How Steve Harvey slimmed down and bulked up ‘Family Feud’s’ ratings

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Name a stand-up comic who’s managed to breathe some life into a musty old game show.

Survey says: Steve Harvey!

The syndicated ‘Family Feud’ -- brought to you by Fremantle Media, the same folks who make ‘American Idol’ -- is averaging 3 million total viewers since Harvey took over this fall, according to the Nielsen Co. That’s a 36% surge compared with the same period a year ago, when John O’Hurley was hosting the program. In a season that hasn’t seen many breakout hits, syndicated or otherwise, ‘Feud’ is a ray of hope for TV programmers.

‘They told me that I could just be me,’ Harvey said in a recent interview. ‘They didn’t know what they wanted. They just said, ‘We want something different and we want you to just do you.’ ‘

Harvey, the program’s sixth host since former ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ star Richard Dawson created the role back in 1976, taps his comedy-club roots to help add some spontaneity to the mix. And given that ‘Feud’ isn’t exactly a new programming concept, the show (which airs in Los Angeles at 6 p.m. on KCAL-TV) can use all the spontaneity it can get.

‘I’m never mean to the contestants,’ Harvey said. ‘But I gotta tell you, man, if you say something crazy ... I’m gonna have to make a comment.’

Like, for example, when this contestant let slip something unexpectedly:

Harvey shot all of this season’s episodes in marathon, eight-shows-per-day sessions in Orlando this past summer, commuting from his home in Atlanta, where he hosts a syndicated radio show that is heard weekday mornings in Los Angeles on KJLH-FM (102.3). ‘I’m looking forward to working the show next season, but I can’t work that schedule,’ he said of ‘Feud.’ ‘That took a lot out of me.’

In fact, he had so little time to work out or watch his diet that when shooting wrapped he went on a crash diet where he juiced all his meals. He lost 16 pounds in 16 days and now weighs 222.

‘I hadn’t seen my jawline since I was 30,’ he joked.

-- Scott Collins

Twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT