Family Feud

I previously reviewed the original Richard Dawson run of "Family Feud", then the first episode of the 2nd run with Ray Combs. Now, I'm reviewing the very last one hosted by him with the returning champs the Beckwiths competing against the Trans. Combs seemed to be a little more excited than I remember him being when I watched his hosting stint in first-run syndication and CBS back then. Anyway, the Trans end up in the Fast Money round with the second contestant getting 0 points-of which he passed on three of the questions-leaving Ray to say "I've been doing this for 6 years now and this is the first time I've had someone who got no points. I'd say it's a damn fine way to go out. I thought I was a loser till you came in and made me feel like a man." Apparently, however, it wasn't better enough for him to stay to talk to the two families like he usually did when the show ends as he left just after saying, "See you next time" as there wouldn't be one. Two years later, after getting in an accident, losing his comedy club businesses, and then his wife and kids leaving him-and despite hosting a new game show called "Family Challenge", Ray Combs would hang himself in a mental hospital. What a sad end to what seemed to be a charmed life during his run on "Family Feud". One hopes he didn't suffer too badly when he made the decision...

After Richard Dawson stepped down from the Feud in 1985, we went 3 years without it until 1988, when it finally returned, with a slightly new set, airing on a new network, and with a new host: Ray Combs!

Unlike Dawson, who was a modest, wry British comedian, Combs was loud and energetic, and it actually works, defying a difference between Dawson's era and Combs' era.

It initially started off strong (maybe not as strong as Dawson's run, but good enough), but it later started to wane, with CBS expanding the show to an hour and added the "wildly beloved" Bullseye round to the mix, which *spoiler alert*: didn't work and thus led to the end of the CBS daytime run, while the syndicated run continued on, but by that point, Combs grew weary of the formula and was eventually let go and was replaced by the man that he succeeded: Richard Dawson.

But even with Dawson's returning star-power, it ended after his only return season.

Sadly, Combs didn't have much success on finding another long-running gig following his firing from Feud, and outside of taping a pilot for his own talk show that never got picked up and hosting Family Challenge on The Family Channel (now Freeform) for a year, the offers dried up against his favor. And even though Combs is no longer with us since his passing in 1996, his upbeat, energetic humor has never been forgotten.

RIP Ray Combs (1956-1996)

First off, I must say that this is a fun game show. Also, I'm not sure if I've seen every episode. However, I do know the show very well. Every time I've watched it, I've had a lot of fun playing along and watching. While it was still in production, this made me long to be a contestant. The thing I like most about it are the questions. Despite the fact that I don't know that many answers, I still have fun playing along. I hope the Game Show Network keeps it on so I can play along and watch for years to come. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever. Now, in conclusion, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

Being a child of the 80s, I grew up on this version and enjoyed it very much. It was a fun game and Ray was an entertaining host. Then last year I got Game Show Network, started watching Richard's version, and thought it was better. However, I still don't think this was a bad second version; Ray ranks up there with Bert Convy (on Super Password) as one of the best replacement hosts. The only thing that bugs me is that sometimes Ray gets hung up on being funny and not concentrating on the game, but it's not that annoying. You want annoying? Check out the Louie Anderson version.

This version of a truly classic game show is definitely worth watching. It's too bad Mr. Combs decided to take his own life; I've always wanted to see a hosting duel between he and Richard. Who'd win????

You know I have watched this game show over the years and i have found several things out. One thing The show was a whole lot better with Richard Dawson on it than it was with Ray Combs. One thing I found out from an official message that was on the Mark Goodson productions website is that the real reason Ray Combs replaced Richard Dawson is because Richard had gotten into an argument with Mark Goodson. What it says that they were yelling at each other over is how Mark forced Richard to stop kissing the Female Contestants and when that happened the popularity of the show went downhill then Mark comes along yelling at Richard wanting him to start kissing them again so the show can be popular again. Well the two got into that fight and then that is when Ray Combs came on the show. Then after Mark Goodson died and his son took over it is said that Ray Combs had a bad wreck in his car and doctors said he would be laid up for over a year. So Mark Goodson's son had Richard Dawson come back. Well Ray got healed up in less time than the doctors said it would take. When Ray came to work he was told that he had to wait for Richard's two year contract to run out. Well Ray's wife had stated that her husband started getting suicidal because of how Richard was on the show instead of him. Then when his wife had the doctors put him in a mental institution they made the mistake of putting him in a room that the closet had a hanging bar strong enough to hold Ray up and so Ray killed himself by making a hangman noose out of a sheet off of the bed. When Richard heard that Ray had killed himself he refused to sign a new contract after the two year contract ran out. So right there is what i know is the real history of the events of the game show