Family Feud

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FAMILY FEUD
The original Family Feud logo.
Airdates:	ABC July 1976 - June 1985, Syn. September 1977 - September 1985, CBS July 1988 - September 1993, Syn. September 1988 - September 1995, Syn. September 1999 - Present
Hosts:	Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O'Hurley
Announcers:	Gene Wood, Burton Richardson
Producers:	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (1976-1985); Mark Goodson Productions (1988-1995); Pearson Television (1999-2002); Fremantle Media (2002- )

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 1976-1985 version 1.2 1988-1995 version 1.2.1 1988-1992 format 1.2.2 1992-1994 version 1.2.3 1994-1995 version 1.3 1999-Present version 2 Notes

Gameplay

1976-1985 version

Two families of five competed. Each round began with one member of each family facing off at center stage to answer a survey question posed to 100 people, all answers receiving at least two votes being hidden on the board. The host would read the question, and then players would buzz in to answer first. If the first answer given was most popular, that family got control of the question; otherwise, the other player attempted to give a higher-ranking answer. In the event that neither player from either family could find an answer on the board, the host would then ask other members of each family for an answer until one of them hit. The family with control could either play the question themselves or pass it to the other family.

The other family members then took turns giving answers to the question. If they supplied an answer that was on the board, the number of people surveyed who gave the same answer were converted to dollars, which went into the bank. This continued until all of the answers were guessed, which awarded the entire bank to that family, or the team accrued three "Strikes", given for incorrect answers or failing to give an answer in time. If the family got three Strikes, the other family could then steal the bank by supplying one of the remaining answers on the board; otherwise, the bank went to the first family.

Three questions were played for single value, then a double-value and triple-value board was played. The first team to score $300 won the game and advanced to the Fast Money bonus. (Originally, the winning threshold was $200, and in the final season of the original run, $400 was necessary to win.)

The family would elect two players as their representatives for Fast Money. The player who went second was escorted to an off-stage isolation booth. The first family member would have 15 seconds to answer five more survey questions. Once the results of those answers were tallied up, the second player was brought back to answer the same five questions. The second player could not give the same answer as his or her partner, but had 20 seconds instead of 15 to answer the five questions. If the two family members could score 200 or more points between them, they won $5,000 on the ABC version, and $10,000 on the syndicated version. Otherwise, the team earned $5 for every point they did get. Families stayed on the show for a maximum of five days or until they were defeated.

1988-1995 version

1988-1992 format

The CBS & syndicated versions of the show were played almost exactly the same way as the original version, except that the team that won control on the face-off was not given the choice to pass it to the other family. Also, the prize for winning Fast Money was still $5,000 on the CBS version & $10,000 on the syndicated version, and teams still got $5 a point if they failed to amass 200 points.

1992-1994 version

In 1992, the CBS show was expanded to an hour and became known as "The Family Feud Challenge." The first half of the show would pit two new families against each other, the winner of which would then play the returning champion from the previous show in the second half. Also, a new game was introduced to determine the value of Fast Money, called "Bullseye." Each family member got one chance to face off against someone from the opposing family and answer one survey question. If the player supplied the most popular answer, money was added to the family's bank, which they would play for in Fast Money. In the first half, both families started with $2500 in their bank and answered questions worth increments of $500, making the maximum bank for one family worth $10,000. In the second half, both the bankrolls and the values of each question were doubled, making the top bank amount worth $20,000. To accomodate for the time taken with this game, only one single-value question was asked. The winning family in each game advanced to Fast Money, which was played in exactly the same way as the original version.

1994-1995 version

In the final season of the '90s version, Richard Dawson was brought back to host, the set got a massive remodeling, and the syndicated version was expanded to an hour. The size of each family was also reduced to four members each. A game similar to Bullseye, called "Bankroll", was played at the games start, in which the back members of both families answered three questions worth $500, $1500, and $2500 (1st half), & $1,000, $3,000, & $5,000 (2nd half), which would be added to their $2500 (1st half)/$5000 (2nd half) bank if they supplied the most popular answer. The front game rules for the rest of the game were the same as in the previous season. However, in Fast Money, the first player got 20 seconds to answer and the second player got 25.

1999-Present version

When the show returned in 1999, it returned to many of its original roots. Families were again five members apiece, and the bankroll-building element was scuttled. Three single-value questions were played at the start of the game, followed by one question for triple value but with the added rule that the team lost control with just one strike. The team with the highest score after the fourth question played Fast Money for $10,000. In Fast Money, the first player again got 20 seconds and the second player got 25 to answer the five questions. In the 2001-02 season, the top prize for Fast Money was increased to $20,000.

At the start of the 2003-04 season, the scoring format was returned to two single-value, one double- and one triple-value question. The first family to score 300 points won the game. If neither family had 300 points after the fourth question, a sudden-death question was played in which only the most popular answer would score. The family that won that question would then earn enough points to win the game.

Notes

• The kernel of this game was original born out of the Audience Match portion of Match Game. When the show went to pilot, they tapped Match Game mainstay Richard Dawson to be host. His charming demeanor and sharp wit helped propel the show to immediate success - so much so, in fact, that Dawson claimed much of the credit for the show's popularity and became extremely difficult to work with on the set of Match Game, going so far as to ban the Match Game producer from Feud set. When Feud's first run ended in 1985, Dawson had become a pariah in the genre, even though he was still well-known by viewing audiences. It would not be until after Mark Goodson's death in 1994 that he was brought back to host the show again.
• During the Ray Combs years, in the event that the first player in Fast Money managed to score the 200 points on his own, he would play a trick on the second player and make him believe that the first player had scored only 10 points. He would then proceed to ask the second player a series of extremely outlandish questions (such as, "The Three Stooges are Larry, Moe and Curly. Name Larry's wife." or "Who is the ugliest man you've ever seen?" Only after the player answered all five questions would he be allowed to turn around and see that the money had already been won.
• Family Feud is the only American game show which has had three separate runs all running for more than five years.
• This show was featured as the final round on the CBS summer series Gameshow Marathon in 2006, hosted by former actress and talk show hostess Ricki Lake. Finalists Kathy Najimy and Brande Roderick and their families competed in this game for the $100,000 top prize which went both to charity and a home viewer. Kathy Najimy's family ended up winning the game. Oddly enough, Both players had prior "Feud" experience. Najimy appeared with her family on the original version with Richard Dawson, and Roderick appeared on the Louie Anderson version on a special celebrity show featuring the cast of "Baywatch".