“Family Feud” Heads to Primetime NBC

26 Mar

Posted by Alex Davis as Family Feud, NBC

Is this the year of Family Feud or what? Let’s look at all the things in its favor.

*It’s the only syndicated show to actually gain viewers from year to year.
*GSN picked up the rerun rights to the current John O’Hurley edition of the show.
*ION picked up the rerun rights as well.

And now, NBC has picked up the primetime rights to air some celebrity editions of the show. According to Variety, both Fremantle and CBS are preparing the show for as soon as summer but keeping details about it very tight under wraps. The good news is that the game has an established format and can’t be screwed up that terribly much!

This is a huge opportunity for Feud here. It’s evident that the general public likes John O’Hurley a lot or else the ratings wouldn’t continually go up. Honestly, if they can advertise and raise more awareness of the syndicated version with all of this, it won’t be hard to actually pass Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in the ratings. It’s just nice seeing the show get the attention it finally deserves.

20 Responses

Greg
1
March 26th, 2008 at 10:50 am

I’m impressed. Family Feud will be one of the few game shows to be on all 3 networks. (It was originally on ABC, then on CBS.) Now, it’ll be on NBC. Do you realize how many shows have accomplished that feat? It’s going to join The Price is Right, Let’s Make a Deal, and Password!

This is awesome! However, I hope Fremantle is decent enough to bring back the 1988 Robert Israel theme.
Myke25
2
March 26th, 2008 at 10:50 am

The prime time All-Star Feuds with Dawson always scored big numbers for ABC, so this isn’t really a surprise. The question is, will NBC stick to within the family to cast it, or will shows from other nets be invited? I think “The Office” vs. “30 Rock” is probably a lock. A “Scrubs” team may depend on whether the show moves to ABC or not. Most of their other shows are reality, so unless they have Howie and a few models from DoND on, who do you think they will they invite?
ScottNotSteve
3
March 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am

Saturday Night Live cast members…Heroes cast members…plenty of options there. I don’t expect anyone from other nets to be invited, nor would I expect the other nets to be too keen to loan their talent to NBC.
MrQuiz
4
March 26th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Greg…you forgot to mention MATCH GAME as having been on all three networks. And, enlighten me, please; when was LET’S MAKE A DEAL on CBS?
Mike B.
5
March 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

^Greg may have been thinking of the 80s syndicated version, which taped at CBS. But that doesn’t really count.

“According to Variety, both Fremantle and CBS…”

I think you’ve made a typo here. ;)

I should also point out that the ratings for FF went down a bit last year before surging again this year.

I do wonder if all this exposure between syndication, GSN, ION, and now NBC could potentially hinder the show. But I’m hoping for the best. By the way, can we confirm that O’Hurley will host these specials? The Variety article didn’t specifically say so. They’d be foolish not to have him host, but this *is* Fremantle we’re talking about.
Jonathan Gabel
6
March 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

Here’s something to consider:

Cast members from the Law & Order Franchise series versus Howie Mandel and the Deal Or No Deal Models!
Intelligentfan777
7
March 26th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

THE ALL NEW…..ALL-STAR….FAMILY FEUD SPECIALS!

Wow, this is great news. Gene Wood would have been plenty happy to hear this.

John will finally have a chance to shine in primetime, and I would hope they increase the stakes dramatically to make some lucky charities very happy.
Wheelloon
8
March 26th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Wowee *Shutters like a school child*

I’m stoked! This blew me out of the water. Ye old Feud has been doing well lately, eh? However, with NBC pulling some strings on this, and Fremantle being it’s ole “experimental” self, I must remain cautious.

Celebrities playing is fine with me, of course, and often times, the celeb Feuds are more fun then the regular ones. I’m hoping that this isn’t made up partly as an opportunity, though, for Fremantle to test some new “twists” they might have up their sleeves. Nobody wants to see a $1,000,000 Family Feud, and nobody wants to see the show’s format really change, period.

But what’s next now? Is it theoretically possible for J!, Crosswords, or WOF to get primetime offerings? It’s a different company working them, duh, but syndie games have been getting a lot of press lately. Let’s just hope Sony won’t, and I don’t think it will, tack on a $1,000,000 prize to either of their two shows (though one easily could argue J!’s been there and done that), like Grundy will soon do with WOF in Australia, call it a primetime version and stick it on a network somewhere. Big prizes like that have to come naturally to a show’s format to work, and right now, non-tournament J! and WOF don’t have that.

However, I am happy Feud has been getting a lot of good press lately. It deserves it, same with O’Hurley, and with next year being season 10 for this run, it’s the perfect time for such a primetime special and celebration to occur. Major props to the entire crew. :D
jaymich
9
March 26th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

I think this could work out REALLY well…except (as some have already mentioned) if there’s a lot of tinkering. I remember when this version first started (with Louie Anderson)…the rules were completely changed…the 300 rule didn’t come back till a few years later…but it, thankfully, did come back.

John O’Hurley *is* great as the host. He’s funny without being rude.

As for cast members…I agree with the above choices…especially the cast of “Heroes”. I’d also like to see “Law and Order” (the original). I think it would be interesting to see Sam Waterston in a relaxed (and often funny) setting. I’ve always seen him being so serious. So, that kind of change would be cool.
Adam
10
March 26th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Even more exposure for John O’Hurley. the FF news has getting better and better as time goes on. It’s great that Feud will be back on network television again. I have a feeling the Feud with John O’Hurley will be around for a long time to come. He’s doing a smashing job as Feud host.
Brad D.
11
March 26th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

This is great news! Can anyone say Family Feud in HD????
mikeman
12
March 26th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

This is terrific news!Now it just needs to be in HD!
Chris Parsley
13
March 26th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

You all are missing that NBC has CNBC/MSNBC/Bravo/USA/SciFi also to draw from for talent…. Anyone saw a Law ‘n Order vs Monk/Psyche matchup?

Also, Im fine with a big money end game, tie it in like Aussie Feud did, base it on #1 answers given by the first player.
The Great Butler
14
March 26th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

More exposure for the incredibly overrated John O’Hurley. Great. >_>

Other than that, this IS good news, as it could herald the return of the proverbial “golden boys” of game shows.
Mike B.
15
March 26th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

“Is it theoretically possible for J!, Crosswords, or WOF to get primetime offerings?”

Unless Crosswords suddenly experiences a major surge in popularity, I very much doubt we’ll see it in primetime. I can’t even really see it working without making significant changes. Then again, the format’s pretty broken to begin with.

WoF and J! aren’t out of the question, I suppose.
Wheelloon
16
March 26th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

I included Crosswords in that list only becuase, for those with good memories, if you remember, NBC was supposed to air a preview of it one night last summer, meaning at one point, some consideration was put towards it. Otherwise, there’d be no reason for such a thing to occur, indeed.

J! has already been in primetime with Super J! (for only 9 weeks), which I really can’t see returning, so the chances for that lessen there, I’d think. For some reason, I see somebody wanting to tinker with WOF (as if Harry Friedman hasn’t already tinkered the thing to death already), and trying to change something with it to make it somehow more justifiable to put it in primetime.

The show is fine where it is, and at this point, more would equal less, IMHO. The same logic I also think applies with FF. I also do not think that a steady roster of celebrities will be a problem. As others have stated, you have the entertainment conglomerate of NBC, Universal, and Vivendi. You could pull the DoND crew out, the Gladiators, Office, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, Knight Rider *great cross-promotion for an upcoming show*, Monk *hellatiously popular*, however many Law and Orders there are, stars of upcoming first season sitcoms outside Knight, future Universal Studios movie offerings, and so on.

And to thou that think that most of these stars wouldn’t participate in such, I have two arguments. One, if NBC is behind all of this, no doubt there will be some compensation if they want certain stars on FF bad enough, and two, if NBC is betting on FF pulling decent ratings (which it must if they are picking it up like this), the ability for the celebs to market themselves is obvious, and is a wasted opportunity if passed up. They aren’t doing anything that strenuous in the summer eh? They’re in between seasons!………….
Greg
17
March 27th, 2008 at 6:25 am

It’s true. I did forget Match Game. Thanks.

Let’s Make a Deal was part of Game Show Marathon, which was on CBS.

The 80’s version of LMAD was taped at NBC Studios, then at Hollywood Center.
Ken C.
18
March 28th, 2008 at 3:26 am

OMNI TV took away my afternoon feud so this is great news!

wait a minute. the Original American Gladiators versus The New American Gladiators.

hmmmmmm…

on a side note, (OMNI if you’re reading this, Please Give us back the Feud!! Ok, I’m willing to deal with a half-hour of Merv’s Crosswords and half-hour of Feud but please bring it back!
Mike B.
19
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm

According to Variety, these specials may not be hosted by John O’Hurley after all. They’re reporting that Al Roker is in negotiations to host. He might do okay, but I was really hoping this would be an extra boost for John and the syndie version. But hey, John is hosting a talent competition for CBS this summer, so he’ll be in primetime in some form.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983407.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2565
Michael
20
April 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am

Clearly, it’s NBC’s turn to run Family Feud, even though it’s celebrity specials will run in prime time during the summer months. ABC had the original Family Feud with Richard Dawson as host, CBS had it later with the late Ray Combs, but now, with NBC getting this legendary game show, I think they should stick with John O’Hurley to host the show, this summer(all due respect to Al Roker, he should stick to the Today show, doing weather forecasts). NBC’s daytime lineup in the afternoon, except for Days of Our Lives, has gone nowhere for years, so I’m not sure if the network is even remotely interested in getting back into daytime game shows, but if they are, Family Feud would be the first choice. In the meantime, we’ll watch for Celebrity Family Feud to air on NBC, this summer.