back when there was both daytime and nighttime versions; how was it decided which families played on the nighttime shows.; if they could choose. Why would anyone choose to play for 5k when you could play for 10k

It's not that easy : you could stay on the daytime show for 5 shows, with a potential for 25K, whereas it was one-and-done with the nighttime version, playing for 10K.

So which would you rather be on? Please answer with the correct capital letters in pLacE.

Do you really think the contestants had their choice in the first place? Really?

(Though I'm sure the coordinators were as accommodating as possible; I would imagine if the family mentioned that attending multiple tapings would be inconvenient if they were to wrap around weeks on the show, they would be shuttled to the nighttime show if at all possible. But rest assured that it wasn't the family's ultimate call.)

toetyper has an exception on the capital letters issue. His screen name is descriptive, not fanciful.

Meanwhile, I can answer the daytime/syndicated thing, at least a little, based on firsthand experience. I ended up on the syndicated version of Sale of the Century while both versions were running. The contestants didn't get to choose. You applied to be on the show, and it was up to the coordinators to decide whether they wanted you for their daytime version or their syndicated version. It makes sense that Family Feud and any other show with both versions running would do it the same way.

The coordinators didn't tell us what their criteria were, but they definitely left us with the impression that they wanted their better players ("TV better", not necessarily the ones who played better) for the syndicated version, which was a more valuable property to them. Of course, they probably said something similar to the daytimers they chose.

Fixed.

so howd you do

I can't verify this, but I think Matt ripped out Mark DeCarlo's still-beating heart in the rarely-seen Fame Game Octagon. For his efforts, I believe he received a Kenmore dishwasher.

It was a Maytag, but yeah, pretty much.

Actually, I did really, really well, especially in the early going, but eventually fell to a dominant champion. I was so disappointed by the experience that it took me almost twenty years before I went on another game show, at which point I did really, really well, especially in the early going, but eventually fell to a dominant champion. I probably won't be on any more game shows anytime soon.

I take it this is the way contestants were picked for Pyramid whether it was the $10 or $20K vs. $25K in the 70s or $25K vs. $100K in the 80s.