The History of Game Shows is an ongoing series of articles about the history of game shows from 1500 to the present. This week’s article is about the popular game show, Family Feud.

At the very least catch phrase fodder for American pop culture, Family Feud is one of the staples of game shows in America today. Originally a spin-off of the bonus round from Match Game, Family Feud has been surveying 100 people, with the top 5 answers on the board, for over 30 years.

Dawson1973’s Match Game was, in 2 words, da bomb. The combination of host Gene Rayburn, the massive amount of celebrities, and of course, the dirty questions, made for a ratings smash. One of the regular celebrities, Richard Dawson, shows an incredible amount of competence in playing the game, plus a charisma and likability that made for excellent television. Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, always the forward thinkers, decided to convert the Super Match portion of the Match Game into a new show, and cast Dickie Dawson in the starring role.

The Family Feud debuted on July 12, 1976 on the ABC network at 1:30 P.M., right after your local news. Lackluster ratings prompted ABC to move the show to 11:30 A.M., right before your local news, and the ratings took off. Family Feud remained a powerhouse for ABC’s morning lineup until 1984. The success of the show led to a nighttime weekly syndicated version in 1977, then a twice-weekly version in 1979, then a nightly version in 1980, foreshadowing the painful over-saturation of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the future. After some bad time slot changes, ABC canceled the daytime version on June 14, 1985, and the syndicated version followed in September of the same year.

CombsOn July 4, 1988, CBS premiered the revival of the Feud at 10:00 AM with comedian and audience warm-up man Ray Combs. Following in the tradition of the previous Feud incarnation, a nighttime syndicated version was created two months later. On June 29, 1992, CBS extended the show to an hour, added a new round (the sometimes-loved, sometimes-hated Bullseye round) and christened it the Family Feud Challenge. New episodes of the daytime show aired until March 29, 1993 and reruns continued until the show’s final cancellation on September 10, 1993. The syndicated version also added the Bullseye round, but kept the length to a half-hour. The syndicated Feud stayed on air until May 27, 1994, when Richard Dawson took over the reigns due to declining ratings at the request of Jonathan Goodson, who inherited Goodson-Todman Productions when Goodson died in 1991.

Feud94The syndicated 1994 version of Family Feud was an attempt to modernize the Feud. The set, which combined the intentionally old-timey style of the original Feud with the mid-90s styling of blue blocks of glass and brushed metal, looked cheap. The traditional five-family team shrunk to four, and the Big Board changed from a complicated system of placards, trilons and stagehands to a CGI graphic added in post-production. Dawson, who had quit smoking and drinking by this time, was a quieter, less sauced version of his 70s self, which disappointed most. Despite an early kick in ratings, the O.J. Simpson trial proved to be too much competition for the New, Shiny Feud and the last new episode aired on May 26, 1995.

LouieFour years later, the Feud returned to syndication on September 20, 1999, where it remains to this day. Most people remember Louie Anderson’s wheezing, huffing, out-of-breath job, immortalized in an episode of Scrubs. Anderson hosted the Feud from 1999 to 2002 and saw the top prize double from $10,000 to $20,000. Anderson was allegedly bored with the job (and let’s also say Craft Services stopped manning the jumbo deep fryer) and his last episode was on May 8, 2002. Al Borland took over the hosting job on September 16, 2002. Richard Karn (his real name, honestly) proved to be awkward in front of the camera (and if you want proof, watch him going to commercial and try not to cringe) but somehow lasted with the show for 4 seasons. J. Peterman took over the reigns in 2006, with a fancy, shiny set and a charismatic host. Family Feud is now in syndication and on GSN.

An interesting diversion from the history of Family Feud is the Celebrity version of the show, hosted by Al Roker in the summer of 2008. John O’Hurley was busy hosting Some Stupid Celebrity Circus Shit on CBS and was not available. Celebrities and their families competed in a game that somewhat mirrored the Family Feud Challenge: 2 preliminary games of the Feud were played, with the winners of each taking part in a 3rd game to play a final bonus round for even more money. The only episode of note was the episode with the cast of The Office, American Gladiators and My Name is Earl, mainly because the Office stars didn’t bother to act like morons, but were actually funny. The graphic and set changes that were made for Celebrity Family Feud, for the most part, were carried over to the syndicated version with O’Hurley.