#FlashbackFriday: All Hail ‘Family Feud’ Host Richard Dawson, Pioneering Game Show Perv
The Steve Harvey-hosted version of Family Feud gets a lot of flack from viewers who don’t like all the sexual innuendo (e.g., “Name something that has white balls”), but those viewers clearly need to study their history: For 40 years, Family Feud has been the most overtly sexual game show on TV. First broadcast on ABC in 1976, Feud could turn ordinary survey questions — “Name something that has to warm up before you use it” — into double-entendres. (Answer: “How ’bout your wife?”)
And then there was original host Richard Dawson, who had no qualms about fondling, grabbing, and kissing any female contestant who caught his eye.
Yeah, people didn’t really start taking sexual harassment seriously until the mid-’80s. So next time Steve Harvey asks a contestant a risqué question (“Tell me the last thing you stuck your finger in”), just be glad he’s not getting handsy with the players, too.
Family Feud airs weekdays in syndication. Check local listings.
