Howard Felsher

[tyshaun1]

Tonight's GSN repeat featured yet another disparaging remark from Dawson toward Felsher, and it has me wondering; when exactly was Howard barred from Family Feud anyway? Did Richard mention it on the show?

Tyshaun

[whewfan]

Felscher was "barred" from the set sometime in '83. He was made executive producer, and he would not need to be present on the set. Cathy Hugart Dawson, Richard's daughter in law, was made producer.

As I remember, in the late '77 early '78 run, Richard started using his "monologue opening" as a sort of "soapbox" to express his thoughts on whatever was on his mind. Howard felt Richard was using too much time to joke around, detracting from the game, so that's why he upped the game to 300 points.

I think the real tension between Howard and Richard started between 79-80, when the 300 point rule was in effect. Howard told a story in the E! THS of Family Feud that Richard was vacationing in Hawaii and told the staff that he just might stay in Hawaii and leave Family Feud unless they raised his salary. Goodson and Felscher were ready to get rid of him, but ABC granted Richard a very big raise.

IMO they really should've left it at 200 points all along. It's obvious Richard felt restricted having less time to joke around, and it got even worse when the game was upped again to 400 points

[Jim]

The 400 point games, IMHO, are the most enjoyable because it is 100% game play and not a lot of time wasted on up-front interviews.  I'm sorry, but I just don't find most families on any version that interesting that I want to hear them keep talking.  All the gift presentations, kissing, and cute conversations with 90 year grannies horny for Dawson bored me.  If Dawson was so engaging beyond one or two quick quips, he would have been a sensation as a nightclub comic or regular feature on the Mike Douglas / Merv Griffin talk show circuit.  I say get to the game.

[JasonA1]

The 400 point games, IMHO, are the most enjoyable because it is 100% game play and not a lot of time wasted on up-front interviews

Mmm hmmm. If you had to compromise somewhere, keep it at 300. But the 200-point shows drrraaaaagggged so much I could barely watch them. The pilot format was of course the wrong way to do 200 - each question single value 'til somebody gets there. They had to rush to fit the game in. "Feud" would have had to straddle if one of those questions was worth only 40 or something.

-Jason

[AH3RD]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 05:29 AM\'] Felscher was "barred" from the set sometime in '83. He was made executive producer, and he would not need to be present on the set. Cathy Hugart Dawson, Richard's daughter in law, was made producer.

As I remember, in the late '77 early '78 run, Richard started using his "monologue opening" as a sort of "soapbox" to express his thoughts on whatever was on his mind. Howard felt Richard was using too much time to joke around, detracting from the game, so that's why he upped the game to 300 points.

I think the real tension between Howard and Richard started between 79-80, when the 300 point rule was in effect. Howard told a story in the E! THS of Family Feud that Richard was vacationing in Hawaii and told the staff that he just might stay in Hawaii and leave Family Feud unless they raised his salary. Goodson and Felscher were ready to get rid of him, but ABC granted Richard a very big raise.

IMO they really should've left it at 200 points all along. It's obvious Richard felt restricted having less time to joke around, and it got even worse when the game was upped again to 400 points [/quote]
 Or it could have been the result of Tricky Dick Dawson's immensely swelled head from his celebrity fame as host of The Feud. The stories of The Dawson Ego and how it caused him to be a thorn in Mark Goodson's side are legend.

[CaseyAbell]

Felsher got some revenge on Dawson in the E! documentary about FF. Howard ranted at length about Dawson's ego, demands, and general orneriness. Of course, Howard didn't have much good to say about Combs and Louie, either. He came across as thoroughly obnoxious as he tried to depict Dawson.

[ChuckNet]

Mmm hmmm. If you had to compromise somewhere, keep it at 300. But the 200-point shows drrraaaaagggged so much I could barely watch them.

The 200-point rule was there, IMO, because they may have originally intended to use a straddled format, since a number of eps during the first few wks or so had a new family introduced at the end, w/Richard even getting in enough time to chat w/them like he usually did before the start of the game.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[passwordplus]

Interesting to note though, on the final Family Feud, Richard mentions how him and Felsher "went through hell"(I think he actually said him and the staff) or something to that effect. He sure as hell kissed Felsher's rear end on that one!

[chris319]

ABC granted Richard a very big raise.

We all know that emcees don't work for the networks, right? CBS cannot grant Barker a raise because he is not their employee. We know that, right? Mark Goodson was the only person who could grant Dawson a raise and he could do it one of two ways: give him the raise without getting more money from the network, which would have cut into his profit, or give him the raise and get more money from the network.

Howard is a very bright man with an equally forceful personality. His and Richard's differences were the result of a clash between Howard's large ego and Richard's gargantuan ego.

Paul Alter used to bring to the office stacks of 3/4" tapes with time code burnt in. He would view each show and make edit lists to cut the shows down for time. I don't know if every show ran over but a very large number of them did. I also don't know if the 300-point games worked in terms of there being more game and less Richard or if he continued to blabber, giving Paul more to cut out.

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 06:18 PM\']

ABC granted Richard a very big raise.

We all know that emcees don't work for the networks, right? CBS cannot grant Barker a raise because he is not their employee. We know that, right? Mark Goodson was the only person who could grant Dawson a raise and he could do it one of two ways: give him the raise without getting more money from the network, which would have cut into his profit, or give him the raise and get more money from the network.

Howard is a very bright man with an equally forceful personality. His and Richard's differences were the result of a clash between Howard's large ego and Richard's gargantuan ego.

Paul Alter used to bring to the office stacks of 3/4" tapes with time code burnt in. He would view each show and make edit lists to cut the shows down for time. I don't know if every show ran over but a very large number of them did. I also don't know if the 300-point games worked in terms of there being more game and less Richard or if he continued to blabber, giving Paul more to cut out. [/quote]
 As a matter of fact, there were hints of Howard's ego and Ray Combs' ego coming to a head on Family Feud, if you watch some of the later episodes. Howard also mentioned Ray trying to turn the show into "The Ray Combs Show" on the E! THS. And I've heard he and Ludden had difficulties as well. Did Howard NOT have any problems with the hosts he worked with?

Tyshaun

[tvrandywest]

I'll simply be diplomatic in saying the there are many strong personalities in the biz. Few get to host, produce, or own TV shows without ego, drive and some control issues. It's part of what makes people who they are.

My only purpose in this post is to point out the irony that so many years later Howards's son Andy Felsher and Howard's replacement as Feud producer, Cathy Dawson have been working together every day for many months producing the "Price" stage show. And living, eating and working in a hotel together far from home is more like family than simply a work relationship.

They get along wonderfully; in fact they are good friends. And at the risk of being accused of kissing ass, they are two very gifted people with great sensibilities. Andy understands the "show" in show biz, as does Cathy who handles a tremendous amount of writing, staging and detail work and makes it look effortless.

All true, but it sure doesn't hurt to also kiss some ass    ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[chris319]

Any producer would have trouble getting along with Dawson and Ludden, IMO. You might say they are/were equal opportunity pricks. It's more coincidence than anything that Howard got to work with these two.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 10:52 PM\'] Any producer would have trouble getting along with Dawson and Ludden, IMO. You might say they are/were equal opportunity pricks. It's more coincidental than anything that Howard got to work with these two. [/quote]
 Just on the set or altogether?

For some reason I can't picture Ludden being anything but his on camera self, but then, I wasn't there :-)

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 11:00 PM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 10:52 PM\'] Any producer would have trouble getting along with Dawson and Ludden, IMO. You might say they are/were equal opportunity pricks. It's more coincidental than anything that Howard got to work with these two. [/quote]
Just on the set or altogether?

For some reason I can't picture Ludden being anything but his on camera self, but then, I wasn't there :-) [/quote]
 Well from everything I've heard and read, game show hosts were/are the most different from on camera to off of all TV entertainers. I'd imagine it comes from controlling the entire flow of the show, from directing to producing. In fact, I can't think of any hosts, outside of Bill Cullen, whom I've haven't heard of being difficult to work with at times.
Albeit, I'm sure we each have a few co-workers who would describe any of us as hard to deal with, it just sometimes comes with your territory.

Tyshaun

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 11:38 PM\'] Well from everything I've heard and read, game show hosts were/are the most different from on camera to off of all TV entertainers. I'd imagine it comes from controlling the entire flow of the show, from directing to producing. In fact, I can't think of any hosts, outside of Bill Cullen, whom I've haven't heard of being difficult to work with at times.
Albeit, I'm sure we each have a few co-workers who would describe any of us as hard to deal with, it just sometimes comes with your territory.

Tyshaun [/quote]
 Yeah I get the same impression, and the first thing that comes to my mind is "how stressful can hosting a game show be?" - but then I know better than to make those assumptions.

It seems like the more people work in public relations (which a game show counts as, I'd say), the more they are difficult to work with when they're just among the employees - I work in a library, and the "pages" (grunts who do the shelving) are a lot nicer than the clerks, I'd say.