Family Feud - General Discussion

[KWalkerInc]

I still see repeats listed for the week of September 28.

[Carey]

It appears that new episodes are starting on October 5th.  So that pretty much coincides with repeats continuing during the Week of September 28th.

 

On the other hand, Wikipedia has the new season set to start on 09/28/2020, which isn’t accurate.  That’s possibly due to the fact that it came from Wikipedia; IMO it’s misleading because there have been GSN promos with Steve Harvey that plug “All New Episodes” starting on 09/28/2020 at 10 PM EST (pushed back an hour).  I haven’t seen any advertisements of first-run episodes (the current season within a particular year) moving from its current channel to GSN, so I think it’s probably just Season 21 being added to the GSN line-up

[KWalkerInc]

A family actually passed in one round tonight.  Steve looked at them completely dumbfounded, but then when it came back to them with one answer remaining, they were able to get the steal.  It was a new episode, although I have no idea when it was filmed as there was an audience, etc.  I could have at least seen the year from the copyright date, but I forgot even though it was on twice.  It looks like they are already trying to ration episodes again, as they list the second episode each night as a repeat after having two new ones a day for maybe the first week.  (Though my station continues to just show the same episode twice in a day no matter what the listings say.)  I think there was also a repeat in the first airing last Friday.

[KWalkerInc]

Thursday's episode was bumped from its regular time slot for the debate, but I caught the first few minutes late night and they've now gotten to episodes filmed this year.  The podiums were farther apart and the contestants had to just point at each other (or one grouping playfully shadow-boxed from a distance) before the question.  Steve stood in the middle of the set, although one time it looked like he was standing far from the woman at the far end who was answering, but was right next to the team captain!  (Maybe that just looked that way from the camera angle.)  There was definitely crowd noise and I think there were a few people (crew members?) in the audience area, but they didn't really pan there.  The cheering, reading of the answers that no one got as they are unveiled, etc. may have been pre-taped.  On today's episode, it said "Made in Georgia" at the end, so it must be from after the move back to Atlanta.  I thought they had taped a few without an audience in L.A. before shutting down, but maybe not. 

[PikaScrewChu]

A lot of the noise is probably pumped in. I've noticed that they repeat questions or have variations on the same question. This was glaringly obvious watching Celebrity Family Feud this year and seeing questions from old re-runs of regular Family Feud. 

[shapeshifter]

It's an impossible balancing act to select a camera angle that gets everyone in the shot without making it look like they're closer than they are. 

 

On 10/25/2020 at 9:41 PM, PikaScrewChu said:

I've noticed that they repeat questions or have variations on the same question. This was glaringly obvious watching Celebrity Family Feud this year and seeing questions from old re-runs of regular Family Feud. 

The repeat questions were problematic in the episode I caught today, in that the answers were from the Before Times, so the contestants didn't match very many. At least, that was my take on it. But maybe they just had a smaller pool of contestants to draw from. Or maybe both factors pushed them into the Sudden Death round. 

I noticed there were zero shots of audience, so that might have been a factor too. Even though they're not supposed to yell out answers, I'm guessing it happens when there's an audience.

[cinsays]

I watch this show just before I go to bed so that I have some sort of mindless, somewhat amusing stuff to think about instead of real life  events, especially these days.

What annoys me is some of the fast money questions.  The one I watched last night was - what were grocery bags made of.  Unless I am missing something, pretty much the only answers (well, besides the reusable totes), are paper and plastic.  How dumb would you have to be to not get those 2 answers.

 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, cinsays said:

What annoys me is some of the fast money questions.  The one I watched last night was - what were grocery bags made of.  Unless I am missing something, pretty much the only answers (well, besides the reusable totes), are paper and plastic.  How dumb would you have to be to not get those 2 answers.

I too wonder about those easy Fast Money questions. Another is “What is a color of a Checker board?”
I guess there’s always the chance of someone blurting out a random wrong answer since they’ve only got 5 seconds at most.  
But neither the grocery bag nor the checker board questions could ever be used for the regular questions, so maybe they try to throw in an easy one for the Fast Money if there are some esoteric ones?

 

[cinsays]

20 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I too wonder about those easy Fast Money questions. Another is “What is a color of a Checker board?”
I guess there’s always the chance of someone blurting out a random wrong answer since they’ve only got 5 seconds at most.  
But neither the grocery bag nor the checker board questions could ever be used for the regular questions, so maybe they try to throw in an easy one for the Fast Money if there are some esoteric ones?

 

yup, that could be it

another thing that bugs me, when it is a family he seems to really like, he gives them another chance to answer the question even if they have run out of time, other times, nope

or when the person does not understand the question and gives a totally wrong answer and he looks at the judge and then they get to say something else.  for a family he is not as happy with, that does not happen.

i have more, but nothing important 

[shapeshifter]

I was feeling stressed and gloomy until the losing last Fast Money answer for today's episode: 

Q. Name a place where someone would be holding onto a pole? 

A. In a hurricane.

🤣

Really, the only 2 answers to this one were Strip Joint and Fire Station, so, not much different than grocery store bag materials or checker board colors.

[cinsays]

Just now, shapeshifter said:

I was feeling stressed and gloomy until the losing last Fast Money answer for today's episode: 

Q. Name a place where someone would be holding onto a pole? 

A. In a hurricane.

🤣

Really, the only 2 answers to this one were Strip Joint and Fire Station, so, not much different than grocery store bag materials or checker board colors.

yup, i did not see that one, but not a whole lot of answers that would work, but a few, like a crowded bus, carrying a flag in a parade.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I have to laugh every time I see the commercial with the man answering "Blow Up Doll" to the question about what lonely men sleep with.    

[shapeshifter]

In the shows shot after the pandemic began, with social distancing, sometimes the answers seem like they are from Google searches rather than surveys.
For instance,  for today’s last question:  
   “Something you wish was more flexible” 

I was surprised the fourth/last answer was:  
   “Mind/opinions” 

I would have guessed “waistband on my pants” or “budget”

An answer like “mind/opinions” seems more intellectual than usual. 

[shapeshifter]

Hrumph.

Watching today's episode right now. 
The champion family has won 4 games in a row. If they win today they get the car.

Question: Name a kind of snake that a male stripper would use as his stripper name.

The champion family gets to play first, but soon goes through their 3 strikes because of stupid guesses like "silky snake" and "poisonous snake."

The new family gives the answer "black snake" and gets the loser buzzer; the champions win that round (and ultimately the game).
BUT THEN WHEN THE UNGUESSED ANSWERS ARE REVEALED:
They include two names with "black" and another word "snake."
WTH? They must've really wanted to get rid of that car!
On previous shows they would've at least asked them to be "more specific." Right???

.

[KWalkerInc]

I noticed that too.  They definitely should have asked for more specific.  I wonder if the West Virginia family will be one of those that suddenly "returns" in a few days because of a judging dispute.  They used to give a roundabout explanation when somebody comes back, but now they don't usually bother.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

I noticed that too.  They definitely should have asked for more specific.  I wonder if the West Virginia family will be one of those that suddenly "returns" in a few days because of a judging dispute.  They used to give a roundabout explanation when somebody comes back, but now they don't usually bother.

Thank you for affirming my post, @KWalkerInc. These days it’s easy to wonder if one’s self is just crazy. 
Did you also notice their reaction? They had WTH? looks.  And then when the black-snake-guess family member came up for the next question, I thought she looked quite rattled.  

I hope the black-snake-guess family does come back “due to a technical error.”

I have wondered if the “technical error” means somebody was fooling around off camera and leaned on the buzzer button, heh.

Even Steve Harvey had a “Welp. Somebody screwed up” or maybe just worried look on his face. 
Maybe they really did need to give away the car before the end of the year for some quota reason to keep some tax status?
 

Edited November 18, 2020 by shapeshifter
because I must have accidentally hit the Caps key in the middle of a word —but at least no cars were accidentally given away.

[CrazyInAlabama]

This morning's rerun was the family with Ray of the Blow Up Doll fame, but I turned it on halfway through, so if he said that on the broadcast, I missed it.   The good thing is they run 2 episodes in the morning, and then the usual ones in the evening, that are often new, or the same ones they show in the mornings, so I have more chances to see Ray. 

[cinsays]

14 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

This morning's rerun was the family with Ray of the Blow Up Doll fame, but I turned it on halfway through, so if he said that on the broadcast, I missed it.   The good thing is they run 2 episodes in the morning, and then the usual ones in the evening, that are often new, or the same ones they show in the mornings, so I have more chances to see Ray. 

Well, i guess i must have missed this episode and I thought i saw them all at least twice.  Did Ray have a blow up doll or what?

[CrazyInAlabama]

It's the commercial where Steve is laughing hysterically, saying "I live for moments like this!", when Ray is asked "what does a lonely guy sleep with at night", and Ray's answer isn't a night light, teddy bear, etc., Ray says "Blow Up Doll".   

[shapeshifter]

Another thing I noticed with the new episodes is that they seem to be featuring 2 families of the same ethnicity on each episode. There haven’t been enough episodes for it to be a definitive change of policy, but maybe after the summer’s demonstrations they decided it might not be fun anymore to show families of different colors to be feuding against each other?

[KWalkerInc]

20 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Did you also notice their reaction? They had WTH? looks.  And then when the black-snake-guess family member came up for the next question, I thought she looked quite rattled.  

Yes, they definitely did not look pleased.  They weren't back for tonight's episode, but BOTH of the families were returnees who had recently appeared.

[shapeshifter]

Watching now.
Maybe they have newbie judges?
"Chocolate cake" was not "Chocolate."
And "Lake" was not "Beach."

[cinsays]

So, watched a couple of episodes yesterday.  Bonus week.  And they had a family on that had won 5 games but never got the $20K.  And they, so far, have won at least $40K.  
Why were they given another chance, especially during bonus week, when there are families that have been on once and won nothing?

Seems a bit unfair to me.

[shapeshifter]

Question: Bad news is you're going to hell, good news is you brought plenty of...
Totally Pandemic (and wrong) answer: Toilet paper.

I was surprised "fire extinguishers" wasn't up there.

Edited November 24, 2020 by shapeshifter

[KWalkerInc]

In a repeat the other day, there was a Fast Money question about which sport has the most obnoxious fans.  The first person said football, which did well.  The second player said basketball, and it got a zero!  I found that very hard to believe.  I've certainly known obnoxious basketball fans, especially in high school.

[shapeshifter]

15 minutes ago, KWalkerInc said:

I've certainly known obnoxious basketball fans, especially in high school.

Guilty 😑

[cinsays]

I watched one the other night and the last fast money question was - state that starts with K.  Amazingly, the 2 players guessed the ONLY 2 states that started with a K.  Quite an accomplishment.... yup.

 

[shapeshifter]

1 minute ago, cinsays said:

I watched one the other night and the last fast money question was - state that starts with K.  Amazingly, the 2 players guessed the ONLY 2 states that started with a K.  Quite an accomplishment.... yup.

Often they'll give a city instead of a state or vice versa, which makes me roll my eyes, but then I figure it's a totally high-stress environment, and I wouldn't do well either.  It's like the opposite of Jeopardy where I need more time at home by recording and pausing.

I wonder if it's less or more stressful without an audience due to Covid?

[cinsays]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Often they'll give a city instead of a state or vice versa, which makes me roll my eyes, but then I figure it's a totally high-stress environment, and I wouldn't do well either.  It's like the opposite of Jeopardy where I need more time at home by recording and pausing.

I wonder if it's less or more stressful without an audience due to Covid?

yeah, definitely the opposite of jeopardy in many ways

[KWalkerInc]

I hadn't seen any of the episodes that have aired this week (which is refreshing), so I'm guessing these were ones that aired as the second episode of the day originally and of course my station just shows the same one twice.  It looks like these were done in Los Angeles before they shut down and moved to Atlanta.  It's very weird with the contestants touching elbows or feet instead of shaking hands as an acknowledgement of the pandemic, but then Steve actually admonished a man for not standing close enough to him when they brought out the two people for fast money.  I don't think they filmed many episodes this way.  It looks like there will be new episodes on January 25.

[shapeshifter]

Sometime in the last year or so apparently it is no longer the case that Steve does not know the answers.

[KWalkerInc]

In an episode tonight (apparently a repeat), one question was the name of one of Santa's reindeer that would also work for a stripper.  There were eight answers, so it ended up being seven of the "original" reindeer plus Rudolph.  (I think Blitzen was the one that wasn't up there.)  This would have worked better if had been one of the later questions where people had to guess which ones best fit the answer, rather than it just essentially being a test to see if they knew the names of the reindeer.

Awhile back, there was one game where a family had 294 points after the third round.  They didn't end up winning, but because they hadn't swept the board in each game, they could have conceivably had 300 points before the last round.  What would have happened, just play the last  round for fun even though it was already decided?  I wonder if this has ever happened, as I searched but couldn't find anything about it.

[shapeshifter]

39 minutes ago, KWalkerInc said:

Awhile back, there was one game where a family had 294 points after the third round.  They didn't end up winning, but because they hadn't swept the board in each game, they could have conceivably had 300 points before the last round.  What would have happened, just play the last  round for fun even though it was already decided?  I wonder if this has ever happened, as I searched but couldn't find anything about it.

I can't cite the date of a particular game or games, but I thought they had ended after one less round than normal when they reached 300 points. 
Sometimes Steve spends more time goofing around with the contestants than at other times--probably when the contestants are answering quickly.
Are we sure they typically have the same number of rounds for all of the games?

[KWalkerInc]

In the ones I've seen (with Steve and back with Richard Karn), it seems like they always have two rounds before a commercial break, then one with points doubled and a break, then the one with points tripled.  You'd think there had to have been one at some point in all these games where some team won early, but I was unsuccessful in searching because I probably didn't use the right words.

Whenever Steve spends a long time in the introduction with the new team before the first round, I always figure the team that ends up playing the question is going to get three wrong in a hurry!  Well, at least when it's a normal introduction and not one where they want to show someone dancing or something--then that's followed with Steve engaging in little chit-chat and immediately asking for answers.

[cinsays]

so, watched an episode last night

the fast money round, the question was - how can you tell a cheap wedding -

the guy answered "no cake", which was pretty dumb

and it got 30+ points because the most answers were "no food"a

seems quite a bit different to me - food means, food

[KWalkerInc]

On the first episode last night, Steve acted really weird.  I think it was the second question of the show, about what Mrs. Potato Head would turn Mr. Potato Head into if she were angry.  Steve suddenly started yelling at everyone and demanding answers immediately, then shouting that their answers were wrong before checking with the board.  He was very weird and frantic.  I wonder if he just thought this was funny, or if he had been told things were moving too slowly and decided to respond in an exaggerated fashion.  I don't think he kept it up after this, but I missed the next round while getting the mail.

[KWalkerInc]

On a new episode tonight, one of the players, Ronald Moore, mentioned that he played in the NFL, that he was drafted by the Cardinals and had a 1000-yard rushing season.  I decided to look up his stats during the commercial break.  The info about him from Google that comes up on the side of the page says that he died in 2015!  I bet that would come as news to him!  Wikipedia and Pro Football Reference don't say anything about him being dead, so I don't know where the misinformation came from.

Edited November 6, 2021 by KWalkerInc
Typed the same word twice.

[cinsays]

Wow, I wonder if they'll be able to answer this one in fast money......

 

Country bordering the United States

Gee, give me a minute.....

I just am not sure 

[The Wild Sow]

Can Steve Harvey please learn to enunciate?

”Name something people light on special occasions “ — except the first 3 or 4 answers were things people like on special occasions (wine, hot sex, a steak...), and it was obvious the families were mishearing it.  Finally someone said, “oh, light” and got on the board with Candles.

Steve should have corrected himself after the first miss.

[shapeshifter]

On 5/24/2022 at 8:07 PM, The Wild Sow said:

Can Steve Harvey please learn to enunciate?

”Name something people light on special occasions “ — except the first 3 or 4 answers were things people like on special occasions (wine, hot sex, a steak...), and it was obvious the families were mishearing it.  Finally someone said, “oh, light” and got on the board with Candles.

Steve should have corrected himself after the first miss.

I just happened to catch the end of the 5/16/2022 episode,  Season 23 / Episode 163. 

In Fast Money, Steve said: Name a creature that has no legs.

The first family member said nothing before the timer ran out (it was the last question).

I always have captions on, so I'm not sure if I heard him or read it, but I thought of snake or worm. It turned out snake was the number 1 answer.

The second family member actually asked Steve, "Name a preacher that has no legs?" 
The timer went off. Steve made fun of her question and let the 0 stand. 
I was surprised because in the past he would have given her a chance since she didn't understand what he said.

Maybe he did that because the "losing family" had 273 points and the "winning family" had 0, but managed to pull it out with Sudden Death and he thought they didn't "deserve" any added help?
Or maybe the show has budget issues?
Or maybe they have less time to spare now (more commercials)?

[SunnyBeBe]

On 5/28/2022 at 7:45 PM, shapeshifter said:

I just happened to catch the end of the 5/16/2022 episode,  Season 23 / Episode 163. 

In Fast Money, Steve said: Name a creature that has no legs.

The first family member said nothing before the timer ran out (it was the last question).

I always have captions on, so I'm not sure if I heard him or read it, but I thought of snake or worm. It turned out snake was the number 1 answer.

The second family member actually asked Steve, "Name a preacher that has no legs?" 
The timer went off. Steve made fun of her question and let the 0 stand. 
I was surprised because in the past he would have given her a chance since she didn't understand what he said.

Maybe he did that because the "losing family" had 273 points and the "winning family" had 0, but managed to pull it out with Sudden Death and he thought they didn't "deserve" any added help?
Or maybe the show has budget issues?
Or maybe they have less time to spare now (more commercials)?

I think the show must be struggling.  I have caught episodes of this show over the years, though I never plan to see it.  Lately, I’ve noticed that hardly any family wins the grand prize money now.  It’s odd.  I haven’t seen anyone win lately.  What is so amazing is that plenty of the families’ first person up in the grand prize get over 100 points…some over 150 points, only for the second person up to come short. How long has this been going on?  How can it be coincidental?

I also saw this:

Spoiler

I recently saw that they intend to offer cars as prizes.  I’m not sure if that is accurate.  

 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I think the show must be struggling.  I have caught episodes of this show over the years, though I never plan to see it.  Lately, I’ve noticed that hardly any family wins the grand prize money now.  It’s odd.  I haven’t seen anyone win lately.  What is so amazing is that plenty of the families’ first person up in the grand prize get over 100 points…some over 150 points, only for the second person up to come short. How long has this been going on?  How can it be coincidental?

I also saw this:

  Hide contents

I recently saw that they intend to offer cars as prizes.  I’m not sure if that is accurate.  

The Steve Harvey version of the show has always had a car for a family that wins 5 games——which is a nice way, psychologically, to end a family’s winning streak. 
 

[SunnyBeBe]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

The Steve Harvey version of the show has always had a car for a family that wins 5 games——which is a nice way, psychologically, to end a family’s winning streak. 
 

Oh, I guess I don’t watch very much.  Lol. 

[KWalkerInc]

For a while, they used to have the car be a specific (Ford) model.  But I guess they stopped being a sponsor several years ago, so now Steve just says that they can win a car.  When they film it after he says that, it amuses me how they have to film it from a weird angle in an effort to disguise what the brand and model are.

[SunnyBeBe]

I recently caught a little of the Celebrity Version.  The teams were John Legend’s family and Lisa Vanderpump’s tv cast family from Vanderpump Rules.  I’m totally not amused by them, however what caught my attention was Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen.  Omg, she’s been a real turnoff in the media for the last couple of years, but now I see more of why I don’t care for her.  She would do herself a favor by staying out of the spotlight.  Ugh…I hear she has a great group of friends.  She should stick with them.  I do not get what John saw in her.  So annoying.  

[KWalkerInc]

The other day, there was a repeat from last season that featured one of the families that wasn't the champion but was back without explanation.  They ended up winning, and on the next day's show, Steve introduced them as being on their third day with a total of $20,000.  That made me wonder that if they got to their fifth day, would that make them eligible to win the car that day even though they could only win four times at the most?  I tried to pay attention to see if that situation came up, but the family ended up losing on the third day.

[KWalkerInc]

A new season premiered this week, and they have been able to basically go back to pre-COVID conditions.  I think the studio audience is larger, the contestants' podiums are closer together, and Steve can approach the teams on each side and shake hands, fist bump, etc. with contestants.  The episode I watched was later because of Monday Night Football, so even though it was listed on the guide as the season premiere, I wasn't sure at first because sometimes our station will pull out episodes from several years ago to fill time after football.  (Also, one of the questions sounded familiar, although I think it had been used in the regular part of a game and was now in Fast Money.)  But I watched the credits at the end and it said 2023. 

The one exception is that the contestants may not be allowed to shake hands or  hug with the other team.  On that episode and others I've seen part of this week, they were approaching each other before the question but not touching too much (unless they just wanted to do other things besides shake hands).  On one show, two women pretended to bump butts.  One of them was quite a bit smaller, so Steve of course had to say he was worried she was going to get hurt if they had actually made contact.  The smaller woman was like, "I do what I can."

[shapeshifter]

27 minutes ago, KWalkerInc said:

A new season premiered this week, and they have been able to basically go back to pre-COVID conditions.  I think the studio audience is larger, the contestants' podiums are closer together, and Steve can approach the teams on each side and shake hands, fist bump, etc. with contestants…

Thanks for confirming what I thought I noticed!

I recall some questions seemed not as well suited for the game, in that there were too many possible good answers, resulting in more XXXs for reasonable answers than is typical for a single question.

I wonder if this was related to the Writers strike? 

[KWalkerInc]

I found a site where people can get tickets to see tapings of various game shows.  It said they were done taping FF until next year, so I went back in their calendar so see when it was taped.  It looks like they taped from February to May, with some breaks (like I think Celebrity Family Feud did a bunch of episodes in April instead).  Did the WGA strike start late April/early May?  The early season episodes shouldn't have been affected then, so maybe they just didn't do a very good job in picking some questions.  I'm not sure if the show has WGA writers (only the celebrity edition was mentioned when I searched, and it wasn't clear about that one), though obviously someone writes the questions and comes up with their sometimes cutesy wording for when the responses go up on the board.

[shapeshifter]

On 9/30/2023 at 5:47 AM, KWalkerInc said:

I found a site where people can get tickets to see tapings of various game shows.  It said they were done taping FF until next year, so I went back in their calendar so see when it was taped.  It looks like they taped from February to May, with some breaks (like I think Celebrity Family Feud did a bunch of episodes in April instead).  Did the WGA strike start late April/early May?  The early season episodes shouldn't have been affected then, so maybe they just didn't do a very good job in picking some questions.  I'm not sure if the show has WGA writers (only the celebrity edition was mentioned when I searched, and it wasn't clear about that one), though obviously someone writes the questions and comes up with their sometimes cutesy wording for when the responses go up on the board.

The strike officially began May 2, but I read in a credible article that the strike had been seriously anticipated for about 6 months prior — FWIW regarding the Feud.

Here’s a 2020 article with some info about the questions, but it’s mostly vague about who actually writes them or selects them — and it wouldn’t surprise me if it is an unstructured process:
cheatsheet.com/entertainment/family-feud-how-the-show-discreetly-finds-100-people-for-its-surveys.html#h-where-do-family-feud-questions-and-answers-come-from

 

ETA:
And now I’m imagining my post is somehow shared with Steve Harvey and he responds while chuckling: Yeah. “Unstructured process.” That’s about it.
😄

Edited October 2, 2023 by shapeshifter