The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Adam Nedeff on July 08, 2016, 11:12:39 PM
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For anybody wondering what hosting "Family Feud" in the early 1980s paid, here's your answer. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICHARD-DAWSON-HAND-SIGNED-THREE-PAGE-CONTRACT-FROM-1982-FAMILY-FEUD-/120694978152?hash=item1c19fb3668:g:1TEAAOxy4dNS-s--)
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Interesting... and apparently that doesn't include whatever he was paid to do the nighttime syndicated show.
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Was Feud really doing 260 a year in daytime? No summer repeats?
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Was Feud really doing 260 a year in daytime? No summer repeats?
Yep. No repeats.
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The XETV clause is interesting in that they lost their ABC affiliation in 1973 and were independent thereafter (until they became a charter Fox affiliate). I wonder how common that clause was, just in case someone's TV appearances happened to pop up there.
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Anyone with the Encyclopedia on hand, was Feud still in the Top 3 game shows in 1982-83? The contract mentions going until 1986, but I imagine they didn't anticipate a ratings drop within the next year and a half, both with network and syndication?
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Anyone with the Encyclopedia on hand, was Feud still in the Top 3 game shows in 1982-83? The contract mentions going until 1986, but I imagine they didn't anticipate a ratings drop within the next year and a half, both with network and syndication?
Something I didn't remember until flipping the book open just now is that they only cover October-April in the book. Anyhow, from Oct 82-Apr 83 as well as Oct 82-Apr 83, Feud is 2nd. However, by Oct 83-Apr 84, Feud was bounced from the top 3, with Wheel of Fortune coming in second and Dream House being ranked third.
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Fascinating.
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Interesting... and apparently that doesn't include whatever he was paid to do the nighttime syndicated show.
I assume that's because ABC didn't have a hand in the nighttime show. And on that note, I'm surprised that he was employed by ABC directly rather than by G-T/The Family Company. How common was that?
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Adam's Gene Rayburn book notes that the ABC brass were fans of Dawson and pushed for him to host Family Feud in the first place. G-T's original host for the show was Jack Narz.
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Adam's Gene Rayburn book notes that the ABC brass were fans of Dawson and pushed for him to host Family Feud in the first place. G-T's original host for the show was Jack Narz.
Where did Geoff Edwards fit into that history, or was Geoff the only one who ever said he was a contender to host the show?
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Adam's Gene Rayburn book notes that the ABC brass were fans of Dawson and pushed for him to host Family Feud in the first place. G-T's original host for the show was Jack Narz.
Where did Geoff Edwards fit into that history, or was Geoff the only one who ever said he was a contender to host the show?
Geoff Edwards was apparently the first, or among the first, considered to host. He was given a bad description of the show's premise and thought it sounded too much like "The Neighbors," which bombed, so he said no. That's when G-T elected to give it to Jack Narz. Richard had a clause in his "Match Game" contract that enabled him to host any new game that G-T developed; Goodson didn't actually want him to redeem that clause for "Feud" and tried to get out of it, but as loyal reader Curt said, ABC overruled Goodson.
(Thanks, Curt!)
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Geoff Edwards was apparently the first, or among the first, considered to host. He was given a bad description of the show's premise and thought it sounded too much like "The Neighbors," which bombed, so he said no. That's when G-T elected to give it to Jack Narz. Richard had a clause in his "Match Game" contract that enabled him to host any new game that G-T developed; Goodson didn't actually want him to redeem that clause for "Feud" and tried to get out of it, but as loyal reader Curt said, ABC overruled Goodson.
Fascinating. Thanks, Adam. I've always found it peculiar Geoff was a top contender for the gig considering he never hosted anything for G-T to that point, and subsequently never did.
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I find it hard to believe that this will sell for $199, even if Richard Dawson is now unable to sign any more contracts.
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Interesting to me that ABC was able to get a panelist from a competing network's hit to host a game show for them. Even though it was still through G-T, I'm guessing CBS wasn't thrilled with the idea?
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Interesting... and apparently that doesn't include whatever he was paid to do the nighttime syndicated show.
I assume that's because ABC didn't have a hand in the nighttime show. And on that note, I'm surprised that he was employed by ABC directly rather than by G-T/The Family Company. How common was that?
Jim Peck was under contract to ABC in the late 70s. Tom Kennedy was actually the center of a bidding war, under contract first to ABC and then getting snapped up by NBC in 1976. Monty Hall was under CBS contract, which was how he ended up hosting "Beat the Clock" at gunpoint.
What makes Dawson's situation unique is that he was under contract to ABC because G-T fired him. After a difficult renegotiation, G-T notified ABC that they were looking for a new host, and ABC surprised them by signing Richard to the network and then pushing him back to Feud. None of this logically applies to the syndicated version, but my GUESS is G-T figured out that "Family Feud with Richard Dawson" was an easier sale to close than "Family Feud with Player to be Named."
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Is it pretty safe to say that Richard was commanding the highest salary of anybody in the business by that time? I seem to remember Chris C saying that Allen Ludden was getting about $5,000 a week for Password Plus, and this dwarfs that.
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Is it pretty safe to say that Richard was commanding the highest salary of anybody in the business by that time? I seem to remember Chris C saying that Allen Ludden was getting about $5,000 a week for Password Plus, and this dwarfs that.
I'd say it's a safe bet. During book research Peter Marshall told me that he was making $15,000 a week at his peak for Hollywood Squares.
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Is it pretty safe to say that Richard was commanding the highest salary of anybody in the business by that time? I seem to remember Chris C saying that Allen Ludden was getting about $5,000 a week for Password Plus, and this dwarfs that.
I'd say it's a safe bet. During book research Peter Marshall told me that he was making $15,000 a week at his peak for Hollywood Squares.
Obviously the longer the show stayed on, the more money to the on-camera talent - much like prime time programming.
Still, that's not as much, even with inflation, as what Sajak, Trebek, Vanna White, or Drew Carey make, all for less work. This article, surprisingly, seems pretty accurate: http://thechive.com/2015/06/17/how-much-do-your-favorite-gameshow-hosts-make-anyways-10-photos/ (http://thechive.com/2015/06/17/how-much-do-your-favorite-gameshow-hosts-make-anyways-10-photos/).
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Jim Peck was under contract to ABC in the late 70s. Tom Kennedy was actually the center of a bidding war, under contract first to ABC and then getting snapped up by NBC in 1976. Monty Hall was under CBS contract, which was how he ended up hosting "Beat the Clock" at gunpoint.
I can match up Peck/ABC and Kennedy/NBC, but why(?) was Hall under CBS contract? I must be missing an obvious game.
Is it pretty safe to say that Richard was commanding the highest salary of anybody in the business by that time? I seem to remember Chris C saying that Allen Ludden was getting about $5,000 a week for Password Plus, and this dwarfs that.
I wonder where Bob Barker fell at that time.
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I wonder where Bob Barker fell at that time.
Probably on top of one of the models.
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Jim Peck was under contract to ABC in the late 70s. Tom Kennedy was actually the center of a bidding war, under contract first to ABC and then getting snapped up by NBC in 1976. Monty Hall was under CBS contract, which was how he ended up hosting "Beat the Clock" at gunpoint.
I can match up Peck/ABC and Kennedy/NBC, but why(?) was Hall under CBS contract? I must be missing an obvious game.
Nope. He was under contract because he was a good talent and the network thought they'd have a good use for him. By 1979, they hadn't found anything for him and they needed to get something out of that investment. So they shoved him into "Beat the Clock."
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Not that they would do this or that it would be a good use of their money, but it also deprives the other networks from using him as well, though It's Anybody's Guess didn't set the world on fire.
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Allen made $4,000 per week in 1979, $4,500 in 1980. His contract was with G-T, not NBC.
Dick Martin was making in the neighborhood of $2,500 per week for Mindreaders, again paid by G-T, not NBC.
Jonathan was smart in having Dawson and Barker negotiate their salaries directly with the networks. It got G-T out of the picture and they wouldn't have to figure emcee salaries into the license-fee negotiations.
I'm going out on a limb and saying Gene Rayburn was making around $5,000 per week in the latter days of MG. Adam?
Bill Cullen, guessing $5,000 for Blockbusters and Child's Play.