Family Feud

After watching the Family Fued, I've come to the conclusion that the future of the show is finding a host who has the light touch of a Richard Dawson. Richard kept it light with the guests and connected with people. E Channel's story of the "Family Fued" was wonderful and after watching it the viewer see's that Dawson's touch was the most potent for the show. Sadly, you can't bring Richard back as too much time has passed since his era ended but any future host of the Fued needs the "people skills" he had to succeed.

Louie Anderson came off very well in the E Channel story about the Family Fued. He seems like a good and decent man. It's just that with Louie now gone as the host the new host will have to be more comfortable with people than Louie had been for the show to succeed. It appeared that Louie never was confortable with the silly banter between the host and guests that is neccessary for the show to succeed.

I love watching the old reruns with Richard Dawson and Ray Combs. But ever since Steve Harvey took the reins, the questions are loaded to invoke filthy answers. An prime example is What is the hairiest part of your husband? The answer, "His balls." It's no longer a family show, but I guess that's the way of television these days.

I never really paid attention to this show but recently I decided to watch the full 30 mins of it. One question...

What the heck is the point of playing the first two rounds if you can lose them both and still win by winning the third round??????

If you haven't seen the many preview clips of O'Hurley on Feud, go there now! The new set is basically 21st century Richard Dawson. The family poses and intro are now intact. The format and music remain the same.

O'Hurley brings in a welcoming breath of fresh air. He's exactly what the show's been needing for the last 6 seasons, a host with a quick wit that listens to the contestants and makes them feel at ease. He brings enough variety to keep the shows fresh and exciting.

Louie Anderson was funny, but his hosting style was inconsistent. Sometimes he was good, and other times he looks lost, and sometimes, tired. His voice was also grating to many, and the scoring format was a little unfair. It was 3 single rounds and one triple round. On quite a few occasions, a single family racked up a lot of points in the 3 rounds, and the strategy is to deliberately strike out and the other team couldn't possibly catch up no matter what answer they say. The set also had a "cold" feel with all the silver and blue. People I know have seen tapings of Louie's version of Feud and say that Louie makes a LOT of mistakes during a taping.

Richard Karn was... likable. Unlike Louie, Karn was VERY consistent and ran Feud like a well oiled machine. How can you NOT like Karn? Very nice, and a great smile. The set was also revamped with warmer earth tone colors. Unfortunately, just being likable doesn't cut it as a host for Family Feud. Truth be told, Richard Karn was never a quick witted guy, and while he had his moments, wasn't really that funny. He missed MANY opportunities for quick one liners when a BAD answer was given. If you watch especially the last season, it's easy to see that Karn has gotten stale. A good host can make every show different, and give people a reason to keep watching. With Karn, it seemed each show was pretty much the same. The set for Karn's final season was also all wrong. The set was overhauled with more lights, and a new backdrop that changed colors.

Family Feud with Richard Karn (Al Borland of Home Improvement) is the best and surviving show on syndication today. With the fact for the whole 3 seasons with no new game shows it is now likely to stay that way forever. But the thing about Family Feud is that this show stays fresh, exciting and always the best surveys, questions and answers on every show! I think the best thing that was brought to this show IMHO was that in the 2002-03 season Richard became the host and the 5 day champions were reinstated. In the 2003-04 season the 300 point rule was reinforced, and the tiebreaker round was in play. That gave the other team a fair chance of winning the game for the team and that gave the game a whole new facelift for the show isn't that exciting! So for that I give Family Feud a total of:

9.5/10 This show was the best with Richard Karn! Keep it alive on TV!