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Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
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Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review July 29, 2005 / 22 Tammuz, 5765

Let’s play the Feud

By Brad Dickson


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | More and more I find myself doing what guys do best. Sitting in my recliner switching TV channels seeing what's on my 5,212 cable channels. (It's actually 5,213, but I don't count Lifetime.) On this particular night there was the standard fare. Roughly 800 poker shows, including celebrity poker tournaments featuring HUGE celebrities, like the actor who played the jewelry salesman in one episode of the TV program DRAGNET in 1966.

Flipping around the dial I also landed on the newest incarnation of an old game show. Remember Family Feud? Well, it's still on, syndicated around the nation.

And let me tell you, Family Feud (which first came on the air during the Chester A. Arthur Administration) hasn't changed much. It still pits dim-witted family against dim-witted family in a roundhouse series of hard-hitting, intellect-gauging questions like, "Name a breed of dog."

The exceptions are "special shows" wherein the contestants may not compete as part of a family, and are even dumber than usual. These shows typically feature groups like "Playboy Playmates" vs. "People Who've Had Frontal Lobotomies" with the Lobotomy folks emerging victorious.

After one particular side wins they get to play a type of lightning round featuring rapid fire, staccato answers that are compared to responses from a survey conducted of 100 people with the IQs of butter knives.

The host of the program is genial Richard Karn from Home Improvement. He's pretty good, but undeserving of the enthusiastic tone in the announcer's voice when introducing him. "And now... RICH-ARD KARN!!!!" A tone like that should be reserved for, say, the risen Abe Lincoln. "And now...back from the dead, ABRA-HAM LIN-COLLLLN!!!"

Sometimes the Feud, as those in the know call it, presents entire theme weeks when producers test the audience's capacity for punishment by bringing in especially dumb folks who are in the news (say, "American Idol contestants" vs. "Folks Who Claimed To Find Severed Fingers In Their Fast Food") for five grueling days of inane responses.

Sample:

RICHARD KARN: "Name a well known member of the Kennedy family."

CONTESTANT. "Lance!".

REST OF TEAM: "Good answer!"

Contestants on Family Feud don't speak in periods, they speak in exclamation marks, for EVERYTHING! The host could casually ask at the top of the show, "How's your mother?" and one family member would respond "She's dead!"

"Good answer!"

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I've never really been a Feud fan. I find it disingenuous, as the family members almost always get along. In real life if there was big money riding on a question like, "Name a starchy food?" and son-in-law Fred answers, "Glue!" instead of clapping like a trained seal on speed Mom would turn to him and go, "GLUE?! Are you out of your friggin' mind!? My daughter could've married a DOCTOR, but instead she settled for you, a BUM!" To which the son-in-law responds, "Well, we're not going to be married for long, I filed for divorce yesterday!" To which mom responds, "Bite me!"

While shouting out their answers the contestants always stand. Probably because if they sat they'd be sitting on their brains and their answers would be even stupider.

Occasionally some of the people on the program are actually pretty intelligent. As soon as I notice the family is astute I immediately switch the channel, as all entertainment value is lost. If I want to see smart people on TV I'll watch...well, if I want to see smart people I won't watch TV.

The only time smart people on the Feud are interesting is during the lightning round when there is a lot of money riding on a particular response, and the smart family member gives an excellent answer and the group of surveyed folk let him down. Say, the question is, "Name something the state of Idaho is known for?" and the contestant goes, "Potatoes!" And the host goes, "Survey says.....dirt!"

Good answer!

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.



JWR contributor Brad Dickson was a monologue staff writer for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno for 13 years. He's presently developing a network television pilot. Comment by clicking here.


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