Here's a thought...

[whewfan]

If Richard Karn was the "wrong host" for Family Feud, why do you think he lasted FOUR YEARS?
I'm not defending Karn as a host, I just thought that if Fremantle was unhappy with Karn, they wouldn't have kept him on as long as they did. Louie lasted 3 years, as we all know.

I seem to recall that we were praising Louie at first, and the only major criticism was his voice. We were also quite kind about Karn when he made his debut, but again, that may be because he was at least a couple notches better than Louie Anderson.

[bandit_bobby]

The backstage scene with Karn was much more settled down as soon as he took over as host. Louie Anderson was about as chaotic back there as Dawson.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'129505\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 05:13 PM\']
If Richard Karn was the "wrong host" for Family Feud, why do you think he lasted FOUR YEARS?
[/quote]
Because Fremantle was obviously content with completely mediocre ratings. I don't remember what it was pulling exactly, but I remember it wasn't impressive in the least, and I further remember that Donnymid and H2 both were pulling better numbers, and yet were still canned.

I'm not defending Karn as a host, I just thought that if Fremantle was unhappy with Karn, they wouldn't have kept him on as long as they did.

Yeah, but Fremantle's treatment of this show has always been a complete enigma. They KNOW it can do better, yet they (until now) have never taken a single step to make it so.

So the "If he was so awful, why was he there so long?" argument doesn't wash, because it assumes that Fremantle's goal is the complete domination of the show, and it clearly is not.

We were also quite kind about Karn when he made his debut, but again, that may be because he was at least a couple notches better than Louie Anderson.

Yeah, I'd praise Gilbert Gottfried over Rich Fields, too.

[JasonA1]

We tend to make snap judgements around here almost as a rule. I hated George Gray's "Link" initially because it had less players and less time. After I finally, y'know, watched it for a few weeks, I never missed it 'til it ultimately went off the air.

Same for Richard Karn. I gave him my praise because he appeared to have a good start when he took over. Years later, he was the same - if not worse.

Two things that don't seem to be changing regardless of how much I see to sway me otherwise - John O'Hurley, good - new Chain and Dylan Lane, bad.

-Jason

[BrandonFG]

For about the first three Karn seasons, the show actually saw decent ratings (averaging mid-2s) and an increase from the Louie years, so perhaps Fremantle thought Karn was doing a passable job. That is, until ratings started declining last year.

Granted, mid-2s aren't that good, but it's passable in some cases.

/Unless you're Wheel.