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Merv Griffin Enterprises
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Merv Griffin Enterprises was a television production company founded by Merv Griffin in 1964. Its productions included the game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, both created by Griffin.
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The company was first established as Merv Griffin Productions in 1964 and Griffin's first production was Jeopardy! In 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to television. In the early 1970s, he created the game show called Shopper's Bazaar, which was later changed to the famous name Wheel of Fortune in 1975 after Jeopardy! was cancelled. Griffin revived Jeopardy! as The All New Jeopardy! in 1978, though it was proven to be unsuccessful.
In the 1980s, Griffin expanded his company as Merv Griffin Enterprises. Shortly after, the company joined forces with King World (now CBS Television Distribution) to syndicate a nightly version of Wheel of Fortune. That same year, Jeopardy! also returned to television in 1983, but was syndicated nightly in 1984. In 1986 Griffin sold the company to The Coca-Cola Company (then-owner of Columbia Pictures Industries) for $250 million during his retirement and after finding out that this company had financial difficulties. Griffin however, still held the copyrights of the game shows. The company later merged into Columbia Pictures on December 21, 1987, and was sold to Sony Corporation along with CPE's other units on November 7, 1989.
Griffin later founded Merv Griffin Entertainment in December 1995.
- The Merv Griffin Show (1962-1963; 1965-1986)
- Jeopardy! (1964-1975, 1983-current; production responsibilities assumed in 1995 by Columbia TriStar Television and later Sony Pictures Television; distributed in syndication since 1984 by King World, now CBS Television Distribution)
- Reach for the Stars (1967)
- Memory Game (1971)
- Wheel of Fortune (1975-current; production responsibilities assumed in 1995 by Columbia TriStar Television and later Sony Pictures Television; nighttime version distributed since 1983 by King World, now CBS Television Distribution)
- The All New Jeopardy! (1978)
- Dance Fever (1979-1987; co-production with 20th Century Fox Television)
- Headline Chasers (1985)
- Monopoly (1990)
- Super Jeopardy! (1990)
- Ruckus (1991)