Family Feud (2014 Australian game show)

This article is about the currently airing remake. For the original Australian version, see Family Feud (1977 Australian game show). For the 2006–07 remake, see Bert's Family Feud.

Family Feud

Genre	Game show
Created by	Mark Goodson & Bill Todman
Presented by	Grant Denyer
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	199 (as of 15 April 2015)
Production
Location(s)	Global Television Studios, Southbank, Victoria
Running time	30 minutes (including ad breaks)
Production company(s)	FremantleMedia Australia
Broadcast
Original channel	Network Ten
Picture format	576i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	14 July 2014 – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Family Feud (1977–96 series) Bert's Family Feud
External links
Website

Family Feud is an Australian game show revival based on the American show of the same name. It began airing on Network Ten on 14 July 2014, in which the premiere was simulcast on Ten's digital channels Eleven and One. The show is hosted by Grant Denyer, who previously hosted SlideShow and Million Dollar Minute for the Seven Network.^[1] This revival is the fourth Australian version, and the third network to screen the game show, the last incarnation being Bert's Family Feud hosted by Bert Newton in 2006.^[1] Family Feud currently airs from Sundays to Fridays at 6:00 pm and has remained simulcast on Network Ten, Eleven and One since it premiered.

Gameplay

Representatives of the family are posed questions that have already been answered by 100 people. An answer is considered correct if it is one of the concealed answers on the game board, or judged to be equivalent. More points are given for answers that have been given by more people in the survey (one point per person). Answers must have been given by at least two of the 100 people in order to be included on the board. There are four members on each team.

Examples of questions might be "Name a famous George", "Tell me a popular family holiday spot", "Name something you do at school", or "Name a slang name for policemen". At least two people among the survey respondents must give an answer for it to appear as one of the possibilities. The participants are not asked questions about what is true or how things really are. Instead, they are asked questions about what other people think is true. As such, a perfectly logical answer may be considered incorrect because it failed to make the survey (e.g.: for the question about Georges, George Jones was a popular country singer, but if his name was not given by at least two people it would be considered wrong).

Basics

To start each round of the main game, two opposing family members "face-off" to see which family will gain control of that particular question. Traditionally, the contestants greet each other with a handshake before the question is read. Whoever guesses the more popular answer in the survey has the option to play the question or pass it to the other family opponents. Players are also automatically given control if they guess the answer most commonly given, which is located in the top space of the survey board (referred to in the show's jargon as the "Top Answer"). If both answers are worth the same number of points, control goes to the player that buzzed in first. If neither player gives a valid answer, the next member of each family provides an answer, with control again going to the family giving the more popular answer.

Starting with the next family member in line, the family members take turns giving an answer to the host. Family members may not confer with one another while in control of the board. There is a time limit, with the host warning of a three-second count if time is short or the contestant appears to be stalling. An answer not on the board or a family member failing to provide an answer within the time limit results in a strike being charged to the family. When a family is able to reveal all the answers on the board before accumulating three strikes, they win the round.

When a family in control accumulates three strikes, control passes to the other family, who then has one chance to steal the points in the bank by correctly guessing one of the remaining unrevealed answers. The family is allowed to confer before coming up with an answer (before the third strike) and each family member gave his or her answer one at a time (after the third strike). The team captain could then select one of the three opinions or give his or her own. If the family guesses a remaining answer correctly, they receive the points accumulated by the other family. If unsuccessful, the opponents keep the points they scored during the round before three strikes. Unlike the current U.S. version, the revealed answer's value was also added to the winning team's score. After determining who takes the bank for a round, any remaining answers are then revealed. Per tradition, the audience yells each unrevealed answer in a choral response from lowest to highest.

Scoring

The first family to score 300 points or more wins the game and goes on to play the Fast Money round. There are four rounds in total. The first two rounds are worth single points, the third round is worth double points and the fourth round is worth triple points. In the event that neither team reaches 300 points after four rounds a sudden death round is played. In the sudden death round, only the top answer is on the board worth triple points and the team captains from each team face-off at the question. If no one wins sudden death it goes to the second player in line for a second sudden death.

Fast Money

The winning family plays Fast Money and chooses two family members to participate in the round. One family member leaves the stage and is placed in a soundproof booth, while the other is given 20 seconds to answer five questions. The clock begins counting down after the host finishes reading the first question. If the contestant cannot think of an answer to a question, he or she may pass and revisit a passed question at the end if time permits. If time runs out and all the questions have not been asked yet, they will still be in play as long as they have not been passed. The number of people giving each answer is revealed once all five answers are given or time has expired, whichever comes first. The player earns one point for each person that gave the same answer; at least two people must have given that answer for it to score. When revealing the number of people giving the same response, it is most commonly revealed with the phrase, "The Survey said!"

Once all the points for the first player are tallied, the second family member comes back on stage with the first contestant's answers covered and is given 25 seconds to answer the same five questions. If the second player gives the same answer as the first player on a question, a double buzzer will sound and the host will ask for another response, usually by telling the contestant, "Try again." If one or both family members accumulate a total of 200 points or more, the family wins $10,000. If both family members score a total of less than 200 points, each point awards the family $10. In addition, any family that reaches the Fast Money round five times will retire as an undefeated family and win a brand new car (in this case, a Mitsubishi Outlander).

Broadcast

Family Feud currently airs on Network Ten from Sundays to Fridays at 6:00 pm, going up against news bulletins on rival networks Seven and Nine.^[2] The show premiered simultaneously on Ten and its digital channels Eleven and One on 14 July 2014.^[3] Ten's decision to simulcast Family Feud on Eleven and One was to make sure it had gained as much exposure as possible during its first week of broadcast.^[4] Although the simulcast was originally scheduled for the first week only, Ten has continued to simulcast the show across its three channels.^[4]^[5] Ten's chief of programming officer Beverly McGarvey told TV Tonight that there are no plans to end the simulcasting, saying "People engage with Family Feud and it works as a triple test. It's half an hour a day and we have no plans in the short term to make any changes there."^[5] Family Feud was originally broadcast five nights a week from Mondays to Fridays, but moved to six nights a week on 1 February 2015.^[2]

Ratings

Following the decision to simulcast Family Feud, Ten had requested that the ratings provider OzTAM merge its ratings across three channels as a combined figure, instead of releasing a breakdown of audience figures for each channel.^[6]^[7]^[8] A combined audience of 690,000 viewers watched the first episode, while the second episode saw Family Feud‍ 's ratings rise to 719,000.^[7] Several media buyers and news websites criticised Ten's decision to merge the ratings. Glenn Dyer of Crikey wrote that "it's not against the rules, but it is poor form" and believed that the move was "probably to try and boost the audience figures" for the show. Dyer also questioned whether Ten being "scared of failure" is the reason they are "afraid to separate the figures".^[8] David Knox of TV Tonight added, "Ten appears to have painted itself into a corner. It has now run the simulcast for so many weeks that pens will be poised the minute it disappears and those numbers drop."^[9]

One media buyer told news website Mumbrella that "It looks like Ten are trying to pad the numbers when they should just be honest."^[7] Ten's chief of programming officer Beverly McGarvey responded to the criticism saying, "There is no 'padding' of numbers at all. That is ridiculous. We are simulcasting Family Feud across Ten, Eleven and One, and the OzTAM numbers show many people are watching the show."^[7] In January 2015 Ten announced that the show had given the network its biggest audience in the 6:00 pm weekday timeslot in more than five years.^[5]^[10] In an interview with TV Tonight, the Nine Network's head of programming Andrew Backwell felt that Ten were "getting a bit ahead of themselves" on calling Family Feud a ratings success in that timeslot as its ratings are derived from a simulcast on Ten, Eleven and One. He said, "It does half of what Channel Nine does in the slot and it's across three channels. If you look at the share in the slot, you wouldn't be touting it as a big success."^[5]

Criticism

In October 2014, Family Feud came under fire from various media outlets for asking the question, "Name something people think is a woman's job." The correct answers included cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, and nursing. Many viewers branded the question as misogynistic.^[11] Network Ten later made an apology, stating that the question was "ill-advised" and should not have been included. Ten stated that the questions are picked out of an international database^[11] and that the questions are often "not reflective of all Australians".^[12] The show again caused controversy in January 2015 with the question, "What is something annoying a cyclist might do?" The question caused a mixed, mainly negative reception on social media.^[13] Australian Cycle Alliance president Edward Hore said he was "shocked by the question", continuing to state that "the hatred against cyclists has to stop" and that "everyone knows a cyclist."^[14]