Author Topic: What I don't like about Combs' Feud (Read 6784 times)

Casey · « **on:** December 21, 2003, 05:54:16 PM »

I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up watching Combs' Feud, and it's the version I remember best. After having GSN for a while though and watching Dawson's Feud, there are a couple of things about the Combs' Feud I just don't like.

1) On the Combs' version, while a family is playing, you often see the opposing team heckling the team that is playing. While they may have been encouraged to do that by the contestant coordinators, I don't like it. It makes the show seem more mean spirited than it is and it makes the show too "loud" for my taste.

2) Don't like the play or pass rule being eliminated. Same as on Super Password, it takes away a strategic option.

I find now that I can't really stand watching Combs' Feud anymore. The Dawson version just seemed friendlier (up until the 400 point rule when there was no time left in the 1/2 hour except to get through 6 or 7 questions).

aaron sica · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2003, 06:10:34 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 05:54 PM\'] 1) On the Combs' version, while a family is playing, you often see the opposing team heckling the team that is playing. While they may have been encouraged to do that by the contestant coordinators, I don't like it. It makes the show seem more mean spirited than it is and it makes the show too "loud" for my taste.

2) Don't like the play or pass rule being eliminated. Same as on Super Password, it takes away a strategic option.
[/quote]
I agree and disagree with you...

1) About heckling, I agree with you there...With the crossing of arms to make an "X" for a strike, and stuff, yeah....That's where Dawson's version was a bit better..

2) The play-or-pass option, I liked in Ray's version....I rarely saw a team "pass" on Dawson's version..I would imagine that's why the rule was omittted.

Another thing I like that you didn't mention, is when the other family tries to steal, Ray would ask each one of them for a quick answer and then ask the head of the family for an answer. This, IMHO, was better than the whole family shouting answers at the same time and the buzzer sounding in quick succession for an answer from the head of the family.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2003, 06:25:26 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 05:54 PM\'] I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up watching Combs' Feud, and it's the version I remember best. After having GSN for a while though and watching Dawson's Feud, there are a couple of things about the Combs' Feud I just don't like.

1) On the Combs' version, while a family is playing, you often see the opposing team heckling the team that is playing. While they may have been encouraged to do that by the contestant coordinators, I don't like it. It makes the show seem more mean spirited than it is and it makes the show too "loud" for my taste.

2) Don't like the play or pass rule being eliminated. Same as on Super Password, it takes away a strategic option.

I find now that I can't really stand watching Combs' Feud anymore. The Dawson version just seemed friendlier (up until the 400 point rule when there was no time left in the 1/2 hour except to get through 6 or 7 questions). [/quote]
I'm pretty indifferent about the heckling, but I definitely understand where you're coming from.

One thing Combs used to do that I liked: he'd reveal the remaining Fast Money answers if a team got their 200 early.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:57:15 PM »

The heckling came across as really immature. To me, it just showed the teams had poor sportsmanship.

Omitting play/pass was good and I kinda like the one-answer-at-a-time format. The only problem is you get no real influence on the captain in the quiet huddle.

Oh, back to play/pass. Just think about it: is there any advantage to passing? 7 answers, you feel it's difficult. So why not take the most obvious answers, get three strikes, and have the other team struggle for one of the remaining answers? If somebody remembers/knows/figures out a good time to pass, I'd like to know. My mind's stuck.

As for the 400 point rule, I kinda liked it. It came across as a neat game. It got a lot of questions in, which I like, but then again it has the same problem as the Louie format. The last questions decide the entire game. I do play with it when my friends and I use the Feud presentation software, and so far after two games, one was actually seesaw with the earlier rounds having some effect on the rest.

-Jason

clemon79 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2003, 09:13:49 PM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 06:57 PM\'] Oh, back to play/pass. Just think about it: is there any advantage to passing? 7 answers, you feel it's difficult. So why not take the most obvious answers, get three strikes, and have the other team struggle for one of the remaining answers? If somebody remembers/knows/figures out a good time to pass, I'd like to know. My mind's stuck.
[/quote]
I remember a particularly successful family on the Dawson version of the show would pass anytime there were more than 5 answers on the board, because they had a knack for plucking off one of the obscure answers the other team couldn't get and stealing.

At the same time, in hockey, back in the day, a player serving a minor 2:00 penalty stayed in the penalty box (and therefore his team played a man down) until the penalty expired. Well, the Montreal Canadiens got SO GOOD at scoring on the power play that they could reel off multiple goals in a 2:00 period. The league changed the rules so that the player with the least time remaining in their minor penalty is released from the box when a goal is scored against them.

My point? My point is that maybe the two rules were altered for similar reasons: hockey should not be a game of power plays, and Feud should not be a game of stealing.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2003, 10:11:16 PM »

Quote

My point? My point is that maybe the two rules were altered for similar reasons: hockey should not be a game of power plays, and Feud should not be a game of stealing.

It does take an incident like that to alter a game. Well said.

Just an aside because I seem to be putting these in all my posts lately: in playing "Feud" both with the board game and now its questions on Todd's software, my friends pass A LOT. I almost wanna come out and say why they shouldn't, but they're realizing it. Last game when one team stole a whopping $45 and new the rest of the answers, they decided to play more. The opponents also realized that they should knock off the easy answers first. Now if each team just combined the two theories... :)

-Jason

Don Howard · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2003, 10:36:39 PM »

Quote

The heckling came across as really immature. To me, it just showed the teams had poor sportsmanship.

Indeed. And agreed. I can imagine it'd be difficult to focus on giving a good answer with the other side shouting, "Strike! Strike!". Goodson was still around
at the time. I'm surprised he allowed that crap. If that had gone on with Richard
at the helm, I could see him saying, "Cut that out. What the hell are you doing?".

Casey · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2003, 10:47:45 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 10:36 PM\']

Quote

The heckling came across as really immature. To me, it just showed the teams had poor sportsmanship.

Indeed. And agreed. I can imagine it'd be difficult to focus on giving a good answer with the other side shouting, "Strike! Strike!". Goodson was still around
at the time. I'm surprised he allowed that crap. If that had gone on with Richard
at the helm, I could see him saying, "Cut that out. What the hell are you doing?". [/quote]
Actually, I could see Richard Dawson doing that also.

It doesn't seem like something Richard would have liked.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2003, 10:57:35 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 10:36 PM\']

Quote

The heckling came across as really immature. To me, it just showed the teams had poor sportsmanship.

Indeed. And agreed. I can imagine it'd be difficult to focus on giving a good answer with the other side shouting, "Strike! Strike!". Goodson was still around
at the time. I'm surprised he allowed that crap. [/quote]
That being said, I remember one early Tournament of Champs c. 1989 or 90, where the head of the opposing team yelled out, "That's right! One more red X!" and crossed his arms to make an X, so I'm wondering if Goodson had much to say then.

pyl85 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2003, 11:53:56 PM »

Quote

The heckling came across as really immature. To me, it just showed the teams had poor sportsmanship.

I was wondering if I was the only one that thought so...

Also, what is the deal with the signs with the red strike on them that the contestants hold up? It seems to me like they serve no purpose. No one needs to be constantly reminded of the number of strikes a family has and certainly a player who has just gotten a strike doesn't need to be reminded. So what was the thought behind the strike signs?

gameshowguy2000 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 22, 2003, 12:29:26 AM »

I'm sure viewers wen't aware of how many strikes they had, so, the strike signs kept tally. And we don't know who got a strike, in the event that person was asked to give an answer other than the one that got the team the strike.

I liked those. I would've kept them, for the 1994 Dawson version as well as for the Anderson and Karn versions.

Now, back on topic. I remembered the opponents crossing their arms like an X. I don't know if that happened on the CBS version, but it did happen on the syndie version. I assume that the opponents think that the in-control team can't sweep the board!

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #11 on:** December 22, 2003, 12:35:04 AM »

I also thought that some of the heckling was obnoxious, unfair, and idiotic. How can the show function when some of that crap was going on?

Though the Combs' version had a quicker pace, that was unacceptable and a reason why I enjoy the Dawson version a bit more.

The Inquisitive One

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #12 on:** December 22, 2003, 02:00:59 AM »

[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 12:29 AM\'] I'm sure viewers wen't aware of how many strikes they had, so, the strike signs kept tally. And we don't know who got a strike, in the event that person was asked to give an answer other than the one that got the team the strike.

I liked those. I would've kept them, for the 1994 Dawson version as well as for the Anderson and Karn versions.

Now, back on topic. I remembered the opponents crossing their arms like an X. I don't know if that happened on the CBS version, but it did happen on the syndie version. I assume that the opponents think that the in-control team can't sweep the board! [/quote]
The "strike" signs looked like they were made 5 minutes before air--rather chitzny. I didn't see the purpose behind them.

I would have to agree with the heckling--in watching reruns on GSN; it comes off as poor sportsmanship. I don't recall this happening 'til the later part of the run, though.

whewfan · « **Reply #13 on:** December 22, 2003, 07:37:19 AM »

When Dawson returned in 94, some of the "annoyances" of Ray's version were eliminated...

1-The team trying to steal the bank once again shouted out answers until the buzzer sounded.

2- No Bullseye, but rather a 3 question "bankroll" game with the same 2 players playing all 3 questions. Dawson didn't want Bullseye at all, but this was a good compromise.

3- No more "heckling" from what I could tell, or opponents making "strike" gestures with their arms.

4- Dawson was given enough time to give a short monologue and greet each family member, just as he did in the early days of Feud.

David Lawrence · « **Reply #14 on:** December 22, 2003, 08:48:17 AM »

I also think the heckling was minimal initially but increased over the years to where it sometimes seemed out of control. I recall even the priests and friars were heckling each other during those theme weeks. This is one of the few things I dislike about Combs Feud. (Bullseye was a bit silly, but I preferred it to the 400-point goal on latter-day Dawson Feud.)

As for huddling up then yelling answers to steal (Dawson's) vs. the host asking each person for a possible steal (Combs'), 100 Mexicanos Dijeron seems to have incorporated both, with the family huddling AND host Marco Antonio Rejil quickly walking down the row asking for individual steal options. There's also some occasional heckling on that show, but its more subdued, like the early Combs era.