Family Feud first hit airwaves July 1976 with the original host, Richard Dawson, at the helm. After nearly 40 years of on again, off again airing, Celebrity Family Feud host, Steve Harvey, helps save the show from what critics say could have been one of the dreaded cancellations in game show history. Having hosted Family Feud for the last five years, Harvey helps to launch the celebrity edition this summer, giving fans what, Harvey says, he knows they want.
Fox sat down with the actor and Celebrity Family Feud host to ask him how he was able to recreate the primetime game show while getting some insight on the new edition that is sure to make fans holler with humor. The famous Family Feud show pits family against family in trying to guess the answers to survey questions given to a random 100 people. With categories such as, “Things You Do With Your Eyes Closed,” contestants vie to guess the top answers and win tons of cash for their families.
Rating researchers say that Family Feud is (and has always been) a climate show. One that seems to have extreme highs for a few years, but eventually hits some very devastating lows. The game show has been rebooted and revamped for the last 30 years, having hosts move in and out of the shows limelight. Dawson lead the show for 10 years while Ray Combs only held the spot for six. Harvey is in his fifth year of hosting, already surpassing hosts such as Louis Armstrong (three years), Richard Karn (four years), and John O’Hurley (four years).
Harvey joined the show in 2010, becoming the sixth host since Dawson in ’85. With a majorly successful television series, a host of successful films, stand-up comedy, and award-winning radio talk show, Harvey took on the hosting job under one condition, he had to be allowed to be himself! The comedian, known for his loud and boisterous humor, says, “They allowed me not to just be a traffic cop, cause I didn’t want to.” Harvey says that viewers who watch the show know that at some point a contestant is going to shout out an extremely humorous answer. He felt that if viewers at home were asking themselves, “Why did they just say that?” He could (and should) also ask. An edition of Celebrity Family Feud originally aired back in 2008 with Host Al Roker, however, this is the first reboot of the summer edition since. Fans anticipate that Harvey has more than what takes to make this edition as popular as the regularly aired Family Feud.
Since being on the show, ratings have been on the rise. Harvey has taken the platform from simply a game show, to an interactive conversation with contestants that viewers at home can enjoy and also be a part of. He says that people want to have fun and in order to do that they must have a conversation. Harvey says that when a ridiculous answer is spoken (under the pressure of a three-second response time) it behooves him to run with it and take that moment for what it is, funny and one of a kind. It is this tenacity that critics say have given the Celebrity Family Feud host the ability to save the show from yet another cancellation.
The new summer edition of Celebrity Family Feud has Harvey excited with its premiere featuring black-ish star Anthony Anderson and talk show host, Dr. Phil McGraw. The two celebrities, along with their families, will have a chance to vie for the prize on behalf of charity, while garnering some much predicted comedic moments. Both long time friends of Harvey, fans anticipate that if they do not have a six-pack set of abs before watching, they are bound to have one after from laughing.
Celebrity Family Feud host, Steve Harvey, may have saved the show from cancellation, but the Emmy Award winner may need to rearrange his schedule if he ever plans to sleep. With movies, a radio show, a game show, a talk show, comedy tours, book signings, and filming movies, sleep is a luxury the star says he does not have. “Loving sleep is tied directly to poverty. I found that,” the celebrity says with laughter. Fans who are looking forward to Celebrity Family Feud can tune into the show Sundays at 8 p.m. PST on ABC.
By: Danyol Jaye
Sources:
Fox News- How ‘Family Feud’ host Steve Harvey saved show, expanded with ‘Celebrity’ edition
ABC- Celebrity Family Feud
Family Feud- Official Site
Feature Photo Courtesy of Dennis Crowley- Dennis Crowley’s Flickr Page- Creative Commons License
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3 Responses
Steve Harvey as far as a host goes force feeds inner city lingo to all of us the media loves it. What happened to trying to bring people up in life as far as English goes instead we do the opposite and we all know it’s true. How sad how sad. I love the concept of family feud always have but what gets me is the power that Harvey has making decisions on contestants. I’m sure you won’t post the truth of my email.
You people just don’t get it it’s not how the host harvy was in any way responsible for Raitings because the audience will spend 0 with sponsors practically it’s your PR department and their knowledge of placement that brought rating up. think about it.
In the article about the Family Feud hosts please substitute Louie Anderson for Louie Armstrong Louie Armstrong was dead when he was supposed to host the game show. Obviously this was a brain fart and confused name recognition. AND I think Steve Harvey is the best host since Richard Dawson and may even be better than RD..