I live in L.A. and used to hang out at the TV studios watching game show tapings in my younger years. Got to meet a lot of the celebs that were on the shows (security wasn't as tight then as it is now) including Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. The 1970s and 80s was an era of almost non-stop pilots. Every production company was trying to sell new game shows. Among the unsold pilots I attended were "The Gossip Game" starring Rona Barrett, and "Heyday!" starring Soupy Sales.
When Richard returned to the show the previous September, little did we know that the season would end up being the 1988 version's swan song. RIP to Richard, Ray, Gene, and everyone else involved with the 88-95 run who are no longer with us.
This was the third time the show got cancelled. Four years later in 1999, it came back for a fourth time around with Louie Anderson as the original host fir the ABC/NBC/FOX syndicated version now in its 25th year
I don't remember seeing Panther at all on American Gladiators, and I saw every episode. Unless there was an episode she was in that didn't air. Could someone help me figure this out?
I was wondering how I never knew this existed. Now I see it was an unsold pilot. I always thought Dave could have been a great game show host, but he had bigger things to do. Thanks for sharing this.
Mark Goodson’s son was a BASTARD!! When he inherited his Dad’s production company,he HATED Ray Combs and wanted to terminate him as soon as possible! He was the jackass who RUINED Family Feud and thought that bringing back Richard Dawson would fix things!! What a joke! If Ray Combs would have held on,he would have got another game show!! Gene Wood had a problem with Mark Goodson’s son also because he was difficult to work for!! Mark Goodson’s son tried to start shit with Bob Barker in the mid 90’s also,but Bob Barker owned the rights to the Price is Right and if CBS would have fired Bob Barker,NBC or FOX would have picked up The Price is Right immediately. FOX was interested because they were expanding like crazy and CBS had financial issues until Group W merged with CBS in 1994 into 1995. CBS almost went dark in mid 1995 but Westinghouse came to the rescue.
Today I just heard about how he died and was shocked. In this one short clip he shows more improv talent than in 100 jimmy fallon episodes. A shame everything spiraled for him, and may he RIP
someone commented once that the Tran family came back on October 10 1994 and were defeated by the Delveccio family. Since I havent seen the episode I was curious to know if the second guy in fast came back or not. My guess was that he didn't because he did poorly on this episode.
3:52 that was really sad to see my family saw this in the past and realise why did Ray walk out like that and then they realised he was being fired RIP Ray Combs
Man, they did ray combs wrong. I feel he got unfairly blamed for the show's low ratings and he was made a scapegoat. They should blame the changing of the show's format for the low ratings.
I felt bad for Ray, as look at the reruns on Pluto TV, I can tell he had a good sense of humor with the game show itself. But as me working for a local TV station, I feel his pain. Every now and then it comes a time when they won’t like you anymore if the ratings are down or if they’re not going to return back on TV. Producers, directors, actors, etc sometimes have to stick together and work with them to figure what must they do to keep the show going. For Ray and the team of Family Feud, they could’ve work and talk things out. He didn’t have to leave this world too soon.
Ray Combs sadly didn’t go out the way he wanted during his final time on the Feud. During the end of the show, he was feeling dejected after he knew he was fired from his job. I feel very bad for the guy. So many times he attempted to resurrect his career, but never panned out. He was supposed to do a talk show, but no affiliated station picked it up. I haven’t seen Family Challenge on the defunct Family Channel, which the first season is the only season appearance in his life before he took his own life in June 1996. Ray is such a good man and he could’ve made more successful projects as both a comedian and game show host. A great beautiful soul gone way too soon.
Wow he’s back and he’s got a standing ovation and the set is beautiful and I want those cbs curtains they are beautiful and I glad they fired ray combs
I wish the same Tran family would get an invite to return when Steve Harvey reaches his last episodes of the Feud. This means the Trans would have an ultimate chance at redemption and honor.
If you wonder some of the answer get 0 point survey It mean that either it had no person choose or only had one person agree(Required at least two to be consider as a correct answer)
It was great to see Richard back on this incarnation as I didn't get to see much of his first run as I wasn't born until July 1982, but getting to see him in this run got me hooked on Family Feud and although he's been gone for over a decade now, he most certainly won't be forgotten by me.
You are correct and I believe correct me if I'm wrong he did that for the entire week of his final week on the second to last episode he did the same exact thing and said some things to suggest he knew what time it was with his future with Family Feud
I did not like when richard brought back a black family who lost to a white family, and the next time the they won. He felt like he had to give blacks special attention. That's not right. Sorry
It's a shame none of my networks in the Ames/Des Moines, IA area carried Richard Dawson's Family Feud 1994 or Doug Davidson's Nighttime Price is Right. It would have been great to watch for me back then.
The remaining families on stage looked around for Ray knowing that he just walked off and wasn't there, so they got together and blew a huge kiss at the audience on behalf of him I think.
Soon after Mark Goodson (Family Feud creator) died in 1992 and his son Jonathan Goodson took over, he cancelled the CBS Daytime version of FF by the fall of 1993. The syndicated version of FF stayed on for an additional season (1993-1994) and the ratings plummeted very quickly with syndie talk shows (Oprah, Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones, Jerry Springer, etc.) Overshadowing. Johnathan Goodson decided to fire Ray Combs and bring back Richard Dawson because he thinks Combs was more comical than a game show host. At the time, a bunch of TV stations were dropping FF off their lineups or putting it in the wee hours in the morning (like my CBS affiliate WSPA channel 7 did airing it at 1:35am) also helped FF Ray Combs version get cancelled. After Combs signed off one last time, he walked off the set leaving the families that matched up on that episode hanging without an explanation. He didn't say goodbye to anyone in the building, he left the building, got in his car and drove away and never came back. Shortly thereafter, Combs took a drastic downfall. A week ago after FF was cancelled, he was in a major automobile accident nearly paralyzed him, his comedy clubs in Ohio was closing, his house was faced with foreclosure. His wife left him, he tried to make 2 comebacks on TV by hosting his own daytime talk show ( it failed) hosting Family Challenge on cable tv The Family Channel now Free Form. ( He got fired after a few episodes) he went into a deep depression and was placed in a psychiatric ward in Glendale California and sadly committed suicide by self hanging without leaving a note in June 1996. RIP Ray. You were the best comedian and a great host of the Feud.
And it’s get worse Despite Dawson return, the show could not retain the rating in before and he was retire from the job by the end of 1995 It wasn’t till 2010 that Family Feud rating went up again
