File this under #ShowerThoughts, but it occurs to me that for as popular as Family Feud has been over the past 40 years, it definitely also has to be in the running for some of the, if not the worst payouts in game show history.
Just think about this, back in 1976 when the show first began, the prize for winning Fast Money was only $5,000 and families had to retire after five times on the show. Assuming that a family won all five times at Fast Money and won the maximum amount of money in the main game ($599), the absolute most a family could walk with would be $27,995. Adding to the problem is that money would logically have to be split amongst five family members, so an individual at best could win $5,599 on Family Feud in the '70s. Even the syndicated show's payoff of $10,000 for winning Fast Money hardly makes up for it because there were no returning champions on that version, so at best a family walks with $10,599 (which is roughly $2,120 per family member). Compare this to some of the other shows on the air at the time, like Password Plus and (especially) Super Password where contestants were generally playing for $10,000-$20,000 at a time, multiple times (there are numerous instances on Super Password where contestants are playing for amounts over $30,000).
The problem continued on the CBS version as they still played for the paltry $5,000 up until the Bullseye round was introduced in 1992, but it seems to me that most families generally won no more than $25,000 after their combined run on the show was over, anyway, so there was really no increase in the general winnings for most families. If anything, it went down in the 1994 season by dropping the top prize from (a potential) $20,000 to only $14,000.
When Family Feud came back in 1999, they were still only playing by the old syndicated show's payouts and only giving away $10,000 to one family before kicking them off the show, which is ridiculous that a show being made in 1999 is still giving away the same top prize as a show that was being made in 1978. Sure, they brought the top prize up to $20,000 in 2002 and started letting families stay on the show for five days again but, let's be real, I have seldom ever seen a family win more than $43,000 on Family Feud, even if they stay on the show for five days. And since Steve Harvey started hosting the show, it seems obvious to me that the producers are bringing out much harder questions with lower survey number one answer values after a family has won Fast Money one time. So, you figure roughly an average of maybe $44,000 over a five day run (plus a new car, which seems idiotic to me - how can you split a car among five people?) Meanwhile, the minimum prize on contemporary episodes of Wheel of Fortune is $35,000 for winning the bonus round, most Jeopardy! champions are winning in the area of $15,000-$20,000 per show, and a Price is Right showcase generally goes for at least $22,000 per show.
And of course, there's the glaring problem of a family that loses Fast Money on Family Feud still wins five dollars a point just like they did in 1976. I mean, what a waste of the audience's time when you really get down to it - you just watched this show for half an hour and the family loses and they win, at most $995 in the year 2017. It's basically a hair above not giving them anything. Why this amount has not been raised to $10 a point at least 10 years ago completely escapes me. Even if they didn't want to give that much money to a family that loses Fast Money, at least give them $5,000 for winning the Feud. It's completely asinine to me that families that win the main game on the show today win absolutely nothing except a chance at $20,000. Prior to the Bullseye round being introduced, they at least played the Feud for dollars instead of worthless points.
Sorry that this became long winded, but as you can see, Family Feud has always been one of the cheapest game shows on television. I mean, the show is now usually the top rated syndicated show on television - why they cannot give away some real money makes no sense. In my view, if you win the Feud, you should win $5,000 right there (give the losing family $1,000). They should be playing Fast Money for $30,000 each time, no money for losing Fast Money and if a family becomes five time returning champions, instead of winning the (worthless) car, then should play their final Fast Money for $50,000.
Comment is invited.