Richard Dawson RIP.....

I could waste an entire Sunday on YouTube today. And I figure many people are, judging by the Googles.
RIP

 

He had the ability to insult people without them even knowing it. For a game show host, that's a gift from God.

 

"We love ya... we'll see ya here on the Feud."

RIP.

 

In fact, he was the reason they came up with the wheel to determine which celebrity would answer the Super Match question, because it was getting monotonous having him be the one all the time.

And I really wasn't a big fan of the kissing, and no way could it be done now, especially the kissing of 14-16-year-old girls who were contestants. But the lollipop prize tree they came up with was even worse. That said, a wry entertainer, one who until recently I thought had died years ago.

 

God, poor Chef! His nice, fun thread turned into bile and recrimination, and featured some classic spnited. And too bad GB Hack isn't around.

 

Meh, screw those furriners! I'll allow Canadians, but that limey can come in here over my dead body!

 

This was our No. 1 answer ...

 

Family Feud was basically Super Match stretched out over 30 minutes, to give Richard Dawson his own show.

He was incredible on Match Game, which I only saw in reruns in the 1990s (thanks to a friend who just happens to be a walking game show encyclopedia and had zillions of episodes on tape in the pre-YouTube, pre-GSN era). The Feud was must-see TV when he was kissing housewives and hosting the show ... it lost a bit when Ray Combs took over, and the more recent incarnations with Louie Anderson and the guy who played Al Borland just haven't quite been the same.

But, no question, Richard Dawson in the bottom middle, with Betty White to the right, Charles Nelson Reilly above him, Nipsey Russell in the top left, Fannie Flagg and Brett Sommers cracking off-color responses while Gene Rayburn and his 6-foot long pencil-thin mic might have produced 30 minutes of the greatest TV ever, day-in and day-out.

 

I remember Richard Dawson was also on an episode of the Odd Couple, where he played a former partner of Felix Unger when both were in an act during World War II shows.

 

They got away with so much stuff on that show that programmers on network TV would never even dare to attempt today.