Family Feud

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.

Louie Anderson was an OK host, but the "new" "Family Feud" with Richard Karn takes the cake. After fumbling and bumbling with "Family Feud" for three years, Fremantle Media has gotten it right in season four. Richard Karn is an excellent host. The new set is awesome. The music has been tweaked to make it good, (although no "Family Feud" theme will compare to the original) The new changes reminds me of when Ray Combs took over as host back in 1988.

A true game show legend, Family Feud was the bomb back then, but with Louie Anderson hosting, it was completly different. Louie was funny for 3 seasons, but Richard Karn took his place for season 4. I didn't see it in my hometown, but when season 5 was ready, I saw season 4 episodes on PAX, and the set was different than the Anderson version, the returning family rule was in effect, and they added music when the clock started ticking in the fast money round. I like Karn and hope the ratings will continue to go up each week.

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.

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!