 The company's logo from 1993–1994 | |
| Formerly |
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|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Television Production |
| Founded | March 7, 1963 |
| Founder | Merv Griffin |
| Defunct | June 4, 1994 |
| Fate | Folded into Columbia TriStar Television |
| Successors |
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| Headquarters | 10202 West Washington Boulevard, , |
| Owner |
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| Parent |
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| Subsidiaries |
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Merv Griffin Enterprises was an American television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in operation from March 7, 1963, to June 4, 1994.
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! as Griffin's first production under the MGP name on March 30, 1964. In May 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to television. Griffin also created the game show Shopper's Bazaar, which changed its name to Wheel of Fortune 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. [1]
In 1982, the company joined forces with King World (now CBS Media Ventures) to syndicate a nightly version of Wheel of Fortune . 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, Jeopardy! also returned to television on September 10. On May 5, 1986, Griffin sold the company to The Coca-Cola Company (then-owner of Columbia Pictures Industries) for $250 million during his semi-retirement. [2] TAV, however, was not included in the deal. The company later became part of Columbia Pictures Entertainment on December 21, 1987, [3] and was sold to Sony Corporation along with CPE's other companies on November 8, 1989.
Merv Griffin Enterprises was folded into Columbia TriStar Television (now Sony Pictures Television) 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. [4] [5] Griffin later founded Merv Griffin Entertainment on May 13, 1996. [6]
One of the most prolific employees was Don Pardo. The others were Charlie O'Donnell, Jack Clark, John Harlan, M. G. Kelly, and Johnny Gilbert, who were also announcers on Griffin shows. Most of the above announcers also worked for Bob Stewart Productions. Future executive producer of Jeopardy! , Michael Davies, worked as a development associate at the company during the early 1990s. [7] Another employee was director Dick Carson, who also served as director for The Tonight Show for his brother Johnny Carson. [8]
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., commonly known as Columbia Pictures or simply Columbia, is an American film production and distribution company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. 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 1962 to 1986, Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show. Griffin also created the game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune through his own production companies, Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment.
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran on NBC from 1962 to 1963; in first-run syndication from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1972 to 1986; and on CBS from 1969 to 1972.
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is a corporate sibling of fellow Sony studio, Columbia Pictures.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment through multiple platforms. Through an intermediate holding company called Sony Film Holding Inc., it is operated as a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., which is itself a subsidiary of the multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.
Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. 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 name of Pioneer Telefilms, both part of Sony Pictures Entertainment and the third company to use the Columbia and TriStar names together.
Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. 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 Gems (SG) and the third name of Pioneer Telefilms. For 26 years, the company was active from 1974 until New Year's Day 2001, when it was folded into Columbia TriStar Television, a merger between Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television. A separate entity of CPT continues to exist on paper as an intellectual property holder, and under the moniker "CPT Holdings" to hold the copyright for the TV show The Young and the Restless, as well as old incarnations from the company's television library such as What's Happening!!
Charles John O'Donnell was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows. Among them, he was best known for Wheel of Fortune, where he worked from 1975 to 1980, and again from 1989 until his death. O'Donnell was also known for announcing American Bandstand.
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States founded by Charles King (1912–72) that was active from 1964 to 2007.
ELP Communications was an American television production company that originally began in 1974.
Coca-Cola Telecommunications (CCT) was a short-lived first-run syndication unit of Columbia Pictures Television created on November 4, 1986, that was a merger between CPT's first-run syndication division and The Television Program Source. The Television Program Source was a joint-venture between Alan Bennett, former King World president Robert King, and CPT that was founded on October 15, 1984.
Headline Chasers is an American game show that ran daily in syndication 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 Johnny Gilbert serving as announcer. It was produced by Wink Martindale Enterprises and Merv Griffin Enterprises with King World Productions, Griffin's partner for his other syndicated game show offerings, as distributor. Headline Chasers was recorded at TAV Celebrity Theater in Hollywood, the same studio which housed The Merv Griffin Show.
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, founded on September 26, 2006 by CBS Corporation from a merger of CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with trivia clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. The show has experienced a long life in several incarnations over the course of nearly a half-century, spending more than 12 years as a daytime network program and having currently run in syndication for 39 seasons. It has also gained a worldwide following with a multitude of international adaptations.
Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures. It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming, the successor to Paramount Television Domestic Distribution, Paramount Television Sales, and Desilu Sales.
Roger Monroe King was an American television and media executive for King World Productions and CBS.
Stewart Television was an American game show production company formed by Bob Stewart in 1964 originally based in New York City.
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983.
Jeopardy! is an American television 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 general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.