Family Feud Fun

     Very few television shows appeal to me these days.  I watch some just so I can have some white noise when I am napping.  Occasionally I find a couple I enjoy, but not enough to put them on the DVR if I plan to miss them.  Many of you know I am an old movie buff, so I enjoy watching black-and-white films and television shows.  I get a kick out of seeing young actors who were unknown at the time, but became famous many years later. 

     Lately, I have become interested in a new television show I have seen advertised.  It is called Whitney.  It is difficult to describe what the appeal is, but I think I have narrowed it down to her facial expressions.  There is one advertisement in which the Whitney character (played by her creator, Whitney Cummings) gives advice to other women about the “silent treatment.”  She explains that women who use this technique to punish their husbands are getting it all wrong.  A wife’s silence is not a punishment to a man.  She suggests the alternative; incessant talking.  If one can set aside the obvious sadness resulting from the deficiencies of the individuals in a relationship that is peppered with such inadequate, misguided and harmful solutions to inter-relational problems, it is actually rather funny.

     Today, the noontime food cravings visited me in the usual manner.  In response, I removed the square, clear plastic container with the blue lid, filled with last night’s leftovers, from the refrigerator shelf and placed in on the glass microwave turntable.  I pressed the “add a minute” square, filled my 32-ounce, plastic Chevron glass with ice and water, and took a spoon from the silverware drawer.  The microwave beeped at me, so I removed the warmed up chicken and rice, shook some soy sauce over it, and headed for the couch.

     I have recently rediscovered Family Feud.  This show has been around for 35 years, off and on.  The format is so simple and the prizes so small, it simply cannot retain the audience it needs to stay on the air.  Therefore, it has been cancelled and revived several times.  Currently, the host is Steve Harvey.  He is a funny guy; clean, not offensive, and likeable. 

     So, there I am, munching my soy sauce-soaked chicken and rice when two players are called up to the podium to compete.  For those of you who are not familiar with the show, two players must listen to a question that has been asked of 100 people and try to give the same answer the largest number of that sampling gave.  This particular question was, “We asked 100 married men, ‘Your wife hasn’t spoken to you for the past 3 hours.  What is the most likely reason?’”  One player pushed the button and gave the answer that had been given by 82 of the 100 men surveyed, “She’s mad.”

     At this point, that player rejoins the other members of her family.  Steve Harvey asks each member of the family to correctly identify the other answers given by the group of married men.  In this case, they have to come up with the three other "top" answers given by that group.  One after the other, the players gave answers that sounded quite plausible, but were not what that group of 100 married men had answered.  After three misses, the other family got a try.  They could not come up with any of those other three answers either.

     Here are the top four answers given by the 100 married men asked this question: “Your wife hasn’t spoken to you for the past 3 hours.  What is the most likely reason?” 

                1.  She’s mad.

                2. She’s asleep.

                3. She’s dead.

                4. She’s not home.

     Out of respect for the "crown of God’s creation," and not out of fear of unimaginable retribution, I am going to refrain from further comment.

     However, I would like to give you ladies the opportunity to respond to this question:  Your husband has not spoken to you for 3 hours.  What is the most likely explanation?