Family Feud (1999)

This is chronicling the current version of the Feud.

Face-Off
At the beginning of each round, two members of each family come up to the main podium and play a mini-round for control of the question called "Face-Off". The host announced how many answers are on the board (which are always in order based on popularity), and then read a survey question and the first player to buzz-in gets to answer. The player to give the number one answer or have his/her answer be higher than the other player's answer won control. In case of a tie (both answers with the same number of people who gave it) the player who answered first won control. If neither player gave an answer on the board, the players at the main podiums get a chance to answer for control.

For time reasons, during Anderson era and sometimes in Harvey era, if neither player's answer was on the board the question was thrown out, and a new one was played.

The player that won the Face-Off has a decision to either let his/her family play the question or pass the question to their opponents.

Main Question
The family that won the face-off earns control of the question. The controlling family's job is to reveal the remaining answers hidden on the board with each correct answer adding points to the bank above the board. The answer's value is determined by how many people who gave it. Each player on the controlling team in turn gave an answer and if the answer he/she gave is correct, it is flipped over and revealed. Revealing all the answers on the board won the round (this is classified as a "Clean Sweep"). Giving a wrong answer at any time earned a strike; getting three strikes (one in the final round from 1999-2003) caused the team to lose control of the question, giving the opposing family a chance to steal by giving one correct answer. A successful steal won the round, otherwise a failed steal gave the round to the first family. The winners of the round took all the points in the bank plus (from 1999-2003) the value of the correct answer given by the stealing family.

Question Values
The first few questions had its values be worth the number showing. Later on in the game, the values of all the questions would be doubled (the double value round wasn't available from 1999 to 2003, except for their Family Circle Tournament in 2002); and still later, the last question of the game would be tripled.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: In May 2002, the "double" value round debut in the final Family Circle Tournament during Anderson's third and final season. The very first question as of which had the top six answers on the board for it was "Name a job only women used to have that you might see a man doing today". And just in case your wondering, here are the answers to that said question.

1.)Nurse [59]

2.)Secretary [13]

3.)Flight Attendant [8]

4.)Homemaker [6]

5.)Food Server [3]

6.)Teacher [3]

Winning
The first family to reach a set number of points won the game. For most of this version, just like in Dawson and Combs respectively, the goal is 300 points. From 1999 to 2003 there was no goal; the team with the most points won the game, even though most families in this period reached the goal of 300 points. In addition, there was only one strike for the team in the triple round (round 4). This created a scenario in which a team could give an incorrect answer and still win if there were not enough points in the bank for the other team to win by a successful steal. Other times when an opposing family already had more points than the bank, if a controlling family gave an incorrect answer, the game would automatically end.

Sudden Death Question
Beginning in 2003 during Karn's second season, when neither family reached the goal of 300 points after four questions, the fifth and final question was played as the new Sudden Death tiebreaker. Similar to the Bullseye Round/Bankroll Game, the final two players played one final Face-Off and the first player to buzz-in with the number one answer earned triple value and won the game.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: When the Bullseye Round was re-instituted in 2009-10 during O'Hurley's fourth & final season, the Sudden Death question was played after three questions meaning that the fourth players played this question only.

Bullseye Round (2.0)
For O'Hurley's fourth and final season from 2009-10, Feud rebooted the Bullseye round. This was the round that affected the grand prize for either family if and when they make it to Fast Money. In this round, both families started with a bankroll of $15,000 as five questions were asked to each pair of family members in a Face-Off fashion and only the number one answer counted. The first player to buzz-in with the number one answer added money to their own Fast Money bank, possibly up to the win of $30,000.

Scoring
Here how they scored for each question:

ADDITIONAL NOTE: For O'Hurley's brief short-lived revival of the Bullseye round, the number of questions along with its amounts (with the exception of the starting amounts) are very reminiscent to that of the Combs version in the second half of The Family Feud Challenge on CBS and in syndication from 1992 until 1994 when it was once known as The New Family Feud. Unfortunately, nobody has won let alone reached the total amount of $30,000 by themselves.

Brand New Car Giveaway
Beginning in 2009 during O'Hurley's fourth and final season, families have an opportunity to win a brand new car if a family manages to stay on for five shows as undefeated champions. Currently, the offer is still carried over during Harvey's era (with the Bullseye Round removed from the show) as host since 2010.

Here are the hosts and the years that had it:

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

This doesn't affect Fast Money with the winning family on their fifth and final appearance of the show.

This is also not carried over in the 2008 & 2015 editions of Celebrity Family Feud on NBC & ABC respectively as the money is played for charity (mainly $50,000 & $25,000 respectively).

Fast Money
The winning family went on to play Fast Money for a grand cash prize. The winning family chose which two players will play the game. The first family member stood at center stage while the second family member went off stage to a soundproof area. The first player has 20 seconds to answer five Family Feud questions. He/she has to give the most popular answer to each question. When he/she was done, the answers were revealed on a different board followed by the number of people who gave them. After all the answers were revealed and scored, the second player came out and took his/her turn. The second player had 25 seconds to answer the same five questions but with one exception: he/she cannot duplicate (repeat) any of the answers previously given by the first player or a double buzzer will sound, at which point the host says, "Try again". The contestant must give a different answer (the second player will also be charged for similar answers or an answer which fits into the same category as the first player's answer). When the second player was done, his/her answers were revealed and scored. If either one or both players managed to score 200 points (or more) successfully, The family wins the grand cash prize. However, if the second player failed to reach 200 points, they family wins $5 for each time the second player has won.

Grand Cash Prizes
The grand cash prizes were different depending on the series:
 * $10,000 (NOTE: This amount was also played in the syndicated version during Dawson era [1977-1985] and Combs era [1988-1992])
 * $20,000 (NOTE: This was first played in Anderson's third season in 2001 until 2009, then it came back in Harvey's era since 2010)
 * $30,000 (NOTE: This was played during O'Hurley's "Bullseye" era in 2009, though no family has won it that season)
 * $50,000 (NOTE: This was first played in Roker's Celebrity Family Feud in 2008, then it briefly came back during Harvey's 1,000th episode in early 2016)

Tournament of Champions
Like the Combs version, the current version did their Tournament of Champions in 2002. The first occurred in 2002 with the Family Circle Tournament of Champions with eight winning families returning in a single-elimination tournament. The jackpot started at $50,000 and went up to $20,000 for each time Fast Money was won, up to a possible $170,000. For this particular tournament only, if FM was not won, $5 per point was added to the jackpot. Each game was played to 300 points except for the finals, which requires just only 500 points to win the game and the jackpot. The winning team for this tournament won a trip to Charleston, South Carolina and tickets to the Family Circle Cup women's tennis tournament in nearby Daniel Island, in addition to the money, which was $112,230. The runners-up for this tournament won a trip to Jamaica. Also, for the finals only, the double round was used, despite the fact they were still using the "three single and one-strike triple round" format.

This version, however, did not do tournaments on an occasional basis until May 2005. Again, eight families were brought back, but this time, they consisted of either family who previously lost their first game for the tournament that was held in May 2005 and May 2006, or previously winning families, but not necessarily focusing on the higher winning families of the past tournament held in February 2006. The differences at this point for the tournament were that the jackpot started with nothing except for the February 2006 Tournament of Champions which began at $10,000 and went up to $20,000 for each time Fast Money was won, up to a possible $130,000. Losses in Fast Money did not add anything to the jackpot, as in the 1988-1994 version, and the championship game was played to 400 points and used the 4 singles-double-triple round format (with Sudden Death if applicable). Trips were sometimes awarded to the jackpot-winning family, including Hawaii during the February 2006 tournament and Mexico during the May 2006 tournament. Again, no Fast Money was played in the finals.

The tournament format did not return until 2013, where the jackpot started at $40,000 and could get as high as $160,000 and was sponsored by Publishers Clearing House (or PCH). The Fast Money Round was won six times in a row and had it build up to $160,000. As before, no Fast Money was played in the finals and the first team to reach 400 points won the jackpot of $160,000 while the runners-up received $20,000.

Trivia
In the final Tournament of Champions episode (during the Anderson era) from 2002, the fourth answer was never revealed to the question "Name a drink a waitress might serve you from a pitcher".

Personnel
Hosts: Louie Anderson (1999-2002); Richard Karn (2002-2006); John O'Hurley (2006-2010); Steve Harvey (2010-present)

Announcers: Burton Richardson (1999-2010); Joey Fatone (2010-2015); Rubin Ervin (2015-present)

Executive Producers: Michael Canter; Gabrielle Johnston

Music: Score Productions; John Lewis Parker

Trivia
Before Anderson, famous country singer Dolly Parton was almost originally signed on to host the reboot.

Anderson once asked the late original Feud host Richard Dawson to make a special cameo appearance on the premiere of his version of the show in order to give him his "blessing". However, he later declined and wanted no further involvement with the show at all. Dawson died on June 2, 2012 from complications of esophageal cancer, he also died on the same day (although different years between them) as his successor/replacement Ray Combs.

The Anderson era was the only version to feature eggcrate display with a blue color figure.

This was the only version to use the Mark Goodson Productions name & logo but not the spiel at the end of each episode, To Tell the Truth (2000) was the second.

The Mark Goodson Productions and Pearson Television logos were both dropped since 2002 when Karn became host at the time.

Louie Anderson had the most shortest tenure of all-time (three seasons to be exact).

On the syndicated game show Funny You Should Ask (hosted by Jon Kelly), Louie Anderson stated that he hosted the show for 525 episodes.

This is the only version of The Feud to have its face-off podium being removed when Fast Money comes in play.

The Tribune Entertainment logo was used on the early years of the John O'Hurley era until 2007.

With the exception of Al Roker and Ricki Lake respectively, this version went through four different hosts.

With the exception of Rich Fields respectively, this version went through three different announcers.

This was the second and final game show that both Burton Richardson and John O'Hurley worked together on from 2006 until 2010. six years ago, their first game show they worked together on was the short-lived 2000-2002 syndicated reboot of To Tell the Truth.

Despite the different years between them (i.e. 2002-06 & 2006-10 respectively) Both Richard Karn and John O'Hurley are the only two host out of the four from the franchise that had the same four-year tenure hosting the show among them.

The 2002-05 Karn era Feud set was used in the unsold 2003 game show pilot called I'm With Stupid hosted by Graham Norton and was also used in the 2002 FOX special called TV's Funniest Game Shows Part 2 hosted by Richard Karn.

The "WHOOSH!" sound effect for when an answer was revealed on the board in the main round was recycled from the short-lived 2001-2002 revival of Card Sharks when a button was pushed to reveal the next card in sequence. The sound was originally used in Summer 2008 and has been carried over since then.

Harvey not only hosted the current syndicated version, but he also hosted the ABC reboot of Celebrity Family Feud in 2015.

Former host, the late Louie Anderson competed on an episode of the rebooted ABC version of Celebrity Family Feud along with singer/actress Christina Milian as his opponent. This episode aired on July 23, 2017.

Both O'Hurley & Harvey's versions do not have the logo in the opening intros although in Harvey's first season in 2010-11, the logo was seen when it was taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Taping wise, this version went through nine studio changes.

Merchandise
Main Article: Family Feud (1999)/Merchandise

Photos
Main Article: Family Feud (1999)/Photos

Links
Official site

Official Facebook Page

Official Twitter Page

Official YouTube Page

Official YouTube Auditions

The 13 Most Uncomfortable Family Feud Moments Ever (courtesy of Time.com)

Family Feud is the best (And Dirtiest) Thing on TV (courtesy of Th Concourse)

Family Feud not so family-friendly anymore (courtesy of FOX News)

Pauley Perrette calls out Family Feud for being 'Filthy' and loaded with 'Sex Questions' (courtesy of FOX NEWS)

Family Feud is the raunchiest show on TV (courtesy of NYPost)

Family Feud asks suggestive survey question that leaves contestants speechless (courtesy of Examiner)

The Untold Truth of Family Feud (courtesy of Looper)

Family Feud ('99)@ pearsontv.com (via Internet Archive)

1999-02 Anderson era site (via Internet Archive)

2002-06 Karn era site (via Internet Archive)

2006-10 O'Hurley era sub-site (via Internet Archive)

2006-10 O'Hurley era site (via Internet Archive)