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Tamia Powell
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
English 1101
September 17, 2014
Family Feud: Analysis of Television Game Show
Have you ever been inside the house on a rather dull day with nothing to do? You sit
down at the television and of course, there is nothing interesting to watch. So you flip through
many channels, wondering why you have so many
channels to begin with, and you run across the
Game Show Network (GSN). The GSN is a
television station dedicated to hosting popular game
and reality shows. My all-time favorite game show
has to be Family Feud. Family Feud is a game show
that is currently hosted by comedian Steve Harvey,
previously hosted by others such as Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard
Karn, and John OHurley. Family Feud is a game show in which two families, of five
participants, go head-to-head to see who can guess the most popular answers of the survey
questions asked to 100 random people. To start the game, and each round after, one of the five
members of each team faces-off against one of the other teams member in order to guess a
better answer to the survey question; whoever guesses the more popular answer controls the
game. Each member of the controlling team then gets repeated tries to guess the entire board
until they have reached three strikes (tries in which the answer is not on the board). Once the

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family gets three strikes, the opposing team gets one try to guess an answer on the board. If the
opposing team does not guess an answer that is in fact on the board, the controlling team keeps
their points. However, if the opposing team guesses an answer on the board, they win the
controlling teams points. Whichever team reaches 300 points
the fastest wins the game. The amount of money the winning
team earns depends on the amount of points they actually
receive. However, the winning team also gets a chance to win an
additional $20,000.00 by playing fast money, which is a round
that the winning family picks two players from their team
attempts to answer five survey questions in 20-25 seconds in
hopes of accumulating at least 200 points. If one family wins five consecutive games, they also
win a car.
While the communication of my example, Family Feud, is Television Shows, the specific
type of genre it belongs to is Television Game Shows. Im something like a Game Show junky
so I am very familiar with other game shows. The GSN is home to numerous game shows
varying from classics like, Wheel of Fortune, Who wants to be a Millionaire, or The Price is
Right, to the fairly newer shows like The Newlywed Game, or The Chase. Jeopardy is also a
classic, riveting game show that I too enjoy.
Conventions, Constraints, Purpose and Audience
Family Feud, Jeopardy, and most game shows generally speaking, are alike in many ways
considering the various conventions and constraints of their genre. For instance, every game
show requires a host. The hosts duty is to control the game overall by performing tasks such as
monitoring contestant answers, setting time limits on questions, relaying messages from

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production to contestant and much more. Again, on Family Feud, the current host is Steve
Harvey. He brings life to Family Feud by making immediate connections with families and
keeping the audience thrilled with his numerous jokes. While the current host of Jeopardy is the
notable Alex Trebek. Game shows would not be game shows if they did not contain some sort
of trivia questions for the contestants to answer. Jeopardy prides itself on being a game show of
variety, meaning a contestant could receive questions on physics, movie or television show
characters, religion, music artists, ice cream, geographical studies, famous writers, and plenty
more. Although Family Feud also asks contestants diversified questions, Family Feuds
questions are not so much as factual but rather survey questions in which contestants much guess
the most popular. Thus, a constraint would be not providing any type of question for the
participants to answer in order to compete in the game show.
Why do people go on Television Game Shows? To win money of course, which leads to
the next convention; the prizes! Whether it be cash, a new car, a life-long supply of tissue, every
Game Show rewards the winning team, and sometimes the losing team. On both Family Feud
and Jeopardy, the prize at hand is money. Once more, how many points a team receives on
Family Feud results in their earnings. Too, the winning team has a chance to win an additional
$20.000.00 and a car! On Jeopardy, the money reward varies with contestant and the winning
contestant returns until they lose. However, on Jeopardy there are multiple winners, in which the
last or third place contestant wins $1,000.00, the second contestant wins $2,000.00, and first
place winners amount depends on their score. On the other hand, a constraint of the genre would
be there not being any prize, considering that is the purpose of the contestants participation.
It would not be going too far to also say, every game show has a live studio audience. For
example, as the family is competing on Family feud viewers at home frequently hear the

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audience participate in the game when reading answers on the board or laughing at contestant
answers and Steves jokes. This convention then leads us to the primary purpose of game shows,
which is to entertain its audience. Nevertheless, game shows are also informative. Different
games shows exhibit one purpose more than another. In my opinion, Family Feud is more
entertaining than informative because the questions are more opinionated than factual. Also,
when contestants sometimes give uproarious answers and the host gives witty comments, it
provides comical relief for viewers and contestants during the game. Having said that, Jeopardy
is a game more purposed to inform. Spectators of the show are more likely to learn new, factbased information while watching Jeopardy.
The audience of game shows is aimed towards the viewers of Game Show
Network and each shows target demographic; the target of which the show aims to intrigue. For
example, Family Feuds key demo is women between the age of 25 and 54. Family Feud is
also said to be watched in 96% of U.S. households which also makes its audience American
households. Family Feud is one of the most successful game shows because it is great at
achieving its purpose of entertaining by providing a comedian as a host and keeping the studio
audience and at home viewers enthused.
Social and Cultural Context
Family Feud, which was created by game show connoisseurs Mark Goodman and Bill
Todmon, made its debut premiere in 1976. Family Feud was created during times in which
Goodman and Todman had much triumph with their hit game show, Match Game. On the game
show, Match Game, Goodman and Todman had a popular host by the name of Richard Dawson.
Dawson gained Match Game plenty of success which made him the perfect candidate to host

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their new game show, Family Feud. Dawson eventually also accomplished numerous titles, such
as number 1 game show in daytime, while hosting Family Feud.
A few changes of the viewing times of the newly premiered Game Show led to the series
downfall. This downfall then led to the game shows discontinuation. However, Family Feud
was eventually renewed another season but a change of host did not benefit the much needed
success of the show. Family Feud went through a lengthy phase of upraise and downfall due to
continued alteration of hosts. Nonetheless, Family Feud reached its highest peak in present time
with the current host, Steve Harvey. In this day and time, rather than when Family Feud first
premiered, society has made television almost a necessity. The boost in the success of Family
Feud, as well as any other game shows for that matter, in my opinion, is due to the decade in
which we live in today and the resources that are available.
Switching the Genre: From Game Show to Talk Show
A game show is meant to entertain and inform its viewers by its numerous questions and
hysterical contestants and hosts. But what if I changed it? What if I transformed Family Feud
into a talk show? How exactly would it change? A talk shows purpose is to also entertain its
viewers by presenting celebrity guests, having informative sessions on topics such as health, and
sometimes playing games as well. However, there are considerable differences.
In order to alter the type of show a game show displays, the type of guests must then be
changed. Game show guests, or contestants, either must audition for a chance to be on the game
show or are randomly chosen out of the studio audience. Unless there is a unique episode of a
game show, for example, the Family Feud WWE special, the contestants on game shows are
normal, everyday people. On the other hand, talk show guests are usually celebrity people

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(actors/actresses, musicians, chefs, etc.). A convention of talk shows is to have a celebrity guest
appearance and have the host interview the guest. Furthermore, in order to switch a game show
into a talk show, the hosts must perform different duties as well. For an example of this
convention, on Family Feud instead of Steve Harvey asking each family member a question, he
would have in depth conversations with one family member. Along with the change of who
receives the questions, the type of questions themselves much change. On Family Feud the
questions are trivia and survey questions while talk shows consist of asking the guests more
personal questions. As a means to switch Family Feud into a talk show, Steve Harvey would
have to discontinue asking guests survey questions and begin asking personal questions as if they
are interested in what is going on in the guests life.
The audience, when switching the genre from game show to talk show, also may differ.
The overall audience of both game shows and talk shows are television watchers. More
specifically, Family Feuds audience is Game Show Network viewers. Broadening the Networks
that Family Feud airs on would be the easiest way to switch Family Feud into a talk show. Many
networks, such as ABC, NBC, BET, and many more, are home to the most popular talk shows.
The audiences expect the hosts and guests of talk shows to talk and dress formally. At the same
time, guests of game shows such as Family Feud, are everyday people who the audience do not
expect to have the perfect pronunciation of words, or correct grammar.
Moreover, the Game Show genre is one of the most specific genres there is with its very
specific conventions and constraints. Also, its purpose and audience contribute highly to its
conventions, constraints, and its all-inclusive success.