“Family Feud” Posts 21-Year High 4.4 Rating
This has been the year of Family Feud. The show which has seen massive growth since Steve Harvey took over the long running franchise continues to be more impressive week by week. The week of October 29th was another banner period for the game. Feud hosted a 4.4 rating, which is a 21 year high. The show has not seen numbers like this since the beginning of the 90s, at the height of Ray Combs’s popular run as host. This will put the week’s viewership at around 6.6 million viewers. Again, given that it was just three years ago the show was struggling to a third of that, it’s a massive testament to what Fremantle and Steve Harvey have done to the franchise. Congratulations to them.
Speaking of Feud, if you follow the show on YouTube you’ve probably seen the now-infamous “Pork…What?” clip. It’s left such an impression on Steve Harvey’s mind that he included it in his stand up routine for his Grand Finale show. Take a look at Steve discussing it. It’s incredibly funny.
Good for them, but I still can see why people say the show sold out. Due to the content and all.
Sleazy Feud has become more unwatchable every day. Thankfully there are tons of the Dawson and Combs editions on the Internet to remind us of how great the show used to be.
Yes, now, has Alex or anyone at Buzzerblog had anything to say in defense of these criticisms?
Now I am happy that a game show other than Wheel, J!, or CBS Daytime is doing well, but it will always come with an asterisk IMO; i.e. the show had to go TV-14 to achieve this. This is why Steve Harvey will NEVER be as good as Richard Dawson or Ray Combs. He’s all right for what he is, but the two classic hosts didn’t need the TV-14 crutch.
P.S. GSN get the rights to some Combs episodes please! Though seeing as the “master” of the Feud is buried at the very beginning of the schedule, I don’t know how Ray would be (mis)used.
I think a good defense is, “The show has tripled in viewership since the change in host and tone, and comedy is subjective, so you’re free to not like it and I’m free to enjoy it.”
What they are doing is working. Period.
I just don’t think it’s that bad. It’s simply not as “sleazy” as some think it is. It’s really great. Steve is doing an incredible job. It hasn’t sold out. And people seem to like it. It works and rightly so. Even if I hated how “gross” the show has become, a moderately risque show is better than none, in my opinion. Note *moderately* risque…
Would’ve been nice had Steve not used the ‘F’ word in that video…
And that’s my point. Feud is on at 6:30 PM in my market. And almost every time it’s on I have to change the channel because it becomes so crass, crude,, and ignorant that I don’t want my children to hear it. What used to be sly over-the-head is now in your face.
If you’re new to Feud, it might not make a difference. But for those of us who were there from the beginning, it’s rather heartbreaking to see and watch.
Having been there from the beginning, I find it not the least bit heartbreaking. They’re running a business. Once upon a time, shows like Brady Bunch or Happy Days reruns dominated the slots now filled with Two and a Half Men or Big Bang Theory reruns. Are we to be surprised that other shows competing for eyeballs in that space would reflect the norms of society as they exist (not as some may pine for them to be)?
And while congrats are in order, let’s remember it’s not an apples to apples comparison to the Combs or Dawson eras when double runs are cumulatively counted now.