Port Washington Residents to appear on Family Feud

When Port Authority Police Officer Anthony Catuogno and retired-FDNY Firefighter Keith Murphy met on their first day of kindergarten there was no way they could have known how tightly their lives would intertwine over the next four decades. With the close-knit neighborhood of Rego Park, Queens as the backdrop, Anthony and Keith would go on to become and stay best friends, separately survive both attacks on the World Trade Center and eventually become brothers-in-law by marrying sisters Kari and Kimberly McFarland. It was this last life event that ultimately brought the foursome, along with third sister Jennifer, to Los Angeles this past May to appear on the wildly popular television show “The Family Feud.”

After several rounds of auditions the family, competing under the McFarland banner, beat out a host of other hopefuls to play in an episode airing October 15.

While the McFarlands are contractually obligated to stay quiet about details until the airing on Monday, they were open to talking about the road that brought them there.

“We grew up in a very competitive gaming family. Board games, card games, video games, and always watching game shows. There wasn’t a game show we didn’t love,” said Kari, a resident of Port Washington as is her sister Jennifer. “But our all-time favorite was “The Family Feud.”

Adds Anthony, “When we were dating, Kari told me that one day we were going to be on “The Family Feud”, but I didn’t think she was serious. I should have known better since she had already been on three other game shows while in college.”

So, when Kim Murphy came across an audition opportunity in nearby Connecticut last year, the entire family was immediately on board. They, along with Jennifer’s husband Brendan Magee, attended the audition with 450 other families while wearing matching t-shirts made to stand out among the crowd.

Finally, in March the family received the call inviting them to fly out to Los Angeles to play with Steve Harvey. Although they auditioned with six family members, the producers could only select five to play the game on television. Ultimately Brendan was cut. "I was bummed to be cut, but happy that Jen and her sisters were finally going to live out their childhood dream of being on The Feud!", says Brendan.

Judy McFarland, the girls’ mother, flew out west to witness her family’s dream come true. “It was fun to be a part of it from behind the scenes since we’ve all talked about this since they were little girls,” said Judy McFarland the girls’ mother. “We spent a lot of bonding time clothes shopping. There may have even been a little internal family feuding over the outfit selection too.”

Still, there were obstacles to overcome before this dream had a chance at becoming a reality. Jennifer, who was born hearing impaired and has a cochlear implant, was worried she would not be able to hear the questions accurately amid the white noise of a television studio. The family gathered the night before the taping to pray for good sound quality.

“When Steve read the first question to my sister I didn’t hear it and it was my turn to answer next,” recalled Jen. “I was really nervous, because everyone was laughing at the question and I had no idea what it was.” When they broke for the commercial, the family alerted the producers that Jen was struggling with the sound quality on stage and they were quick to come up with suggestions and solutions for getting her through the rest of taping. That helped put all of their minds at rest so they could focus on the rest of the game.

With all of the excitement and preparation for the journey to “The Family Feud”, the McFarland family says being on the game show surpassed all of their expectations.

“We met a lot of great families backstage from all over the country, so even though we were opponents we had a great time together and quickly became very friendly.” said Keith.

“After planning this for so long and spending so much time getting ready for it, we can’t believe it’s over,” says Kim. “Being on “The Family Feud” was our best family moment to date.”

The McFarland family’s journey on The Family Feud will air Monday, October 15th. In the New York market tune-in to WWOR Channel 9, at 6:30pm.