Ross Bagwell, "A Kin to Win" & "Family Feud"

[CarbonCpy]

Over in my part of the woods there's Metro Pulse --Knoxville, Tennessee's weekly freebie courting the young upscale urban market.  There was an interesting article this week about the Knox County government cutting the budget of the East Tennessee Television and Film Commission as well as the state's budget crunch affecting the future of TV/Film incentives offered at the state level.

All in all, an interesting article, and I would've just kept it to myself if not for a line that struck me in an odd way:

(emphasis mine)

“Knoxville is a TV town.” That’s been said more than once, probably by someone like Ross Bagwell, venerable godfather of the Knoxville cable television industry. And there’s truth in the assertion; Knoxville has been ranked by some publications as high as number three in the country in cable television production, in terms of number of hours produced.

Bagwell’s is a well-travelled story hereabouts, how he rose from an NYU film student to a pageboy working on The Howdy Doody Show in the 1950s for NBC, to a production assistant and then a developer of new programs for the network. One of his most memorable achievements: “We developed a show for Canadian TV called A Kin to Win,” says Bagwell, now in his 70s. “It’s still running here in the States, as Family Feud, to this day.”

Wait, what?!  

Alright, I know shows can differ drastically when they go from pitch to production, but I'm having a hard time connecting point 'A' to point 'B' on this one.  Was Bagwell ever connected with Goodson/Todman?

[Robert Hutchinson]

After Googling, if the board game for "A Kin to Win" was even somewhat like the actual show, then the only thing it had in common with Family Feud was family teams.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'191509\' date=\'Jul 21 2008, 04:01 AM\']
After Googling, if the board game for "A Kin to Win" was even somewhat like the actual show, then the only thing it had in common with Family Feud was family teams.[/quote]
After...um...actually looking at my copy of the board game, I'd have to agree with you.

Periodically, I've asked around for anybody north of the border to tell me anything about the TV show, but none of our Great White Friends seems to remember much about it.  But no, it was no more the progenitor to Family Feud than Keep It In the Family or probably several other family-based shows that came before it.

This claim of Knoxville (where I am right now, as a matter of fact) being the third-biggest producer of cable television hours is an interesting one, but possible a little suspect.   I think people would be surprised at how much is produced here (Knoxville is home base for several DIY channels) but it's still a small market as TV goes and I have to think several others top it.  It also, of course, depends on how you define your terms.  One of the top producers of original cable content is probably Bristol, Connecticut.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'191513\' date=\'Jul 21 2008, 09:08 AM\']
It also, of course, depends on how you define your terms.  One of the top producers of original cable content is probably Bristol, Connecticut.
[/quote]
Much of which stopped being original in, oh, about 1997 or so.

/Earlier in Berman and Vitale's case.