Family Fortunes

Family Fortunes is a classic game show with such a basic premise. You take two families, put them next to podiums, add a screen, ask 100 people different everyday questions, play or pass, and there you go. It is the British version of the ever-so-classic Family Feud, but while that show has evolved over the years, Family Fortunes since being revived has kept everything how it was, however I'll only be going over the classic series, which ran from 1980-2002, not the Vernon Kay All-Star series or the revived Gino D'Acampo version that currently airs.

So, each episode has three different rounds which share similar premises - there's the main round or "Single Money" in recent versions, which tends to last three rounds, where the contestants have to guess what the answers are to everyday surveys. If what you said isn't on the board, you get the famous "EH-OH!" sound which has now become a stable of British pop-culture. If you get three strikes, then the following family has the chance to steal the money away. If they get it wrong, the other family wins the money given in the round.

Double Money is the same thing, except as the name applies, the money is doubled. The winning family is the one who reaches £300, and they head onto Big Money, or "Fast Money" to the non-brits. Two contestants play this one, with one answering five questions first, and then the second steps in and does the same. The aim is to reach 200 points and you win the jackpot, which by the 90's was about £5,000. By the 90's, if you found all 5 top answers as well you'd win a family car or by 1998, a holiday. It makes family reunions so much special indeed.

Now, onto the hosts, the first was Bob Monkhouse, a very familiar name indeed, and was the one who came up with the UK game as he found "Family Feud" to be a bit aggressive. He was good, and just as you'd expect from a classic comedian. Musician Max Bygraves eventually took over in 1983, and he wasn't good but wasn't truly awful ether, just weak without much memorable moments.

After the show took a hiatus in 1987, the most memorable of them all - Les Dennis became the host, and he's a classic indeed, just what a show like this really needed, coming up with so many memorable lines like "If that answer's there, I'll give you the money meself!". Les has been the longest running of them all and lasted until the main weekly run ended in 2002, when Andy Collins took over as the host. I think he's best left forgotten.

Over the years, the show has seen different graphics and sets, however the thing they'd always have would be Mr. Babbage, the screen that displayed green electronic text. 1987 (aka Les' first series) was majorly different, as they instead used a large colour screen which was a bit of an eyesore, so they eventually changed back. The intro and logo graphics have seen different changes, ranging from the famous "Egg Family" to the final two season's "Spinning Pound Coins" look.

One thing that also makes the show memorable is the contestants. Sometimes you can hear the dumbest or stupidest of answers which are memorable on their own behalf, or excited contestants strangling or tightly hugging Les on Big Money. Even the contestant babble is interesting to hear as well and doesn't feel like filler. It's always funny for them to talk about their most embarrassing moments on public TV. The most memorable moment of the series somehow was in the Bygraves era, and that's none other than the Turkey one. Everybody knows this, so I don't need to say how it goes.

Now, onto how the show eventually went downhill. The set and graphics got far cheaper-looking and alongside Catchphrase, Carlton and ITV decided to make it a daytime series, with a reduced top prize, and no car or holiday. And as mentioned, Les Dennis left and Andy Collins took over. This all failed, and the classic series of the show ended in December 2002.

Overall, Family Fortunes is a classic in terms of ITV game shows, and one of the most memorable alongside, well... do I even need to say other examples? If you see it on Challenge, give it a watch but by this point, you've already seen it.

The questions that are asked on the show have been asked to 100 people. Then they take the highest 10 which two families have to guess. First they take a member of each team and ask them a question like 'What is the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning?'. They both go for the buzzer and whoever gets an answer or the highest answer on the board has a choice to play or pass. Whoever plays has to guess the other 9 answers. The family that wins the most money chooses two members one of whom goes and sits in a box with headphones on. The first member is asked a few questions which they give their answers to and then the second member comes on and is asked the same questions that they have to give different answers to. If they have the highest percent from the answers they win the big prize.

The first person to comment on this show has very much explained the rules so I won't say any more on that except that this show was extremely entertaining and essential viewing in my household up until about 2002.

It has been hosted by the truly talented Bob Monkhouse, the great Max Bygraves and the entertaining Les Dennis. Some new guy took over in 2002 and it was relegated to an afternoon slot when I would be at work so I haven't watched it since 2002.

Some of the answers given by the contestants over time are truly amazing. I remember one question years ago- "Name something you can break." The first answer the contestant gave was, "a safe." Hmmm! The correct term is usually to crack a safe, not break a safe. More obvious answers would have been your bones or a cup or plate.

Another funny answer was this one. Les Dennis asked the contestant to name a spiked animal. Hedgehog had already been picked so I guess the next logical answer would have been porcupine. Did the contestant pick that? No, his answer was lizard. Hmmm!

But it was all good fun and like I said, essential viewing for a lot of people from '79-'02.

One final point. No-one representing this quiz show has every stopped me in the street asking to survey me. Hmmm!

Family Fortunes was a great game show in which two families play against each other, guessing the results of a survey of 100 people. The family with the most points at the end of the game goes on to play "Big Money" in which two family members have to try and guess the top answer for 5 surveys, if they get all top answers between them, they could win a big prize such as a car or holiday, otherwise they could get a large sum of money if they got over 200 points.

Many of the surveys were very funny and received many strange (but very funny) answers from the contestants.

The only real bad thing about Family Fortunes was its set, some of the earlier series were really dull sets with horrible brown walls, newer series with Les Dennis weren't that bad though, but it's only with the latest series with Vernon Kay does the set really look bright and cheerful.

A solid structure. 2 families, each containing five contestants guess the most popular items in a list for a question such as "Something you might find in the garden". There are Single/Double Money rounds, then the winning team goes on to play Big Money, with the captain and a selected teammate attempting to guess all the top answers from 5 questions.

Family Fortunes has always been good for a laugh in my eyes. It always keeps you entertained, with it's lively atmosphere, colourful studio and family anecdotes. Not forgetting, of course, the ridiculous answers they give for some questions! (e.g. Name something that comes in pairs... "Rabbits") The Les Dennis episodes were top class, he was its best presenter by a mile. Andy Collins couldn't hold a candle to him, though. It's newest incarnation, featuring Vernon Kay, isn't too bad so far, but they should make a version with normal contestants soon rather than celebrity editions, which actually weren't too bad. Long may this show appear on our screens, I say.