Final feud

One of the real giants of game show hosting - that odd combination of script reading, improvising, refereeing, and interviewing - has died. Richard Dawson has passed away at age 79.

I'm pretty much in the "nothing but good about the [recently] dead" camp, but Dawson poses particular problems. Nobody doubted his great ability. At the top of his form on Family Feud, he could run a game show better than almost anybody. A terrific improv comic and contestant interviewer, he kept Feud purring smoothly for years.

But Dawson could also be a royal pain for his fellow-workers, as the E! True Hollywood Story on Feud made all too clear. He departed Match Game under contentious circumstances and never seemed at ease in his work or his life.

Born Colin Lionel Emm in Hampshire (the old one, not New Hampshire), Dawson first came to wide notice in this country as Peter Newkirk, the wisecracking Limey on Hogan's Heroes, that bizarre POW comedy. This led to his Match Game gig and eventually to the show's semi-spinoff, Family Feud. The feudin' continues to this day, after a multiplicity of hosts, and you can watch Dawson's work on the show every weekday on GSN.

Dawson played an evil game show host (typecasting, some would say) in 1987's Running Man opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. But otherwise he settled into a fairly reclusive retirement, though he tried an unsuccessful return to Feud in 1994-95. R.I.P.

UPDATE: GSN will run a special marathon of Dawson Family Feud and Match Game episodes 7:00PM-11:00PM on June 7. The run will include the "September" ep and Dawson's return to Feud in 1994.