Richard S. Kline

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This article is about the TV game show producer and director. For the American actor, see Richard Kline.

Richard S. Kline directed and produced many game shows through the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Jack Barry/Dan 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 syndcation 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.

[edit] 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, a new version of Break the Bank premiered in the Fall of 1985, with Gene Rayburn as host with an entirely different format being used. By year's end, Rayburn was let go and replaced by Joe Farago. (See the 1985 section of the Break the Bank article for more information.)

After that show ended, he teamed up with Bert Convy and Burt Reynolds to produce Win, Lose or Draw. Vicki Lawrence would host the NBC daytime version while Convy handled the nighttime duties in syndication. Both Lawrence and Convy hosted from 1987 to 1989. (GSN reran the first year of the nighttime version for a couple of years starting in 2002.)

In 1990, Kline, along with Jack Barry's two sons, put together another revival of The Joker's Wild, albeit with a completely different format in the first half of the season. A revised "classic" format was instituted near the end of the season.

In 1994, just a couple of years after Enright's death, Kline also produced and directed the short-lived kids game show, Masters of the Maze, hosted by game show veteran, future reality show host and producer, J. D. Roth, before ex-teen actor Mario Lopez, for two seasons.

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 one of Kline and Friends' most recent game shows to have been produced.