Merv Griffin Enterprises was an American television production company founded by

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...

, in business for 31 years from March 1963 to July 1994.

History

The company was first established as Milbarn Productions on March 7, 1963, and later as Merv Griffin Productions on March 5, 1964. Griffin's first production under the Milbarn name was ''Word for Word''. Griffin's second game show was ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' as Griffin's first production under the MGP name on March 30, 1964. In May 1965, his talk show ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 a ...

'' returned to television. Griffin also created the game show ''Shopper's Bazaar'', which changed its name to ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

'' on January 6, 1975 after ''Jeopardy!'' was canceled on January 3, 1975. Griffin revived ''Jeopardy!'' as '' The All-New Jeopardy!'' on October 2, 1978, though it was proven to be unsuccessful. Merv Griffin Productions also owned the post-production studio Trans-American Video (TAV) that was founded on June 29, 1981. In 1982, the company joined forces with

King World King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment, King World Enterprises, or simply King World) was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States independently established in 1964 until acq ...

(now

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glo ...

) to syndicate a nightly version of ''

''. The company also had the rights to syndicate ''The Merv Griffin Show''. KW also distributed the first two pilots of ''Jeopardy!'' in 1983 and January 9, 1984. In 1984, Griffin expanded his company as Merv Griffin Enterprises and during the same year, ''

'' also returned to television on September 10. On May 5, 1986, Griffin sold the company to

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

(then-owner of

Columbia Pictures Industries Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Major film studios, Big Five stud ...

) for $250 million during his semi-retirement. TAV however, was not included in the deal. The company later became part of Columbia Pictures Entertainment on December 21, 1987, and was sold to

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Corporation along with CPE's other companies on November 8, 1989. Merv Griffin Enterprises was folded into

Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fourth ...

(now

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

) on June 4, 1994. ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel of Fortune'' were taken over by CTT starting in September of that year, while Griffin remained executive producer for both game shows until 2000. Griffin later founded

Merv Griffin Entertainment Merv Griffin Entertainment is an American production company founded by American media mogul Merv Griffin on May 13, 1996. It is part of The Griffin Group. Its productions include revivals of recent franchises, such as ''Dance Fever'', revived in ...

on May 13, 1996."Business Profiles / New York
MERV GRIFFIN ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
businessprofiles.com, Retrieved on February 10, 2013

Employees

One of the most prolific employees was

Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...

. The others were Charlie O'Donnell, Jack Clark and

Johnny Gilbert John Lewis Gilbert III (born July 13, 1928) is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various e ...

, who were announcers on Griffin shows. All of the above announcers also worked for Bob Stewart Productions.

Television programs

* ''

'' (1962–1963; 1965–1986) * ''Word for Word'' (1963–1964) * ''

'' (1964–1975, 1983 pilot, 1984 pilot, 1984–present; production responsibilities assumed in 1994 by

in 2002, and Sony Pictures Television Studios in 2020; distributed in syndication since September 10, 1984 by

, now

) * ''

Let's Play Post Office {{No footnotes, date=March 2015 ''Let's Play Post Office'' is an American game show which aired on NBC from September 27, 1965 to July 1, 1966. Don Morrow was the host, with Bill Wendell and Wayne Howell as announcers. Paul Taubman, who had previo ...

'' (1965–1966) * '' Reach for the Stars'' (1967) * ''One in a Million'' (1967) * ''

Memory Game ''Memory Game'' (sometimes referred to as ''Joe Garagiola's Memory Game'') was an American television game show that aired on NBC. The series – hosted by Joe Garagiola – ran from February 15 to July 30, 1971. The show's creator and pac ...

'' (1971) * ''

'' (1975–1991, daytime version; 1983–present, nighttime version; production responsibilities assumed in 1994 by

in 2002, and Sony Pictures Television Studios in 2020; nighttime version distributed since September 19, 1983 by King World, now CBS Media Ventures) * '' The All New Jeopardy!'' (1978-1979) * ''

Dance Fever ''Dance Fever'' is an American musical variety television series that aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 to September 1987. The series was technically created by Merv Griffin but his agent Murray Schwartz actually conceived the idea o ...

'' (1979–1987; co-production and distributed by

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

) * ''

Headline Chasers ''Headline Chasers'' is a syndicated game show that ran daily from September 9, 1985 to May 23, 1986, with reruns airing until September 5. The series was hosted by Wink Martindale, who also created the series and was its executive producer, with J ...

'' (1985-1986; co-production with Wink Martindale Enterprises and Distributed by King World) * ''Winfall'' (1988; unsold pilot for CBS hosted by

Clint Holmes Clint Holmes (born 9 May 1946) is a British-born singer-songwriter and Las Vegas entertainer, and TV announcer. Bio He was born in Bournemouth, England, the son of an African-American jazz musician and an English opera singer. He was raised in ...

) * ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

'' (1990; co-produced by King World) * '' Super Jeopardy!'' (1990; co-produced by King World) * '' Ruckus'' (1991; co-produced in association with

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...

)

References

{{Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Entertainment Television production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1964 Mass media companies disestablished in 1994