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Author Topic: Family Feud Question  (Read 3945 times)

Dbacksfan12

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Family Feud Question
« on: February 21, 2011, 06:35:03 PM »
I'm curious to see if anyone knows/remembers what the impetus was for expanding Family Feud from 30 minutes to one hour in '92; only to see the entire series get cancelled just a year later.  Were the ratings that strong back in '92, only to drop off quickly?  Or did CBS simply not have any other viable product (they couldn't have brought back "Pyramid" or "Wheel")?

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« Last Edit: February 21, 2011, 06:37:28 PM by Modor »
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joker316

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2011, 07:53:53 AM »
If I may, I'd like to add one more question; perhaps it will help answer yours. IIRC the first half seemed to end as though it were its own show, then the second half began as a "regular" Feud episode would begin. And Combs would not make any reference to the game in the first half. I'd like to know if that was by design or coincidence?
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Offshored2007

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2011, 08:14:10 AM »
If I may, I'd like to add one more question; perhaps it will help answer yours. IIRC the first half seemed to end as though it were its own show, then the second half began as a "regular" Feud episode would begin. And Combs would not make any reference to the game in the first half. I'd like to know if that was by design or coincidence?
Didn't some CBS affiliates only show the latter half hour of "Feud" back then?

cmjb13

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2011, 08:26:19 AM »
I had thought the expansion to an hour was due to declining ratings and that the show needed something to give it more shelf-life.
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SRIV94

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2011, 10:04:06 AM »
If I may, I'd like to add one more question; perhaps it will help answer yours. IIRC the first half seemed to end as though it were its own show, then the second half began as a "regular" Feud episode would begin. And Combs would not make any reference to the game in the first half. I'd like to know if that was by design or coincidence?
Didn't some CBS affiliates only show the latter half hour of "Feud" back then?
Most notably the one in Chicago (one of the few times I can remember an O&O not carrying a network show).
Doug
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golden-road

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2011, 12:03:18 AM »
(First reply on the new board.)

As per an old post on ATGS, so did WUSA in DC. In fact, the show preempting FFC's first half was the syndicated Feud.

Jeremy Nelson

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2011, 03:09:35 AM »
(First reply on the new board.)
YOUR first reply, or do you actually think you were the first one? Cause it definitely isn't the latter.


If I may, I'd like to add one more question; perhaps it will help answer yours. IIRC the first half seemed to end as though it were its own show, then the second half began as a "regular" Feud episode would begin. And Combs would not make any reference to the game in the first half. I'd like to know if that was by design or coincidence?
Well, the first game was always between two new families and the second saw the winners meet the current champions. So if your station bought the second half episodes only, it still looks like returning champs vs new challengers (even though those challengers played a "play in" to get to that spot). I'm assuming Combs didn't make the reference to make those episodes flow better for stations who only bought the second half of the hour. What they did when calculating money at the end of the show could have confused some viewers, though.

To answer Mark's question, it was probably that CBS didn't have much else to put on, and probably didn't want to give the half hour back to the stations. Looking at Daytime TV, there isn't much network programming that was only 30 minutes long. The Bold and the Beautiful was a niche soap because it was (and still is) the only half hour soap, and that was probably doing well for them the way it was, so they didn't want to extend it. As cheap as game shows are to produce, the thought was probably that it was cheaper to give Feud the extra half hour and ax it in a year than to make any drastic moves to the daytime lineup.
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golden-road

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2011, 03:33:05 AM »
(First reply on the new board.)
YOUR first reply, or do you actually think you were the first one? Cause it definitely isn't the latter.

MY first reply, should have specified.

SRIV94

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2011, 10:12:56 AM »
YOUR first reply, or do you actually think you were the first one? Cause it definitely isn't the latter.

C'mon, Jeremy, even I knew what he meant.  No need to be snarky.
Doug
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"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

tvwxman

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2011, 04:12:46 PM »
I had thought the expansion to an hour was due to declining ratings and that the show needed something to give it more shelf-life.
No smart programming executive (oooh! oxymoron alert!) is going to take a show that's failing and  EXPAND it to cover more precious programming space. Expanding Feud to an hour was a cheap alternative to starting another show. However, at the time, the 10am hour was nowhere near 100% clearance on CBS affiliates, so the option was given to stations to run just 30 minutes...which is why the show 'restarts' halfway through, and no mention is made of the first half.

I always thought that was odd.
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Jay Temple

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2011, 07:02:59 PM »
Side question: In the fall of 1985, when The $25,000 Pyramid aired in that time slot, I liked in a market where it aired an hour earlier the next day. Does that count as a clearance or a non-clearance?
« Last Edit: February 23, 2011, 07:04:00 PM by Jay Temple »
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SRIV94

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2011, 08:59:03 PM »
Side question: In the fall of 1985, when The $25,000 Pyramid aired in that time slot, I liked in a market where it aired an hour earlier the next day. Does that count as a clearance or a non-clearance?
YMMV, but I'd count it as a clearance.
Doug
----------------------------------------
"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

Scrabbleship

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #12 on: February 24, 2011, 12:31:23 PM »
(First reply on the new board.)

As per an old post on ATGS, so did WUSA in DC. In fact, the show preempting FFC's first half was the syndicated Feud.

The fact that WUSA picked up a CBS game not named The Price is Right, even part of it, was a miracle to begin with at that time. Those familiar with DC TV or have seen old listings will know why.

joker316

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Family Feud Question
« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2011, 12:48:03 PM »
I had thought the expansion to an hour was due to declining ratings and that the show needed something to give it more shelf-life.
No smart programming executive (oooh! oxymoron alert!) is going to take a show that's failing and  EXPAND it to cover more precious programming space. Expanding Feud to an hour was a cheap alternative to starting another show. However, at the time, the 10am hour was nowhere near 100% clearance on CBS affiliates, so the option was given to stations to run just 30 minutes...which is why the show 'restarts' halfway through, and no mention is made of the first half.

I always thought that was odd.
Thanks Matt. I also thought it was an odd setup.
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