Ranking the Feud hosts

[JasonA1]

Where do you rank the Feud hosts to this point? I fully expect Steve Harvey to do better in this exercise than he might do after a few years at the helm. The accelerated shooting schedule doesn't give a great impression of how he could evolve. I imagine he'll get better. And, IMO, our membership seemed to gush over the initial preview videos. So it works both ways. But, we've had time to process the others, so I'm interested to see what's changed.

Here's mine to get the ball rolling:

1) Richard Dawson - for better or worse, I give lots of points to somebody who can act like a general. Someone who feels like The Host. Beyond that, Richard was hilarious. In an era of IFB emcees, it's not likely for me to unseat him from the top. I would love to see what Goodson "training" could do for some of today's comedic talent.

2) Ray Combs - as above, Ray ranks high because he had full run of the stage. Ray came in an era where the host still dictated the pace, not the editors. It took some time (and a change of microphone), but Ray eventually had the format in the palm of his hand. All new hosts afterward who weren't named Louie seemed beholden to the same rote performance of rules and mechanics.  Both Ray and Richard could cut loose and really make moments within the confines of the show. Later versions had the funny answers, but little of the Stop The Show This is Too Funny blooper reel gems. And nobody was getting Burton Richardson on stage to cut an apple on his chest, or show off his breakdancing moves.

3) John O'Hurley - the gap between my #2 and 3 is greater. I felt like John was holding back with his sarcasm at times; if he cut loose a bit, he could have been better. For what his years of the Feud lacked in spontaneity, points were gained in letting the game take the forefront.

4) Louie Anderson - I think, in a lot of ways, Louie's contributions to the Feud were underrated. People's outrage over changing the set and music, plus that One Big Triple Question format, didn't help the outlook on his performance. Louie had lots of bits I enjoyed that others called overused, in a world where Barker made the 37 hours/Range Game joke every week. Louie's decline as the seasons went on brought down his average. I could easily see putting him at #3 had things gone better in that regard. Certainly the personal problems behind the scenes contributed.

5) Steve Harvey - too early for me to judge. Most of the fun I see consists of a dumb response and Steve staring incredulously. Could go higher based on next season (and beyond). Not liking the flagrant re-use of surveys, notable some that O'Hurley played. But again, the accelerated production schedule could have contributed to that.

6) Richard Karn

Off the board: Al Roker - I caught a segment or few of Celebrity FF, and saw Al had brought his usual A-game to the proceedings. Just didn't get a taste of whether he brought any humor or originality to the table based on such a small sample.

-Jason

[SamJ93]

1-Dawson.  No contest.
2-O'Hurley.  He fit the Dawson mold pretty well: funny enough to berate players appropriately for a dumb answer, but knew when it was time to put the game at the forefront.
3-Harvey.  Also seems to be in the same mold, but still a little stiff and needs some more time to adjust to the format.
4-Combs.  This one kinda hurts, actually, because it was the version of Feud that I grew up with, and Combs' story is of course a tragic one.  But nowadays, when I watch clips of his show on Youtube, I'm almost shocked at how painfully unfunny he was at times.
5-Anderson.  Might rank higher if one considered only his first season, or that having a voice like nails on a chalkboard isn't really his fault.
6-Karn.  Actually ranks higher than Anderson in the friendliness and wanting-to-be-there department, but just didn't have the spontaneity required to pull the show off well.

[Jimmy Owen]

1. Richard Dawson

2. All Others

[BrandonFG]

1. Dawson
2. Harvey - his sense of humor adds a lot to the show, and makes a good fit
3. O'Hurley - a good fit, but Harvey's humor shows why a comedian actually works better on this kind of show.
4. Combs - even though I grew up on this version, watching reruns on GSN, it seems he yelled a little too much
5. Anderson/Karn - out of place. Anderson acted like he didn't want to be there, Karn was an example of what can go wrong hiring an actor to be a host. He was a little too hammy at times IMO
6. Roker - I didn't watch Celebrity FF enough to form an opinion

Of course, I'd like to see what the more recent hosts could work with if shows a) ran as long as they did during Dawson/Combs's era, and b) weren't so overedited nowadays.

[SRIV94]

1. Richard Dawson

2. All Others

+1.

[Jeremy Nelson]

1. Dawson

2. Harvey - He has the advantage of YouTube, but it works for him. He may give the same "shocked" look, or point out that the word "Family" is in Family Feud, but with it usually comes a pretty good crack on the bad answer.

3. Combs - probably the most excitable of the hosts, as he really did get excited when a family pulled off a steal to stay in the game and force another round. Probably the host who seemed the most invested in the game itself.

4. O Hurley - a breath of fresh air when Karn was canned, but he really gave off this vibe that he was above doing the show to me, especially near the end of his run. Also wasn't that great when it came to cracking on bad answers.

5. Anderson - gets this spot solely based on the fact that his first season work was better than most of what I saw from Karn or Roker, and apparently it was his idea to double the jackpot to $20k [I know, Proof or Not Real- racking my brain for the source of that tidbit as we speak]. Went way downhill from there- such a shame.

6. Karn - another breath of fresh air when he started, but wore off quickly when he became waaay too predictable.

7. Roker - Anybody who got the summer series would have been playing ringmaster to the pseudostars, and maybe the format/editing/pacing threw me off of his hosting, but I honestly didn't think he was that great. He seemed way too stiff and awkward in his hosting. Sure, he had only 6 episodes, but I think there's enough of a backlog of episodes for anybody to sufficiently host the show, and he didn't to me.

8. Ricki Lake - Teleprompter queen of this list. Reminds me of that person who hosts a mock version of a game show after skimming over three episodes.

Now, a lot of different factors could play into this- after all, the last two hosts on my list logged a total of seven hours on TV at the helm of this show, two hosts got saddled with the one strike format, one uses repeated surveys, all hosts since 1999 have been at the mercy of their editors, and the top of the list got the luxury of having the truest variation of the game's format and less time lost to commercials. So keeping hosting as the only factor to consider when compiling a list like this can be tougher than it looks.

I remember on the E! THS for Hollywood Squares, Rose Marie talked about how no matter how much better a replacement may be than the original, the original is almost always looked at as better, or at least the preferred choice. That being said, as awesome as Dawson was, I wonder how much leverage he has on this list just by being the original host [I.e. Would we see Dawson the same way if Combs were the original host of the show?]

[JasonA1]

as good as Dawson was, I wonder how much leverage he has on this list just by being the original host.

To bounce off the notion in the "differ from the norm" thread, I grew up with Ray, but ended up preferring Richard after watching his show day after day on GSN. It's come up here before that some people who grew up with Art Fleming couldn't choose him over Alex Trebek when comparing both of their long runs on Jeopardy.

-Jason

[Johnissoevil]

as good as Dawson was, I wonder how much leverage he has on this list just by being the original host.

To bounce off the notion in the "differ from the norm" thread, I grew up with Ray, but ended up preferring Richard after watching his show day after day on GSN. It's come up here before that some people who grew up with Art Fleming couldn't choose him over Alex Trebek when comparing both of their long runs on Jeopardy.

-Jason

Another example would be Jeopardy's sister show, Wheel.  Chuck Woolery was the original host, but his replacement, Pat Sajak, became most associated with the show.  Chuck, in his own right, actually became better known for Love Connection.

[Twentington]

1. Combs. He started out strong and never slipped up once. I liked his passion and enthusiasm for the game, and he didn't shy away from the snark.

2. Harvey. Much like Combs, he seems truly engaged with the game. Sometimes I think he draws out the humor a little too much, but he's still a blast to watch.

3. Dawson. Sure, he often cared for the families and rooted them on, and he has the snark factor. However, I thought he started phoning it in near the end of his run — he was mumbling a lot, losing most of the wit, and he just didn't seem nearly as engaged.

4. O'Hurley. Fine host, but there's something about him that seems a little too "polished" for the Feud. He also loses a point for not usually having a good rejoinder for a bad answer.

5. Karn. I've actually seen him ad-lib on occasion (for instance, "you're not usually married in the third grade" when someone said "kickball" for "a sport husbands and wives can play together), and his enthusiasm was usually tolerable, but he soon became way too entrenched in routine and lost most of his good traits. Even his banter with the families seemed to be the same every time.

6. Anderson. He had flashes of giving a darn (having the families touch the Fast Money board for good luck, for instance), and I don't think he's quite as bad as people make him out to be, but I'm still putting him last because I just don't think of him as game show host material. From what I've seen of him outside the Feud, "bored" seems to be his default setting.

[PYLdude]

In order: Dawson, Combs, O'Hurley, Harvey, Louie, Roker. No omissions. We said host, not placeholding caricature.

(Karn just sucked the fun out of Feud for me. Tried too hard to be funny, became in my mind a stereotype host, and didn't do anything to really cinch it and make it his own.)

[Jeremy Nelson]

as good as Dawson was, I wonder how much leverage he has on this list just by being the original host.

To bounce off the notion in the "differ from the norm" thread, I grew up with Ray, but ended up preferring Richard after watching his show day after day on GSN. It's come up here before that some people who grew up with Art Fleming couldn't choose him over Alex Trebek when comparing both of their long runs on Jeopardy.

-Jason

Another example would be Jeopardy's sister show, Wheel.  Chuck Woolery was the original host, but his replacement, Pat Sajak, became most associated with the show.  Chuck, in his own right, actually became better known for Love Connection.

And funny enough, I still consider Chuck to be the better host. Liked the commentary during the wheel spinning, liked the banter with contestants, and just his general demeanor on the show. Of course to most people (and revised Wheel canon), Pat will be seen as the first host.

[beatlefreak84]

For me, it's (from best to worst) Dawson, Combs, Harvey, O'Hurley, Karn, Anderson.  The first three are definitely the best ad-libbers on the list, but Dawson's ad-libs, especially for rotten answers, were just a smidge better than Combs'.  I think Harvey and Combs are very close, though, and, perhaps with another season or two, Harvey might move up past Combs on my list.

O'Hurley was a capable host as far as moving the game along and keeping the focus on contestants, but, as others have commented, he definitely missed many golden opportunities for one-liners, and he seemed to have that air of "I'm doing this until something better comes along," especially his last season.  I applaud Karn's effort, as he did seem genuinely interested in the game and the players, but I cannot watch his version; he's way too stiff, and his overuse of all those phrases we make fun of is just too annoying.  I didn't mind Anderson's first season, but the other two were just God-awful, and I think he just had no business hosting Feud, personally.

Anthony

[Twentington]

And funny enough, I still consider Chuck to be the better host. Liked the commentary during the wheel spinning, liked the banter with contestants, and just his general demeanor on the show. Of course to most people (and revised Wheel canon), Pat will be seen as the first host.

I can see why the Chuck fans like him more, but even ruling out nostalgia, I'd give Pat the edge for his goofiness and snark. And he hasn't lost much of it at all — you still see him doing things like chowing down on the Wild Card, stuffing his face into a plate of beignets, doing the "yeah, this is gonna be really tough" shtick when someone obviously knows the bonus puzzle before calling their letters, etc. Bob Goen was kind of a cross between the two, so I really dig him too.

(Also, to derail this even further, Charlie O'Donnell is my absolute favorite announcer.)

[Craig Karlberg]

Starting at the bottom & working my way up, here's how I ranked them with a gread for each of them:

7) Al Roker-Incomplete  Never saw celebrity FF a few years ago to fully judge hum.

6)  Richard Karn/Ricki Lake-D+  Both weren't the kind of hosts that fit the mold.  Karn was robotic at times, while Lake seemed out of place during the Game Show Marathon version.

5)  Steve Harvey-C-  From what I've seen on YouTube, he sounds good, but since my local affiliate neither airs it or puts it on at a decent time, I can't make a full judgement on him.

4)  Louie Anderson-C+  He was good when it returned in 1998, but was never quite the same afterwards.  His bits weren't all that funny.

3)  John O'Hurley-B-  He was very funny at times & seemed likable.  However, he looked rather old to me.  If he was a bit younger, maybe I'd put him higher.

2) Ray Combs-B+  A solid host & one that can keep his cool even if things get a little testy.  If he hadn't committed suicide, I probably would've given him an A-.  Still, he was great at what he did.

1)  Richard Dawson-A+  What else can I say?  He was the best.  He knew how to react to bad answers, he interacted well with the players & he cracked a lot of humor.  With Gene Wood as announcer, you can never go wrong with that combo.

[The Ol' Guy]

Hope you'll forgive me for going a bit off-topic, but according to a couple of sources, one of the first FF pilots featured Jack Narz as host. I've often wondered how well the show would have taken hold with Jack at the helm. Certainly warmer, friendlier than Dawson. Not sure how much of a "reactor" he would have been to some oddball answers. My memories of him rarely include any particular witty ad-libbing. The game is certainly strong enough. Dawson did come on strong with his snarky, take-charge attitude, which took a potentially "sappy" feeling off of what could have been a Norman Rockwell all-american mushfest. Maybe the attitude drew us first to Dawson (already popular on Match Game), which in turn, got us to love the game.