Feud Season 26

[SamPrainito]

Yesterday, Feud wrapped production on Season 26.  Meanwhile, Season 25 finished airing this week.

They tape around Steve's availability, but taping so far in advance raises an interesting question.

If (God forbid) something happens to Steve before the new season begins airing or even once it does, what would the syndicator do in that situation?  Would they still air all the shows, air them with a disclaimer, or scrap the entire season?

Wishing no ill will here.  Just surprised they're taping almost a year in advance.  A lot can happen in a year!

Thoughts?

[Kevin Prather]

Jeopardy episodes featuring Alex Trebek aired after his passing. Can't imagine why this would be any different.

[Nick]

Jeopardy episodes featuring Alex Trebek aired after his passing. Can't imagine why this would be any different.

As did Price after Johnny O's death.  This isn't uncharted territory (Now, perhaps there's a separate spinoff enumeration thread here on game shows that aired new episodes after so-and-so who appeared in them died).

So, when did taping of the forthcoming season start, and how many episodes are there in a Feud season now?  I'm curious to know just how quickly they raced to get it done.

[BrandonFG]

I don't know how many episodes they do in a season, but at one point they taped them all in a summer to accommodate Steve's schedule. I believe this was when he had his talk show.

[SuperSweeper]

25 Words or Less also finished production on their upcoming season awhile back.

[Matt Ottinger]

The last thing they would do is scrap a season, or even part of one.  That's just financial foolishness.  You dedicate the season to his memory, or some such, but you honor your commitment.

[Otm Shank]

They could also go the Tupac route and drop new episodes over the next 10 years

[rwalker]

Didn't Charlie O have a couple weeks of Wof after he passed? And don't forget Ritter as the center square on h2.

[WarioBarker]

Didn't Charlie O have a couple weeks of Wof after he passed?

That's...a bit complicated. Episodes originally aired before his death were reshown in the weekend feed (both in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons) and during Summer 2011, but there were another eight weeks he'd announced which were scheduled to air at various points between November 2010 and March 2011; the episodes aired, but with Charlie dubbed over by the various guest/tryout announcers.

The show explained that it was "a tough decision, but it would have been too sad to hear Charlie's voice so close to his death".

[joelvanderveen]

I recall reading that syndicated WML? episodes with Bennett Cerf continued to air in first run after his death, despite some protests from viewers who considered that to be in poor taste.

My thinking is as long as the Family Feud writers avoid topical subject matter in questions (which could be affected by subsequent news events), they'll probably be fine. Fortunately for them, euphemisms have no expiry date.

[steveleb]

Squares aired original syndicated episodes months after both Wally Cox and Cliff Arquette passed away.  And let’s not forget we have an entire channel dedicated to effectively Dead Emcees Society.