I was working at home and my local ABC station carried "Family Feud," "Ryan's Hope," and "All My Children" from noon-2 p.m. I always had to watch "Feud," even if I missed the soaps, and for one reason--Richard Dawson. Dawson, who I understand to have been a prodigious reader, didn't suffer fools gladly and his putdowns of obviously dumb answers probably reflected what the audience was thinking. Let me give you a strictly hypothetical. Say the question is, "Name a country in Europe," top six answers are on the board. The family gets England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, but under the pressure of time just can't come up with that sixth one, so the person at bat says "Sweden." It's not up on the board but Sweden is a country in Europe, so Dawson would go easy on that contestant. But let's say the contestant says "Australia," which is about 10,000 miles literally and figuratively from Europe. Then he might tell the hapless contestant to go back to school and relearn their geography. Would you be thinking what he would be thinking? I would. He paved the way for the likes of Anne Robinson, another host who doesn't mind calling out a contestant with an obviously dumb answer.
In short, Dawson had the common touch despite his celebrity status, and I just know he was really rooting for the contestants, just as Groucho ribbed his contestants but was always happy to see them win the big money in the quiz on "You Bet Your Life" (BTW, Dawson hosted a pilot for "YBYL" in 1988; it didn't get on the air but he would have been perfect for that show).
Gene Wood proved he was a better announcer than host; I remember that on "Beat the Clock" he would get as silly as the contestants. That, to me, is the ultimate sin of the game-show host.
Steve Harvey has done extremely well with the show and I wish him many more years, but Dawson is "Family Feud" to me.
In short, Dawson had the common touch despite his celebrity status, and I just know he was really rooting for the contestants, just as Groucho ribbed his contestants but was always happy to see them win the big money in the quiz on "You Bet Your Life" (BTW, Dawson hosted a pilot for "YBYL" in 1988; it didn't get on the air but he would have been perfect for that show).
Gene Wood proved he was a better announcer than host; I remember that on "Beat the Clock" he would get as silly as the contestants. That, to me, is the ultimate sin of the game-show host.
Steve Harvey has done extremely well with the show and I wish him many more years, but Dawson is "Family Feud" to me.