Howard Felsher was an American game show producer. He produced shows such as Tic Tac Dough; Password; Password Plus; Super Password; He Said, She Said; Concentration; and most notably, Family Feud. Felsher was known as the "Game Show Doctor" in certain circles for his ability to come in and fix a show.
Felsher was best known for his work on the original version of Family Feud. When the show was rising in popularity in the late 1970s, Felsher noticed that host Richard Dawson's ego was becoming a major issue. Richard Dawson was known to yell and argue with Felsher when Dawson disagreed with calls and judgements made by Felsher. On one occasion, when their friendship was more amicable, Dawson and Felsher switched positions during a question for fun. At one point in 1981, Dawson ordered Felsher to get off the set, which he did. Dawson ultimately had a falling out with Felsher, and in 1982 Family Feud packager Mark Goodson agreed to keep Felsher distant from Dawson by promoting him to Executive Producer, thereby relieving him of his studio duties, and promoting Cathy Hughart Dawson to producer. Felsher recalled this in the 2002 E! True Hollywood Story on Family Feud. On the final original Dawson-era episode of Family Feud in 1985, Dawson publicly apologized about any misgivings, disagreements, or brawls he may have had with producers, particularly Felsher. However, according to Felsher, Dawson regretted making the remarks the next day. Dawson ordered his daughter-in-law, the producer, to cut the speech from the show and it was not seen for 14 years until Game Show Network re-aired the episode on December 31, 1999 as part of their "Y2Play" marathon of game show finales.
As producer of the popular TV game show Tic Tac Dough, Felsher was in charge of all aspects of the shows production including choosing the contestants. Sixteen-year-old Kirsten Falke's audition as a folk singer led her to Felsher's office, who would provide young impressionable Kirsten with the answers and hints to win on the show and a promise to showcase her talent and sing. "I botched it up," reported Kirsten. She requested her categories in the wrong order. She walked away with $800. A grand jury subpoenaed Kirsten Falke to testify, and producer Howard Felsher implored her to lie. Felsher admitted to congressmen that he urged roughly 30 former show contestants and all of his production staff to lie to the grand jury and that he had lied under oath himself. Felsher also estimated that about 75% of all Tic Tac Dough nighttime shows had been rigged. Felsher was fired by NBC in the fallout of the quiz show scandal as reported in the May 19, 1959 TIME magazine article.
Personal life
Felsher has a son, Andrew Felsher, who has also directed a number of game shows, and currently is an executive at RTL Group, which is the successor company to the Goodson-Todman production company where his shows were produced. Felsher died on July 23, 2018, at the age of 90.
