If Family Feud were your show!

[dawsoncombs]

If you were in charge of the current incarnation of Family Feud and you wanted to make changes to the show, what would be your ideal 'Feud.

Here's my ideal "Family Feud"

Set: Combs (pre-challenge) but with Dawson era digital board animation and letters.
Music: Dawson theme-for beginning and end (but Karn's 2002 '88 remix for faceoff cues)
Format: Single,Single,Double,Triple to 300 Dollars! (not points)
Host: Dawson was (and always will be the best) but if I had to pick someone new or different it would be Dennis Miller. I think his brand of comedy would fit this show, he's a smartass like Dawson (in his own way) and could probably do a number on some of the dumb answers. Karn is too boring and don't get me started on Mr. Anderson! For the record I liked Ray Combs! He was a close 2nd behind Mr. Dawson.
Fast Money: A return to the 15 and 20 second time limits (they won with those time limits just fine 15 years ago). No "Karn" countown music. Grand prize would be $50,000 with a 1 million dollar tournament of champions.


What would you do or change? Or are you happy w/ the way 'Feud is currently?

Craig

[whoserman]

dawsoncombs said:

Grand prize would be $50,000 with a 1 million dollar tournament of champions.

Ack! No! No more Mo' Money Syndrome! Kill! Kill!

lol. Other than that, it looks pretty good. I'm not sure how well Dennis Miller would do, but I wouldn't strike that idea down.

[Joe Lourenco]

My ideal Feud:

Set: I'd love to bring back the old rotating manual survey boards from the Dawson/Combs shows, but I know a large widescreeen monitor would be the way to go nowadays. If that's the case, I'd revamp the classic Whitman's Sampler design of the Dawson version, with some neat animations/transitions between rounds.

Music: Dawson-era. Only it would be covers of the old themes with new musicians, but still retaining some of the harmonica- and fiddle-laden elements of the classics. No techno/dance crap. No saxophone either.

Host: Tough one. How about this: either Marc Summers (from 1990) or Wayne Brady. Marc's not *that* good with rapping with the families, but has (or at least *had*) energy that fit the pacing of the show. Wayne was a little too saccharin/plastic when he had his own show, but his personality definitely fits with daytime TV audiences and he's an amazing improviser. I know, neither of my hypothetical hosts are that young or fresh, but at least they're not Anderson or Karn.

Fast Money: I agree with the 15/20 second limits. I'd feel tempted incorporate some of the "hot-seat" lighting and music styles from "Millionaire", just to spruce it up from the plain Dawson/Combs versions. But I think silence during the Q&A of Fast Money can lend itself to both tension and unexpected comedy.
The display would be virtually like the classic versions.
Winning families would get to return up to 5 days, going for more money each day. Grand prizes would be $10K, 20K, 30K, 50K, 100K. Screw the budget!!!

That's it for me. Down with Karn!

Joe

[dawsoncombs]

I don't usually bring up (if ever) the grand prize issue. I am a devoted 'Feud fan whether it's $5,000 or $20,000. I'm just considering inflation and the 40% federal gift tax. I'm sure the Fast Money prize is subject to that gift tax. Sorry didn't mean to go into such detail or veer from the point. I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth in reply to the "no more mo' money" comment.

Other ideal hosts would also be:
I agree w/ Marc Summers (he has the Ray Combs nice guy host quality)
The guy from Street Smarts (can't remember his name)
Don't laugh, but Bill Engval (here's your sign!) might be good at it too.

Craig

[FamilyFeudFanatic]

Dawsoncombs, the host of "Street Smarts" is Frank Nicotero.

[TV Favorites]

If I were the executive producer of Feud with full contorl of the show, I'd love to change the following things.

(1) THE BIG BOARD: While I don't think I'd bring back the rotating trilon, I would employ some software that would simulate a turning board such as part of PAX's On the Cover set. I'm sure that if an individual such as Todd can create such a great piece of software on his own, a company like Fremantle with their money and manpower I would hope could do something similar.

(2) MUSIC: Dawson/Combs theme. I would use the main theme and perhaps create some "newer" sounding cues from the theme.

(3) OPENING: I would probably not bring back the original family poses. I would bring back the family role calls at the beginning. To help save time, instead of the camera zooming on each contestant as they were called such as in Karn's 2nd (?) season, I would just have a family shot so the announcer could read the names quicker. I would also lose the cute openings Burton has for Richard when he is introduced. "With the star of Family Feud, <insert host's name>!" worked fine for nearly 20 years, so I see no reason it should have been changed.

(4) HOST: Me! Seriously, though, I'd keep Karn. He is pretty good, but I would give him a few pointers to make him better. Fast money should be more suspenseful. I would also give him pointers on how to pace and peak the show.

(5) PRIZE: I think the prize should have stayed at $10,000 and fast money should be made easier.

(6) RULES: The first team to 300 points wins the game. Rounds would be S-S-D-T to 300 points like now, but I'd lose the "sudden death" tiebreaker. Anything of triple value would be read once at the podium and then 3 seconds would be given to each contestant before they were buzzed. If the triple point questions were limited to 3-4 answers tops, it really shouldn't take that much longer to do, especially if Karn can do a good job of speeding up where needed and stretching where needed. Families could stay on the show until they are defeated. It helped Jeopardy's ratings tremendously with Ken Jennings, so why can't Feud do the same?

More to come later!

[Grey]

If I had no budget and was put in charge of the Feud:

SET: I'd probably order a rebuild of the Combs set with one major change -- A 3-panel video board for the surveys that rotates like the Combs' era board with re-created graphics to go with the board (meaning a return to the 12-panel board and dot-like displays for Fast Money).

MUSIC: Definitely Combs' era theme. I'd keep the faceoff cues from the Combs era and possibly add some more if they sound like they could have been made for that game. Personally, the extra beat at the end of the first season Karn faceoff cue didn't sit well with me.
(And an aside to TV Favorites... the first two eras had different arrangements, so I'd go back and edit the post, but that's me.)

FORMAT: S/S/D/T to $300. No "sudden death"; just make sure that the game can end in 5 rounds. (Although I am toying with the idea of S/S/D/D/T to $200, but that might be too much of a shock. And yes, I put a triple round in a $200 game for end-it-now reasons.)

HOST: Dawson fraternizes way too much and the last thing he needs is to have an ego the size of the Statue of Liberty again. Karn has gone from stiff to predictable. If science could find a way to revive Ray Combs and have him be himself again, I'd want him to host. Until then, one of my friends, Chico, would make a good host.

FAST MONEY: Because we're no longer in the 80s and being smart is apparently not a great trend with people who go on these types of game shows (look at the dunces from Whammy! and you'll see why), I say give them the 20 and 25-second limits. Darken the stage behind the contestant once the timer is set, and bring the lights back up once they're done.

If the two players make it to 200 points, the team gets $25,000 (missing merits $25 per point -- max $4,975). Champions may stay up to 5 days, provided they keep winning, and the 4 winningest families at the end of the season go for a winner-take-all tournament like in the Combs era.

[whoserman]

Grey said:

If the two players make it to 200 points, the team gets $25,000 (missing merits $25 per point -- max $4,975).

$4,975 is way too much money to get for losing, in my opinion.

[Grey]

whoserman said:

$4,975 is way too much money to get for losing, in my opinion.

But considering that $25k is 5 times the original $5k, why not up the money-per-point by the same amount?

Besides, almost $5,000 is the absolute maximum one team can win without actually taking home the whole shebang. Not to mention that it would actually give a use for that fourth digit on the scoreboard.

EDIT: If you take a look at the inflation rate, $1,000 in 1977 equals $3,245 today, so I'm really adding about $1730 per show if the team doesn't make it (multiply all values by 5 to get the big win). Considering that I'm barely adding more than one-third to the prize budget and that it's Freemangle's highest-rated syndicated game show in the US, I think adding a smidge more to the price tag of ad time would be worth it.

[bmhedgehog]

If i were in charge of feud...

Set: I would attempt VR set (a la Vh1's My Generation), this is where todd's programs would come in handy. If not i would try to bring back the 94 set (yes im so bent on 94 feud despite i have yet to see the episode that you guys recorded on halloween) and try to make it less cold and mechanical, ya might say i would take out the fast money motif and put in a big screen as well as to animate the board and try to allow 12 answer panells.

Music: I would most definatly would use the 88 remix songs and cues from karn feud or i would use gsn's feud theme (w/lyrics) and then just use 88 remix cues.

Rules: If its a daytime feud then S-S-D-T-T to 300 or 400 pts (bullseye/bankroll tie breaker if needed). 50k to 200 pts in fast money $10/pt for falling short of goal, 100k for ToC. Play till defeat top 10 winners at end of season will play in the ToC. If Primetime feud then Bullseye round max round 1 50k, max round 2 100k the feud round same as daytime just drop the tie breaker (if a tie just play another survey) $20/pt for falling short of 200. Primetime ToC will be the same as daytime, but no bullseye round 200k up for grabs in fast money 1 mill to the winning family.

Host: If Dawson wasnt up there in age i would be glad to use him, i wouldnt have to worry bout his ego since he didnt have one in 94 feud (sorry grey but thats the truth) since he had a 6 year hiatus from the original feud. If i cant have dawson then i could make a good host myself, im a mix of dawson, anderson, and karn (i know that some of you are going to have nightmares after just reading that ;D )

[Grey]

bmhedgehog said:

Music: I would most definatly would use the 88 remix songs and cues from karn feud or i would use gsn's feud theme (w/lyrics) and then just use 88 remix cues.

Rules: If its a daytime feud then S-S-D-T-T to 300 or 400 pts (bullseye/bankroll tie breaker if needed). 50k to 200 pts in fast money $10/pt for falling short of goal, 100k for ToC. Play till defeat top 10 winners at end of season will play in the ToC. If Primetime feud then Bullseye round max round 1 50k, max round 2 100k the feud round same as daytime just drop the tie breaker (if a tie just play another survey) $20/pt for falling short of 200. Primetime ToC will be the same as daytime, but no bullseye round 200k up for grabs in fast money 1 mill to the winning family.

Lyrics in the theme and Bullseye... die die die kill murder burrrrrn!

Seriously, though, the ratings for Combs Feud went down when Bullseye was played.

And $50k for a FM win but only $100k in the ToC pot? With families staying on until they're defeated, why would they care about winning $100k more if they have over, say, $1M in winnings from 20+ shows? With your setup, the ToC is, in my own opinion, pointless since the family wins $100k in 2 successful FM games.

All I can say is this... "ouch".

[barneyg]

#1. Keep families for five days maximum.

#2. Keep Karn! He should however lose weight, shave off ALL facial hair, take lessons on what is funny and speech inflection, mention the entire rules of the game before reading the first question, and CASUALLY mention the "double" and "triple" dollar value before reading the question, and ALWAYS wear a suit and tie.

#3. Keep jackpot at $20,000. According to Grey's calculations, $5,000 in '77 would be worth $16,225 today.

#4. Have an HD (16:9) gameboard monitor with a 10-answer capacity. The transition from one round to another can be of a trilon rotation.

#5. $10 per point in fast money. Just add a zero to the FM total, making the most money you can win in five days (net total of FM winnings) $9,950. $1,990 x 5 days

#6. Have tournaments at the end of the season to determine that SEASON's champion.

#7. More later...

[dawsoncombs]

barneyg said:

#2. Keep Karn! He should however lose weight, shave off ALL facial hair, take lessons on what is funny and speech inflection, mention the entire rules of the game before reading the first question, and CASUALLY mention the "double" and "triple" dollar value before reading the question, and ALWAYS wear a suit and tie.

If I kept Karn, he would be made to wear a suit and tie each show! I get annoyed when I see him come on to do the show like he just walked out of a cubicle from a business-casual attired office. With no coat much less a tie! I'd keep his beard/goatee though, it's kind of his trademark. The double/triple rounds should only be casually mentioned (like on Dawson/Combs eras) as opposed to the current "laaa-de-freekin-daa" way it's done now. The audience/contestants now are too giddy! Oh, and no more nickname introductions for Karn before he walks onstage at the beginning! A good old fachioned "With the star of FAMILY FEEEUD!" would suffice. I agree with maybe darkening the set during fast money, it might look really cool with a darkened Combs style set with nothing but the lightbulbs on the big blue board illuminated and a spotlight on the contestant.

[bmhedgehog]

Grey said:

Lyrics in the theme and Bullseye... die die die kill murder burrrrrn!

Seriously, though, the ratings for Combs Feud went down when Bullseye was played.

And $50k for a FM win but only $100k in the ToC pot? With families staying on until they're defeated, why would they care about winning $100k more if they have over, say, $1M in winnings from 20+ shows? With your setup, the ToC is, in my own opinion, pointless since the family wins $100k in 2 successful FM games.

All I can say is this... "ouch".

ok hows about i use the anderson feud theme from the playstation version. I ment to say a progressive jackpot for the ToC starting at 100k and add 50k for each miss and resets to 100k for each win. and the bullseye will be tossed. Is that better Mr. Grey

[hotchocolate]

if family feud was my show

the family feud set will ray comb set

here are rule
first team to $400 win the game
round go like this S-S-S-D-D-T
no sudden dealth
champion can return up 5 day
fast money will be $40,000
plus end of season their tourament champion
music I will use we be from 88 version of family
it digital surey board 12 pannel flip like 88 version
I would also change color palate
board will stay blue
pannel will orange & red writing on orange side
reveal answer is will be black with white writen orange number
score display will be yellow,white, blue
face off podium will be
grey with blue
podum when family stand will
grey with blue carpet
plus used sliding door on 88 version family feud
anoucer will anoucer the family
time to start family
here first family ready set go
here is second family ready set go
let start family feud here is star of family feud

my host would be Richard karn , dawson, marc summer
chuck host for lingo
and losing family get dollars amount show on their scoreboard like it was for Family feud 88
;D