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What’s the Dumbest TV You Watch? I’ll Tell You Mine
Do you watch any television shows that you’d be embarrassed to let people know you watch? Since I use an alias here at Ricochet, I’ll boldly come out and tell you one of mine, Family Feud. Yes, the insipid game show which began on the networks and moved to syndication and has been around since the invention of the cathode tube (or more precisely 1976).
I know what you’re thinking, Family Feud makes even The Voice look like a part of the Golden Age of Television. But I have my reasons. They may not be good reasons, but what excuse did you have for watching Downton Abbey after the death of Matthew? (Sorry, spoilers.)
But let me explain myself and perhaps you’ll feel a little better about your mindless viewing. Anyway, here is what I find interesting about this particular piece of real estate in the vast wasteland.
- It’s a game show where it might hurt your chances as a contestant if you’re smart. I find this fascinating. Since the answers on the show are culled from a survey of random Americans, it’s best to be of average intelligence. Any brilliant single is tossed, but the stupidest answer agreed upon by two people will be on the board. In the initial showdowns between families, you need to think of the most popular answer. Which means if you have the puzzle Homer ________ , “Homer Simpson” will beat “Homer’s Iliad” every time, just as “Marion Anderson” doesn’t a chance against “Pamela Anderson” for a guess on female entertainers. Even more amazing, you might need to come up with a factually incorrect answer, such as “Whale” in answer to “Name a big fish.”
The changing hosts say something about our time. I’m not really sure what it says about our changing times, but it’s something. Can you imagine Richard Dawson trying to kiss every female contestant on the lips these days? (He must have spent too much time with Bob Crane.) Ray Combs sadly took his own life after his 1988 to 1994 run, so that might not speak well of those years. Louie Anderson was hired during the whole Clinton/Lewinsky thing, which somehow seems about right. Next came Richard Karn (Al Borland from Home Improvement) and then John O’Hurley (Seinfeld’s Mr. Peterman). Now the show finally has its first non-white guy, Steve Harvey. Again, I’m not sure what these changes mean, but surely a thesis paper or two could be written about them.
- The really dumb rituals. The audience reads aloud the answers when they are revealed. The audience also shouts in unison the largest prize winnings, “twenty thousand dollars!” Best of all is the handshakes between family members before each round. There is something reassuring about feuds that start with handshakes.
- You can watch the show in Spanish. If you are willing to travel, you can watch the show in many other languages as countries throughout the world have adapted the show for their cultures. This can be very helpful for your language studies. But here in the U.S. of A., you can watch on Español channels. (Sadly, the prize winnings are less on the Spanish language networks.)
- Family Feud has provided good fodder for other TV shows. In the early days of Saturday Night Live, there was a great skit with John Belushi was a Family Feud contestant whose only answer to every question was “Chicken Necks.” I believe Steve Martin played his farmer father who could think of nothing but romaine lettuce. On SNL, they continue to do skits about the show with Kenan Thompson playing Steve Harvey. There is also a great episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia where the gang plays on the game show “Family Fight.”
- It had (and has) a home version of the game. Sure they have computer and DVD versions. But the one you want is the classic old edition with the plastic sliders with the cards with red ink that was hidden by red plastic. If you find a game in good condition, I’m sure it could make you good money on Antiques Roadshow.
- More interesting polling questions. Wouldn’t you rather have a pollster ask you about your favorite red food or annoying things husbands do than who you’d vote for Lieutenant Governor?
- Really dumb answers. For instance, when someone was asked to name something in an operating room, a contestant answered, “An operator.” This in itself makes viewing worthwhile. Or when a person answers “Nixon” or “Adolf” when the question is to name one of Santa’s reindeer. Or when the question is to name a three-letter animal and they answer “frog” or “alligator.” (Though I guess it is true both of those words have three letters, and then some.) Not surprisingly, there is a constant stream of internet posts about dumb answers on the show.
- You can do most any chore while the show is playing. You can fold laundry and not worry about having any trouble following the plot. It seems the show is always one of the choices at the gym in front of the exercise bikes and I’d certainly choose it over CNN every time.
- But I have a much more personal reason to think fondly of the show. About 35 years ago, my father had a stroke. He was in the hospital and most of the time he wasn’t very responsive. But for some reason, when Family Feud came on (still the Dawson years), he perked up. I hadn’t remembered the show being a particular favorite of his before the stroke (he tended to turn the channel to any sport available, up to and including bowling). But during those long days and nights in the hospital, it was a joy to see him liven up and try to answer a question about favorite dog breeds according to 100 people surveyed. My dad recovered and enjoyed many active years before passing away in 2003. Maybe this is the only real reason I stop at Family Feud when I’m flipping channels and have difficulty shutting it off until after the fast money round.
Some friends of ours were watching COPS one night, and the husband turns to the wife and says, honey, isn’t that your ex-husband? And she says, oh my G**. It truly was.
Our guilty pleasure is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The teenagers, all boys, get positively giddy when they here the theme song.
I haven’t watch it in a long long time, but years ago I watched a few seasons of Cheaters for the trainwreck. Another appeal was that it was filmed locally… for some reason it made it more interesting.
DDD, isnt stupid. Its cooking show – travel diary crossover, its pretty good. Almost educational.
I like when they go into the southern US, Texas, Louisiana, etc. and show real southern food. Its a cuisine formulation that doesnt really have good national or international representation. There needs to be a good southern comfort food diner, that would feature sit down diner cuisine of the south.
Has anyone mentioned the “Blacklist” yet?
Its a creepy spy/crime crossover drama, with a secret FBI task force using counter-intelligence techniques on criminal investigations.
In season 5 episode 18 in the first 2 minutes of the episode, a police internal affairs inspector, tells a meeting, that there is no proof that a corrupt cop committed murder. Except an FBI agent who witnessed the attack. I understand the need to keep a bad guy going in a serialized cop drama – but an FBI agent eye-witness is more than enough to start the ball rolling on a criminal complaint. Just ask Martha Stewart. (trying not to give spoilers for those who may want to watch the series – the first 4 seasons have been added to netflix for those who need to start from the ground floor)
Blacklist became stupid in that moment.
I gave up about halfway through season 1 because James Spader’s character was such a slimeball that I felt like I needed to take a shower after avery episode.
@occupantcdn – Here’s some bonus Blacklist stupidity for you.
This might be the most Lileks thing ever written.
Yes there is more to it than that.
If you watched from about season 3, they’ve been playing with the soundtrack – the sounds of gunfire have been downplayed – the good guys guns sound like a thump – thump whoosie noise. Like a pellet/air gun. The bad guys guns still sound bang – bang…
The number of rifles/shotguns have been diminished from about season 3 on – even the bad guys dont carry a rifle anymore.
That was the main appeal of the show. The contrast of the sleaziest person on earth working with the straight arrow FBI team. It lost me when it started being all Russian conspiracy-ey and focused more on the weird relationship between Spader’s character and the Keen character.
I dont think the FBI team is a straight arrow – they’re the deep state, anti terror unit. They’re working out of a black site – “The Post Office” – Which I thought was funny, because I assumed it was the old Washington DC Post Office – that Trump turned into a hotel.
I think it was a contrast in corruption. Here is the chaos criminal – and here is the corrupt state, regulating organized crime.
It was more black and white to start, but they pretty quickly started moving to a grey-grey mess.
I dont mind a grey mess. The complex/conflicted hero or the good Samaritan criminal.
Provided it makes sense. That it advances the story in a meaningful way – either to the redemption of the criminal or to the corruption and downfall of the hero.
To bring up another complex criminal:
The Walter White Vs Hank Schrader – the one story line from Breaking Bad, I wish they devoted more time exploring. The violent DEA agent who “Knows” his brother in law is cooking – but cant find evidence or is conflicted over what evidence he does find. I wish they could have plumbed this friendly – at least in front of bystanders – but adversarial relationship much deeper than what they did.
Now, Blacklist, in its best episodes is no where near as good as Breaking Bad’s execution.
I just liked the tension of the seriously bad guy working with the secretive but by the book agents. Maybe I was mistaken on how by the book they were intended to be given how quickly they compromised their ethics. I would have liked seeing some serious dilemmas with some very bad consequences where they chose the honorable path and paid a heavy price before they started compromising into the dynamic you mentioned.
I do agree with it mostly being a matter of execution though, you can make a great show either way. Early on in the Blacklist I loved the stuff where Spader would be assassinating a dirty government official to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown. Honestly, I don’t remember much after that other than it getting more silly and lazy as the focus shifted to the whole father-daughter are-they-aren’t-they thing.
I agree it was one of the high points of the series. Much like chase scene in the “Americans” set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”.
More Grey-ness on the Blacklist, we find the corrupt cop who’s been hunted for murder also acted as a surrogate father to Reddington’s (other) daughter… So the bad guy who’s been built for the entire season, had a good side. How is it, that Liz Keen didnt know that Reddington had other children? Wouldnt the FBI keep up with the families of the 10 most wanted, in case there was contact?
Another thing that bothered me about this show, is how is everyone a orphan or hidden illegitimate kid? How many single women hide away with their children, never to speak to the father again? Most (I think) start lawsuits.
Granted, I haven’t watched the show in more than four seasons, but is Reddington really the sort of person you want to serve papers to?
Well being on the FBI’s most wanted list, I would assume that if you could serve those papers, the FBI would have gotten the man.
It just seems odd that Liz Keen would be taken off-guard by meeting her sister, she had to have known existed.