Steve Harvey is a pretty funny guy. I haven’t heard much of his actual standup, but from what I have heard, he’s pretty good. Good enough to where he’s a pretty familiar name to most people these days. But quite frankly, not even he can really save what has become of the once popular game show, Family Feud.
I used to love Family Feud, back in the day it was hosted by Richard Dawson. My parents speak very little English, but even they enjoyed watching Family Feud. I have a lot of fond memories actually watching Family Feud together with my parents and sister, like a real, stereotypical family. The questions were basic and general, and just about anyone watching at home could have a fighting chance if they were remotely third-grade educated, or had been simply living for a while.
When I have lunchtime workouts, I’m running on the treadmill at right around the time when today’s Steve Harvey Family Feud reruns are running on what used to be TBS. I used to watch ESPN, but for a channel that’s supposed to cover all sports, they can’t seem to not stop talking about NFL, NCAA football, golf, or NBA. It’s almost as if they’re resentful that MLB has their own network, just like the NFL and NBA has, and does whatever they can to Rosa Parks the shit out of baseball coverage. Needless to say, Steve Harvey Family Feud episodes are a lesser evil, and I’ve been watching them for a few weeks now, prompting me to finally post something about how much it sucks and how wrong it is these days.
First of all, almost every single family that shows up on Family Feud today is filled with completely stupid moronic idiots. Seriously, I’m not sure where they’re finding these families, but it’s like the show is going through their contestant screening process, and deliberately choosing those who are the worst of the trials, so they can have them embarrass themselves on television.
“Name a fish, that people are afraid of.”
“Dolphins.”
“Something you shouldn’t do naked.”
“Skinny dip.”
Nobody knows any answers anymore, and I’m dumbfounded at how many times I’ve seen a question with seven possible answers get one or two correct, and then watch as the family feebly miss three in a row. What makes things worse is that the opposing family, when it comes time for them to simply guess one of the five remaining answers, THEY get it wrong too, thus rewarding the stupid family the win in the process.
In the Dawson days, families that won the face-off legitimately strategized based on quality of question, how many answers were up on the board, strength of opponents, and would occasionally defer the game to the opponent, risking they would get it wrong, so they could steal. Now, without fail, the family winning the face-off will ALWAYS play, because even if they strike out, there was a good chance that the opponents would strike out as well, giving them the default victory. Which happens to be the case very, very frequently.
In the last three weeks, I seriously have seen a family run the board maybe three times. About as many times as I’ve seen an opposing family actually steal a win from a struck out game. Pretty much 85% of the time, the family that wins the face-off, wins the game, because everyone is fucking stupid.
Second, the questions have become too complex. I can’t think of one off the top of my head, but the questions of today are now employing shit like double negatives from time to time, and that, is confusing the living hell out of all contestants. Or the questions have one or two completely obvious answers that eats up 90% of the survey that even the contestants all know, but then the remaining answers, nobody knows, because only 1-6 people have said each of them. It’s like the show is deliberately trying to confuse the contestants, because they know the sooner everyone gets everything wrong, the faster the pace of the show can move.
Third, I don’t know where the survey takers are going these days, but it’s clearly a different world back from the Richard Dawson days. Without fail, there is one answer at the bottom of each question, that 3-6 people say, that is sexual or perverted in nature. I’ve seen answers that make reference to penises, vaginas, and more than once, prostitution. Obviously, this is done deliberately to “add some spice” to the show’s current nature, and/or to elicit funny facial expressions out of Steve Harvey, since he’s pretty well known for making funny facial expressions. But from a game show that was revered as classy and entertaining without being inappropriate, today’s Feud simply can’t do without it seems.
Four, there’s a lot of inadvertent racism in the current feud. One episode had a contestant from a black family use some jive black slang as an answer, and Steve Harvey didn’t flinch one bit. And then in one of those awkward, fourth-wall moments, the judges in the darkness, had absolutely no idea what the guy had said, and had to delay the show to ask for clarification. And then in a deceptive moment of blatant cheating, Harvey himself kind of steered the contestant into clarifying into an answer on the board.
What really prompted and motivated me to write about the show was the episode I saw today – the question was “a job you have to get on your knees for.” The playing family got 3/6 answers correct, and when it came time for the opposing family to steal, they happened to be a Hispanic family. With no exaggerated meeting of the minds to come up with an appropriate answer needed, they confidently said “gardening,” which turned out to be a correct answer and gave them a win in that round, and prompted me to exercise every bit of restraint in my body to not bust out laughing in the middle of the gym.
Here’s an example of today’s Family Feud questions:
| Obvious Answer #1 | 55 | Obscure Answer #3 | 2 |
| Obvious Answer #2 | 25 | Really Obscure Answer #1 | 1 |
| OK Answer #3 | 10 | Really Obscure Answer #2 | 1 |
| Obscure Answer #1 | 3 | Sex-related/Inappropriate | 1 |
| Obscure Answer #2 | 2 |
The name of the game is to win the face-off by getting the #1 answer correct, and then put some points on the board by trying to get the #2 and maybe #3. But when it gets to the point where nobody knows the obscure answers, and the players don’t realize that they should attempt low-brow, they’ll eventually get three strikes. But 90% of the time, the other team won’t know any of the obscure answers or opt to go low-brow, so they’ll get the steal chance wrong and give the points back to the other team.
It’s a sad mockery of what was once a really good game show. I’m not really sure what’s really the culprit behind this degeneration of Family Feud, whether it’s simply the change in society, or the fact that contestants and those taking the survey are simply fucking retarded. Maybe it’s all of the above. All I know is that it’s just really sad to watch.
What’s sadder is the fact that out of lack of alternate programming, I will probably continue to watch; I mean, I still find the unintentional humor funny in an inappropriate manner, even if the rest of the 22 minute block I’m shaking my head. In that regard, I guess it really doesn’t matter how shitty the show has become, as long as people still watch.
