‘Family Feud’ Turns 50: See Every Version of the Game Show (PHOTOS)
Never mind Hatfields and the McCoys. Forget the Capulets and the Montagues. The biggest Family Feud, for our money, is the game show that’s been pitting house against house for 50 years now.
Family Feud premiered on July 12, 1976, as the brainchild of Mark Goodson, a game show producer behind The Price Is Right, Match Game, and Password.
“The greatest challenge in the world is to invent a new game,” Goodson once explained, per The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. “A good game show must actively involve the viewer. A good game show seeks the simplest, sparest framework. A good game show will have the viewer talking out loud to the TV.”
Goodson succeeded on all counts with Family Feud, which has run in some iteration almost continuously for half a century now. In the first-ever Family Feud episode, the Moseley family played the Abramowitzes, and the game show’s first-ever question challenged the dueling clans to name famous Georges. (In a sign of the times, the most popular survey answers to that question were inaugural U.S. President George Washington, yes, but also comedians George Burns and George Gobel, actor George Jessel, and wrestler Gorgeous George.)
Since then, American TV viewers have seen eight versions of Family Feuds and eight hosts. See the full chronology below.
ABC daytime (1976–1985)
Family Feud debuted on ABC on July 12, 1976, and ranked as the #1 game show on daytime TV within a year. Richard Dawson, a Hogan’s Heroes actor and Match Game panelist, was the game show’s first host, though he revealed in a 2010 Television Academy interview that William Shatner was “on the leading edge” of getting the gig. Dawson went on to get a Daytime Emmy for his work.
Syndicated (1977–1985)
The first syndicated Family Feud premiered in primetime a little more than a year after the ABC version hit daytime TV. By September 1980, the former was running five shows a week, and it ranked as the top-rated syndicated game show from 1978 to 1984.
ABC primetime specials (1978–1984)
While ABC was running its daytime Family Feud with layperson contestants, the network also hosted a series of hour-long primetime Family Feud specials in which TV stars (including Happy Days’ Marion Ross and Dynasty’s Joan Collins, pictured here) played for charity.
CBS daytime (1988–1993)
Family Feud returned to the screen on CBS on July 4, 1988, with Ray Combs, a comedian who’d gotten a standing ovation on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1986, as host. In 1992, the show expanded to an hour-long format and got the moniker Family Feud Challenge, according to Game Show Confidential.
Syndicated (1988–1995)
Another syndicated Family Feud, later dubbed The New Family Feud, followed just weeks after the CBS edition. Combs hosted until 1994, when producers brought back Dawson, who’d by then married previous Family Feud contestant Gretchen Johnson, as the game show’s website reports.
Syndicated (1999–present)
A third syndicated version debuted in 1999, with stand-up comic Louie Anderson (pictured here) emceeing. Home Improvement alum Richard Karn took over hosting duties from 2002, followed by Seinfeld actor John O’Hurley in 2006, and comedian Steve Harvey in 2010.
Celebrity Family Feud (2008)
NBC got its one and only exclusive version of Family Feud in 2008 when Today weatherman Al Roker reigned over a star-studded primetime edition. “I can say, with all honesty, that this is the only game show I’ve ever wanted to host,” Roker told Zap2it at the time, though he said Dawson was Family Feud’s best master of ceremonies.
Celebrity Family Feud (2015–present)
And in 2015, ABC got its first exclusive Family Feud version, a primetime show with Harvey again at the podium and stars like Toni Braxton and Anthony Anderson, pictured here, trying their luck. “The thing about [Celebrity Family Feud] that I get to enjoy most is I get to see people that I haven’t seen in a long time, or people that I’m fans of,” he told E! in 2020.
Conversation1 Comment
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Register or sign in to join the conversation.
-
A
While both Richard Dawson and Steve Harvey were the best hosts, part of me still misses Ray Combs in the job. So tragic about how his death came about...
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services