Richard S. Kline
Richard S. Kline is an American television producer and director whose most notable work was in game shows.[1] He directed and produced programs for Barry & Enright Productions until 1984, after which he formed his own production company, Kline & Friends (not to be confused with the actor Richard Kline of Three's Company fame).
Jack Barry Productions
One of Richard S. Kline's early shows where he worked as a director was on Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild on CBS, starting in 1972. He also served as an associate producer, and did both jobs until the series ended in 1975.
Barry & Enright Productions
After Jack Barry and Dan Enright revived their partnership, Kline was assigned to direct a new series for them called Break the Bank, which only lasted 15 weeks on ABC in the Spring of 1976 despite being the second-highest rated daytime game show for the '75-'76 season. However, Break the Bank went into syndication that Fall, but faded after one season.
Kline also directed syndicated revivals of both The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough (the latter was originally revived for CBS' daytime schedule in the Summer of 1978 just before entering syndication that Fall), and a brand new B&E creation, Bullseye, in 1980, also in syndication. In 1984, he directed another new creation for B&E: Hot Potato, which ran 23 weeks on NBC.
Jack Barry's death and the formation of Kline and Friends
Jack Barry died in May 1984, not too long after completing production of the 1983-84 season of Joker. Upon his death, Dan Enright immediately succeeded his longtime producing partner. Not long after, Kline and some B&E staff members left and formed Kline and Friends.
With Kline running his own company, Break the Bank (completely unrelated to the earlier game) premiered in the Fall of 1985, with Gene Rayburn as host. By year's end, Rayburn was let go and replaced by Joe Farago. When it ended, he tried again with Strike it Rich (unrelated to the 1950s game show) in the fall of 1986, with Joe Garagiola as host.
After that show ended, he teamed up with Bert Convy, Burt Reynolds, and Buena Vista Television to produce Win, Lose or Draw beginning in 1987. This series had concurrent runs on both NBC and in syndication, with Vicki Lawrence hosting the network version and Convy hosting the syndicated series. Win, Lose or Draw ended its run in 1989 on NBC and in 1990 in syndication. Convy left the syndicated series at the beginning of its final season to preside over another co-production with Kline, 3rd Degree, and Robb Weller took over for him at Win, Lose or Draw.
In 1990, Kline, along with Jack Barry's two sons Jon C. Barry and Douglas C. Barry, put together another revival of The Joker's Wild, which was hosted by Pat Finn.
In 1994, shortly after Enright's death, Kline also produced and directed the children's game show, Masters of the Maze, hosted by J. D. Roth, before Mario Lopez hosted the following season. The show was based on TimeBomb, but he quickly changed it.
In the late 1990s, Kline produced a television version of the board game Pictionary, hosted by Alan Thicke, which used a nearly identical format to that of Win, Lose or Draw a decade earlier. This was Kline and Friends' most recent game show to date.
References
- ↑ Chance, Norman (2011-01-07). Who Was Who on TV. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 476–. ISBN 978-1-4568-2454-9. Retrieved 2 August 2011.