Family Feud rules and production
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Family Feud | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Game show |
| Creator(s) | Mark Goodson & Bill Todman |
| Starring | John O'Hurley (2006–present) Richard Karn (2002–2006) Louie Anderson (1999–2002) Ray Combs (1988–1994) Richard Dawson (1976–1985; 1994–1995) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | ABC: 2,311 Syndicated 1977-1985: 976 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 0:30 (per episode), 22 minutes without commercials |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC, CBS & syndication |
| Original run | July 12, 1976 – present (with intermittent arrests in production) |
The following article summarizes the production development of the US game show Family Feud.
Contents |
[edit] Host contenders
In addition to the five regular hosts (Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn and John O'Hurley), there were additional contenders for the hosting spot as well.
- In 1976, Geoff Edwards was approached by Mark Goodson and offered him the job to host. Edwards though was still under contract with Bob Stewart Productions, Chuck Barris Productions and NBC, and was unable to accept the job.
- 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. Richard Dawson was also offered the hosting job for the current season, but elected not to host.
- In 2002, Mark Curry from Hangin' with Mr. Cooper 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. Producer Howard Felsher also hosted one round due to a judging disagreement between him and Dawson. In 1989, former Feud contestant Viet Pho hosted a round under Ray Combs' supervision.
[edit] Announcers
Gene Wood was the original announcer of Family Feud, from 1976-1995. Johnny Olson (of The Price is Right fame) announced the pilot, Johnny Gilbert (of Jeopardy! fame) substituted once during the Dawson era in the spring of 1981 (including one episode when Richard met his second and current wife as a contestant). Rod Roddy (also of The Price is Right fame) filled in during the Combs era during July 1991 and during one of the weeks at Opryland in 1993, and Art James also served as a fill-in announcer during the Combs era during November 1989. Burton Richardson has been the show's regular announcer since 1999.
[edit] Other production staff
Gabrielle Johnston, a Goodson-Todman staffer since the 1970s, is currently the show's executive producer, years after she was the show's associate producer, of the 1980s revival. Kristin Bjorklund is a current producer, and was also an associate producer of the 1980s revival, while Lauri Chryss is the an associate director. Previous staff members included Howard Felsher, a Goodson-Todman staffer since the 1960s, was the show's original executive producer (before being a producer in the 1980s revival), along with Cathy Hugart Dawson, who was the show's original producer, and Georgia Purcell. Chester Feldman, who was a creative consultant for Goodson-Todman in the 1970's, was the show's executive producer in the 1980s revival.
[edit] Production company
Originally, this show was billed as "A Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Production", but after Todman's death in 1979, the unit was simply known as Mark Goodson Productions, and was announced as such on Family Feud beginning in 1982, the second after Child's Play. Currently, Feud's copyright holder is called Feudin' Productions. Since 2002, the show has been produced by the company that purchased the Goodman/Todman library, FremantleMedia.
For the sake of tradition, and through special permission from FremantleMedia (a subsidiary of RTL), Family Feud used the Mark Goodson Productions name, logo, and announcement at the end of each episode during the show's revival with Louie Anderson, even though the original company no longer exists. The practice was abandoned during Richard Karn's era as host. (The only Goosdon-Todman property to currently follow this practice is The Price is Right.)
Starting in early 1994, when Mark Goodson Productions officially ceased to exist, FremantleMedia (through numerous acquisitions) has distributed Family Feud. Midway through Karn's run, Tribune Entertainment was awarded syndication duties when FremantleMedia chose to focus on producing over distribution. However, Tribune's participation in the series will end in the Fall of 2007 when Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury will assume distribution and ad sales.
[edit] Episode status
The recordings of all episodes are believed to still exist. The Game Show Network currently airs the daytime Richard Dawson versions (the syndicated version once aired in the morning until April 2007), as well as The New Family Feud, on weekdays. At least one of the Richard Dawson pilots is also known to exist. The Family Feud Challenge was aired for a short time on GSN, as was the 1994-1995 season (GSN is currently not allowed to air this version on account of a special Goodson-Todman contract, though the network paid to air the 1994 Halloween episode was aired on GSN on Halloween 2004). The i network (formerly PAX) rerun the 1999 Anderson version until 2004, when it began showing episodes of the 2002 Karn version. On September 4, 2006, the i network dropped the Feud from its lineup. GSN acquired the rights to the Karn version (the only version post-1994 they are allowed to air) and begain airing the episodes on March 3, 2007. The show currently airs weeknights for one full hour at 11p. Earlier episodes air on the weekends.
[edit] Theme song
The original theme song for Family Feud, simply named "The Feud", was a more elaborate version of a hillbilly-type prize cue heard on The Price Is Right. Composed by Robert Israel for Score Productions, the theme played at a lower tempo for the first season, then adjusted to a much higher tempo in 1977 then finally "balanced" around 1979. It was re-mixed(with synthesized drums) in 1988 for the Ray Combs version, and for Dawson's 1994 return (the opening to which can frequently be heard as a Showcase cue on The Price Is Right) the theme was revamped with jazz instruments.
In 1999, John Lewis Parker orchestrated the current "party" theme, complete with a portion of the original Robert Israel theme in the opening. This theme was remixed in 2002 and again in 2006 - these versions do not feature the sample from the original theme.
The 1988-1994 Feud theme from the Combs version was brought back for the latter part of Richard Karn's first season (2002-2003). It was remixed by Score Productions in 2003 to have a techno beat similar to the current theme, but this version was never used on the air except in its face-off incarnations.
[edit] Recording locations
In the Dawson version from 1976-85, Family Feud was originally taped at the Vine Street Theater, and later at the ABC Television Center in Los Angeles, California. From 1988-95 in the Combs version (CBS/Syndicated) and Dawson version (1994-1995), it was taped at Studio 33 (The Bob Barker Studio) CBS Television City in Hollywood, California. On the syndicated Combs version in 1993, it was taped in Opryland. The current version initially taped at CBS Television City, then at NBC Studios in Burbank, California, and finally at Tribune Studios, in the fall of 2003.
[edit] Game board
The game board originally had 12 spaces, but usually three to ten answers were used per question (only once, on the ABC Dawson version, were all 12 spaces used). Since 1994, only up to eight answers (six in double or triple value rounds starting in 1999) were used since the game was played on the electronic display board; in 1994, audience members simply saw the game played on the board used during Fast Money (the gameboard was digitally superimposed over the board; when a round was finished, it simply went back to the Fast Money logo. The board never changed on camera), but since 1999, a monitor was integrated into the studio, and the game board appears on the monitor. On the 1994 version, however, if there were only four (or fewer) answers on the survey, those spaces would be displayed down the middle with no second row of four blank panels; this was changed in 1999.
