At age 4, Randy Douthit saw a television for the first time in his grandparents’ house, and he immediately knew there was something special in him. He knew that once he becomes of age, he will be the one putting on the shows. When Douthit was 9 years old, he was already the producer of “variety show” and was riding around the neighborhood to promote it. At 23, his career was just starting, and he became the director at Portland’s KGW. More success would follow when Douthit directed a children’s program, “How Come” that went on to win the Peabody Award.
Later, Douthit helmed Seattle Today, which was a daily morning talk show. His hard work saw the show’s audience grow tenfold. Douthit also worked at CNN when the network was very much in its infancy. Here, he became Crossfire’s executive producer and director. The show was doing well and was highly rated on the network. Randy Douthit was also the producer of “Capital Gang”, which was a weekly news panel program. Both Capital Gang and Crossfire were winners of the CableAce Awards. In 1985, Douthit was the executive producer and director of primetime Larry King Live, which went on to win the Peabody Award.
Douthit moved from CNN to join Quincy Jones Entertainment, where he actively participated in the development of “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. Douthit has worked on innumerable TV shows and most, if not all, have been successful in one way or another. According to him, one of the shows he is proudest of is Judge Judy, which has won the Emmy Award on three different occasions. He was the executive producer and director of “Judge Judy” for a quarter of a century. Another show Douthit is proud of is “Judy Justice” whose initial episodes got 25 million viewing hours.
Douthit loves what he does so much that even the pandemic could not ruin it for him. He admits that the challenges that came with the pandemic were daunting. But again, his team and him had to be creative and aggressive at the same time to ensure the work is done. Everyone had to be vaccinated and checked, which added hours involved in coming up with the show. However, Douthit and his team still managed to do an outstanding job.