Brooks and Marsh credit Richard Lewis with six shows:
"Anything But Love" (ABC, 1989-92), "A-List" (Comedy
Central, 1992 at least), "Daddy Dearest" (Fox, 1993, where
he co-starred with Don Rickles), "Harry" (ABC, 1987), "Hiller
And Diller" (ABC, 1997-98), and periodic appearances on
Letterman's NBC show. (I also remember him in "Robin Hood:
Men In Tights.") The fact that none of these shows,
with the possible exception of "Anything But Love," had much
of a run, and his appearances on Letterman and "A-List" were
sporadic, hardly put him in the category of a superstar. I think
when most people think of a comedian named "Lewis" it's a
certain individual who once worked with Dean Martin and who
became even better known for his Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy
telethons and that, of course, is Jerry.
Also, a point about "Family Feud." It did, in fact, evolve out of
the bonus round on "Match Game," in which the winner had to
guess the most popular answer given by 100 audience members
to a fill-in-the-blank question. Mark Goodson felt that there was
a game in itself there. The first version, closer to "Match Game,"
was called "Odd Ball": ten contestants in separate isolation booths
competed; if one contestant failed to match at least one other
contestant, s/he was designated the "odd ball" and eliminated from
the game; the game proceeded in this manner until the last two
players played the find-the-most-popular-answer game. That didn't
survive the first run-through, so Goodson changed the name to "Fast
Company," with two celebrity couples (for example, Allen Ludden and
Betty White against Bobby Van and Elaine Joyce). This version more
closely approximated "Feud," but with only two contestants on a side,
they tended to get locked into their first answer and couldn't come up
with the remaining ones. Finally, the number of teammates was extended
to five and a staff member suggested families as the way to unify the teams.
And thus the biggest game-show hit of the '70s was born.
"Anything But Love" (ABC, 1989-92), "A-List" (Comedy
Central, 1992 at least), "Daddy Dearest" (Fox, 1993, where
he co-starred with Don Rickles), "Harry" (ABC, 1987), "Hiller
And Diller" (ABC, 1997-98), and periodic appearances on
Letterman's NBC show. (I also remember him in "Robin Hood:
Men In Tights.") The fact that none of these shows,
with the possible exception of "Anything But Love," had much
of a run, and his appearances on Letterman and "A-List" were
sporadic, hardly put him in the category of a superstar. I think
when most people think of a comedian named "Lewis" it's a
certain individual who once worked with Dean Martin and who
became even better known for his Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy
telethons and that, of course, is Jerry.
Also, a point about "Family Feud." It did, in fact, evolve out of
the bonus round on "Match Game," in which the winner had to
guess the most popular answer given by 100 audience members
to a fill-in-the-blank question. Mark Goodson felt that there was
a game in itself there. The first version, closer to "Match Game,"
was called "Odd Ball": ten contestants in separate isolation booths
competed; if one contestant failed to match at least one other
contestant, s/he was designated the "odd ball" and eliminated from
the game; the game proceeded in this manner until the last two
players played the find-the-most-popular-answer game. That didn't
survive the first run-through, so Goodson changed the name to "Fast
Company," with two celebrity couples (for example, Allen Ludden and
Betty White against Bobby Van and Elaine Joyce). This version more
closely approximated "Feud," but with only two contestants on a side,
they tended to get locked into their first answer and couldn't come up
with the remaining ones. Finally, the number of teammates was extended
to five and a staff member suggested families as the way to unify the teams.
And thus the biggest game-show hit of the '70s was born.
