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Barry-Enright Productions

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Barry-Enright Productions
Founded 1947
President Jack Barry, Dan Enright
Notable Works Twenty-One
Tic Tac Dough
Concentration
The Joker's Wild
Juvenile Jury

Barry-Enright Productions was a television company that made game and panel shows.

They began in cooperation with Friendly Productions creating the kids' game show Juvenile Jury as well as their most famous--and infamous--show, Twenty-One. It was in this show that they were grooming Charles Van Doren to be a reigning champion so he was fed answers and then-champion Herb Stempel was instructed to throw a game so Van Doren would win. A little girl on Juvenile Jury in 1953 told TV audiences she was told what to say. The company's Tic Tac Dough had a similar fate, as 16-year-old Kristen Falke deliberately lost a game as she was fed answers in advance and felt her victory would be tainted.

Barry-Enright created Concentration for NBC daytime in 1958. After Jack Barry and Dan Enright were virtually exiled from television after their role in the Quiz Show Scandals, NBC took over production of this show and it ran to 1973. (NBC also assumed production duties on Tic Tac Dough.)

Barry tested the waters of TV again in 1969 with a pilot for a game that in 1972 would become The Joker's Wild. CBS bought the show, and Barry was back in business. CBS had imposed a ban on giveaway shows in 1958 following the scandals and lifted it in 1972 under the provision that no contestant could exceed an imposed cap of $25,000 in winnings. The Joker's Wild was a hit for CBS (a bigger hit in syndication), and Jack Barry found his way into the hearts of TV audiences again. He and Enright learned a hard lesson from the Scandals, as their 70s and 80s show were scandal-free.

Barry died in 1984 with his boots on, as host of the syndicated Joker's Wild at the time.

Barry-Enright TV Shows

Show Network, run Notes
Juvenile Jury NBC, 1947-54; Syndicated, 1970-71, 1989-91; BET, 1983-84 BET edition as Nipsey Russell's Juvenile Jury
Life Begins at Eighty NBC, 1950; DuMont, 1952-55; ABC, 1956 Began on radio
Back That Fact ABC, 1953
Winky Dink and You CBS, 1953-57; Syndicated, 1969-73 Children's show
Twenty-One NBC, 1956-58 New show under different production company aired on NBC 2001
High Low NBC, 1956
Tic Tac Dough NBC, 1956-59; CBS, 1978; Syndicated, 1978-86, 1990-91 NBC assumes production, 1958; Billed as The New Tic Tac Dough briefly in 1978
You're On Your Own CBS, 1956-57
Concentration NBC, 1958-73 NBC assumes production, 1958; new series licensed to Jim Victory Television made 1973
Dough Re Mi NBC, 1958-60 NBC assumes production, 1958
Everybody's Talking ABC, 1967 Barry created show for Jerome Schnur Prods.
The Reel Game ABC, 1971 with Four-Star Productions
The Joker's Wild CBS, 1972-75; Syndicated, 1976-86, 1990-91 In association with CBS, 1972-75; in association with Kline & Friends, 1990-91
Hollywood's Talking CBS, 1973
Blank Check NBC, 1975
We've Got Your Number Proposed for Syndication, 1975 Unsold pilot
Double Cross Proposed for syndication, 1976 Unsold pilot
Break the Bank ABC, 1976; syndicated, 1967-77
Way Out Games CBS, 1976-77 Kids' Saturday morning game show; in association with MGM Television
Hollywood Connection Syndicated, 1977-78 In assocation with Golden West
Joker! Joker!! Joker!!! Syndicated, 1979-81 Children's version of The Joker's Wild
Play the Percentages Syndicated, 1980
Bullseye Syndicated, 1980-82
Hot Potato NBC, 1984
Bumper Stumpers USA cable, 1987-90 in association with Wink Martindale Productions and Global Television
Chain Letters ITV-Thames, 1987-95 For British TV; in association with Columbia/Tri-Star International
Pictionary Syndicated, 1989-90, 1997-98
Hold Everything! Syndicated, 1990-91
All About the Opposite Sex Syndicated, 1990