Burned Bridges

[The Pyramids]

Last year GSN aired the last ABC "Family Feud' twice.  I belive Richard Dawson was bing sincere with his closing remarks. Still it reminds me how only when Mark Goodson passed away did Richard Dawson come back to work only for the company again. Animosities can run deep.
 
The "E! True Hollywood Story" made it clear how, three years after Dawson's sad on-air goodbye, he deliberately did not get a call about hosting again when CBS revived "Family Feud."
 
Now that I think of it, Richard was presumably available as either a contestant or a panelist for the 1990 "Match Game" revival but apparently was not approached.
 
Come to think of it, any of the projects that Mark Goodson Productions made during the last years of his life would probably have been a easier sell if Richard Dawson had been on board has a host but as far as I know, it never happened.
 
 That's too bad.

[Adam Nedeff]

That's too bad.

Not when the idiot has it coming to him. Richard, for all of his demands to have only full audiences for tapings, and refusing to talk to TV Guide unless he was the only face on the cover, and for all of his crybaby grouch behavior in the later days of Match Game, I can't see how anybody can shake their head at Richard and say, "That's too bad" when all I can do is nod my head and say, "Good."
Nobody has a right to the crap he demanded, and nobody has a right to set out to kill a show when they aren't released from a contract. Sorry, Richard, you're EXHAUSTED from your busy workload? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't your workload a three day work week that included an open bar every half-hour or so? Oh, poor baby, hold on while I get out my oars and paddle down the Crimiafugging River.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 05:00 PM\']Come to think of it, any of the projects that Mark Goodson Productions made during the last years of his life would probably have been a easier sell if Richard Dawson had been on board has a host but as far as I know, it never happened.

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Yeah, well, between his behavior in his waning days on MG and his primadonna attitude hosting Feud, it's a wonder that they hired him back for FF'94. I'd have think most of those bridges were pretty well burnt by then.
[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\' Dec 5 2004, 05:39 PM\']Oh, poor baby, hold on while I get out my oars and paddle down the Crimiafugging River.
[/quote]
That is SO money. I'm gonna use that one in the future.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 06:38 PM\'][quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\' Dec 5 2004, 05:39 PM\']Oh, poor baby, hold on while I get out my oars and paddle down the Crimiafugging River.
[/quote]
That is SO money. I'm gonna use that one in the future.

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Oh, great job, Adam. You just gave Lemon fodder! ;-)

[chris319]

I can't blame Goodson pere one iota for not wanting to deal with Dawson any more.

Was Ray having "issues" at the time Jonathan hired Dawson for his second go-round?

[Desperado]

Ouch!  You guys are harsh!

Yes, I've heard the stories of how difficult Dawson could be, but some of those stories came from Howard Felsher, who was just as big of a jerk (more so, in my opinion).  Here's a guy who had NOTHING good to say about ANYONE who hosted Feud.  If you read between the lines, I think you'll find that Felsher had his own demons.  And he wasn't even that great a producer.  Dawson may have been demanding, but I think some of his frustrations were justified given what he had to work with.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 10:31 PM\']I can't blame Goodson pere one iota for not wanting to deal with Dawson any more.

Was Ray having "issues" at the time Jonathan hired Dawson for his second go-round?

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I always thought the decision to bring Richard back was because Ray was starting to drop in ratings, not because Ray was having issues. But I could be wrong.

[Adam Nedeff]

I always thought the decision to bring Richard back was because Ray was starting to drop in ratings, not because Ray was having issues. But I could be wrong.

A little from Column A, a little from Column B. According to Mike Metzger, Ray was increasingly struggling to cope with the fact that on a game show, you're doing the same thing for every single episode. That, and I think given Ray's idolization of Johnny Carson and career goals, he probably thought of "Feud" as a transitional period for him, and when the transition ended up lasting five years, it probably freaked him out a little bit to wake up and say, "I'm still doing this?"

[dzinkin]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 09:58 PM\']Oh, great job, Adam. You just gave Lemon fodder! ;-)

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What's wrong with lemon fodder?  It makes a perfect dessert. :-)

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 09:14 PM\'][quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 09:58 PM\']Oh, great job, Adam. You just gave Lemon fodder! ;-)

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What's wrong with lemon fodder?  It makes a perfect dessert. :-)

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It is better than uncomfortable moments with Zach Horan, I must admit...

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Dec 5 2004, 07:00 PM\']Come to think of it, any of the projects that Mark Goodson Productions made during the last years of his life would probably have been a easier sell if Richard Dawson had been on board has a host but as far as I know, it never happened.
[/quote]
If you tick your boss off; you're not going to work for them again; regardless.   Richards seemed [off-camera] to be a jerk.  Forget about the lollipops...his attitude sucked.  Adam made a point about the TV Guide cover...if that doesn't show  man's ego; I don't know what would. The only reason he was kept on board is that Mark probably thought a hosting change would be too jarring.  One question: Do you have an obsession with Dawson's Feud, or more to the point, Richard Dawson himself?

Oh, poor baby, hold on while I get out my oars and paddle down the Crimiafugging River.

Line O' The Day!

[whewfan]

I don't think Howard and Richard had any issues with each other until sometime between 79-80, when they made the daytime version a 300 point game. The E! THS said that Richard was vacationing in Hawaii and threatened to stay there for good unless he got a higher salary. Goodson was ready to let him go, but ultimately they gave in to Richard's demands.

Richard was apparently considered to guest on Password Plus, but with Howard producing the show, and the tensions building up, Howard didn't want to deal with Richard more than necessary. Based on what I saw from Password All Stars, Richard was a very good player and took the game seriously, and still found plenty of opportunities to be funny.

I think Richard was increasingly upset about not having the time he had during the 200 point era, and it didn't improve things when they made Feud a 400 point game. I've said this before, but during the last 2 years of Feud, Richard appears to be hosting the show in his sleep.

I don't think Richard guest starred on any other Goodson Todman game show after 78.

His ego had obviously shrunk when he was asked to come back in 94. His only conditions for returning was that he wanted to get rid of Bullseye and allow more time for Fast Money. They compromised by making the Bullseye game shorter and calling it the "Bankroll" round. This allowed Richard more time to chat with the families and do a brief opening monologue as he did in the early days of Feud.

[tyshaun1]

Out of curiosity, who was the producer on FF '94? I seem to remember it being his son, but did Felsher stay on? If not, that goes to show that Felsher and Dawson never really healed the wounds from working together on the original.

Tyshaun

[cmjb13]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Dec 6 2004, 07:34 AM\']who was the producer on FF '94? I seem to remember it being his son, but did Felsher stay on?

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Imdb.com does say Gary Dawson was executive producer, but I remember hearing Howard's voice for some judgement decisions.

[Ian Wallis]

Adam made a point about the TV Guide cover...if that doesn't show man's ego; I don't know what would.

That TVGuide article, from January 1984, goes into pretty good detail about what it was like on the set of "Feud".  I even remember "Entertainment Tonight" briefly mentioning about Dawson's refusal to appear on the cover unless it was him alone.

When you watch the last episode and listen to his remarks, he says a couple of times "...even if I never work again", you kind of get the feeling he knew he'd had trouble finding more work.  That's the impression I get from it, anyway.