson's contract was originally extended through the end of 1985. Competition from ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' influenced the staff to make a last-ditch effort by [[ExecutiveMeddling introducing a $400 goal]]. Ratings nose-dived even further to the point where both versions was cancelled six months before Dawson could renew his contract. Dawson considered leaving the daytime version in September 1985 and letting someone else host while he continued to emcee the syndicated version, but this did not materialize.
94	** Joe Namath tried out for the revival that ended up being hosted by Ray Combs.
95	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwEtgEkB5CY The original Ray Combs pilot from August 1987]] contains a few - most notably, losses in Fast Money would've been ''$10'' a point.
96	** Believe it or not, ''Family Feud Challenge'' had three pilots, all taped in 1992 and containing a ''huge'' amount of differences from the eventual finished product:
97	*** The Bullseye round was played with a drastically different set of rules. The main gimmick of "hitting the Bullseye" with #1 answers, the bank being built up for Fast Money, and (a form of) the Bullseye board were the only things that carried over. Instead of each family member facing off at the podium to give the #1 answer, each family got their own individual set of five questions, and each member was asked a question of their own. Further, the #1 answer for each question was worth the same amount of money - $1,000 - and ''wasn't the only answer on the board'', with the #2 and #3 answers below the #1 answer for $500 and $250, respectively. (Coincidentally, this made the game seem more similar to the Audience Match on ''Match Game'' that spun off ''Family Feud'' in the first place.)
98	*** The main game "points" in each individual survey were still in dollars, not points.
99	*** The second half, the "high stakes championship match", saw no Bullseye round played at the start, but all main-game values were instead multiplied by multiples of 10 (e.g. the first round's points were multiplied by 10, the second round's by 20, etc.) to become the family's Fast Money bank in its stead. The families then played the game-deciding Bullseye round at the end; whoever had the bigger bank won the game.
100	** 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'' went as far as reporting that Davidson had been hired, but this was debunked by Davidson himself.
101	** Anderson invited Dawson to the premiere episode on his version, asking him to say a few words before PassingTheTorch. Dawson declined.
102	** Ryan Seacrest was approached to replace Anderson in 2002. As he was already set for life with ''Series/AmericanIdol'', he turned it down. Al Roker was also courted, but he preferred to stay in New York rather than relocate to California. He would later host ''Celebrity Family Feud'' in 2008.
103	** John O'Hurley was approached to host the 2008 ''Celebrity Family Feud''. He declined in favor of participating in ''Secret Talents of the Stars'', which wound up tanking after one episode.
104	** In 2001, after the success of ''[[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Rock & Roll Jeopardy!]]'', Creator/VH1 commissioned a pilot for a rock-themed spinoff called ''Rock Feud''. It featured rock musicians as contestants and edgier survey questions. Although the pilot wasn't picked up, a music cue would later be used as Fast Money ThinkMusic during the Karn era.
105	** After John O'Hurley's firing, Fremantle's list of potential replacements aside from Steve Harvey included George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer (who eventually hosted ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' for one season) and Chris Tucker.
106	** After Harvey was hired, the producers were concerned about his 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.
107	** The show experienced a high staff turnover upon moving from Los Angeles to Universal Studios in 2010. Burton Richardson was offered to come along for the ride but turned it down, ostensibly because of the commute he would have had to take.
108	* WorkingTitle: ''Fast Company''.
109	* WrittenInInfirmity:
110	** For two weeks in 1978, Richard Dawson wore tinted glasses after scratching his eye. He did likewise on ''Match Game'' at the same time.
111	** On a later taping session, Dawson wore a back brace after being injured in a car accident. Notably, during one game, he stepped offstage to adjust the brace and had contestant coordinator Caryn Lucas host in his stead.
112	** One of Ray Combs' fingers was in a cast during a taping session; he had previously injured it playing baseball.

Context Trivia / FamilyFeud