All the Feud's men

With syndicated Family Feud renewed through 2015, the show will have endured through four decades, except for only a couple short breaks in the survey-says action. Game show fans have argued themselves silly about who was the show's best host.

Interestingly, there's pretty general agreement about the worst host. That would be Louie Anderson, who held the post for the first three years of the current syndie. Louie has his good points as a standup comic, but he never seemed much interested in hosting Feud.

My personal favorite is the generally well-regarded but tragically ill-fated Ray Combs. He had to take over from the legendary Richard Dawson, and he did a really good job. He was always quick with a quip but never tried to dominate the show.

Which is my main quibble with the current incumbent, Steve Harvey. I know Steve has improved the ratings and has a bunch of fans. But Feud is a game show, not a Steve Harvey show. Steve often seems to forget that.

I already mentioned the guy who started it all, Richard Dawson. At the top of his form he was obviously a brilliant host. But the Everest-sized ego was tough to take.

And that leaves Richard Karn and John O'Hurley. They kept the current syndie going for a good long time, and they're now providing GSN with some of the network's best ratings. They might both be underrated.