Over in my part of the woods there's Metro Pulse --Knoxville, Tennessee's weekly freebie courting the young upscale urban market. There was an interesting article this week about the Knox County government cutting the budget of the East Tennessee Television and Film Commission as well as the state's budget crunch affecting the future of TV/Film incentives offered at the state level.

All in all, an interesting article, and I would've just kept it to myself if not for a line that struck me in an odd way:

(emphasis mine)



Wait, what?!

Alright, I know shows can differ drastically when they go from pitch to production, but I'm having a hard time connecting point 'A' to point 'B' on this one. Was Bagwell ever connected with Goodson/Todman?

After Googling, if the board game for "A Kin to Win" was even somewhat like the actual show, then the only thing it had in common with Family Feud was family teams.

After...um...actually looking at my copy of the board game, I'd have to agree with you.

Periodically, I've asked around for anybody north of the border to tell me anything about the TV show, but none of our Great White Friends seems to remember much about it. But no, it was no more the progenitor to Family Feud than Keep It In the Family or probably several other family-based shows that came before it.

This claim of Knoxville (where I am right now, as a matter of fact) being the third-biggest producer of cable television hours is an interesting one, but possible a little suspect. I think people would be surprised at how much is produced here (Knoxville is home base for several DIY channels) but it's still a small market as TV goes and I have to think several others top it. It also, of course, depends on how you define your terms. One of the top producers of original cable content is probably Bristol, Connecticut.

Much of which stopped being original in, oh, about 1997 or so.

/Earlier in Berman and Vitale's case.