Post by WarioSajak on Dec 5, 2012 7:40:33 GMT -5
So last night, I decided to watch the CNBC Titans episode on Merv which had been sitting on my Netflix instant watch queue for something like a month. I kinda wish I hadn't -- for one thing, the program runs just 43 minutes when it should've been at least two hours.
Secondly, Merv's game show work is mostly glossed over, with mentions of Play Your Hunch, Word For Word, Jeopardy!, Wheel, Click, and Crosswords. None of these got any footage in either medium, but I'll get back to that in a bit...
Wherever there were still-shots used, they were almost always given this "popout" effect to look 3D and stylish and cool. It just comes across as bad, especially since there's so many of them.
There was some good stuff about Merv's early career, but once it got to his talk show that was all they really talked about until they got past 1986. Of the video footage shown during the special, almost all of it was from The Merv Griffin Show.
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And now back to Merv's game show work. In rough order...
* Play Your Hunch is mentioned only once. No mention is made of the fact Merv left the show, or what subsequently happened to it (Robert Q. Lewis became host, and it ended a year later).
* The failure of Word For Word's one-year run is noted, but not the fact that Merv bought the idea from Bill Derman, and in retaliation KTLA canned Derman's popular Beat The Odds.
* Reach For The Stars isn't mentioned at all, which is odd given that it was infamous for Merv's concept being completely misunderstood by his staff (he wanted a curtain with stars hung on it, they gave him a spaceship with stars hung out of portholes).
* The creation of Jeopardy! is mentioned, but not what it went through to get on the schedule (originally called What's The Question? until an NBC executive wanted "more jeopardies", it was originally meant to be a comedic game, Mort Werner was originally skeptical but was talked into it by Grant Tinker). Mention is also not made of the show's popularity, who its host was(?!), how it became popular, or anything regarding Lin Bolen and the 1973-75 period.
** On top of that, no mention is given to the 1978-79 series or the current revival.
* No mention is made of Monopoly either, despite the notability of taking three years to develop a daily series only to get 12 episodes and a lame host.
* As for Click, I'm 99% sure it was brought up solely because of Ryan Seacrest. Not even any publicity shots are used.
* Let's Play Post Office, One In A Million, Joe Garagiola's Memory Game, Headline Chasers, Ruckus, and Dance Fever are never mentioned at all. Sure, all but the last one ran a year or less, but Dance Fever was a very long-running series.
* Crosswords is mentioned with a generic logo animation shown. No mention is made of how it fell down after one season, the host, or anything else about it.
* And now for Wheel...it's barely even mentioned, despite being Merv's longest-running creation and enough history that there was a two-hour E! True Hollywood Story on it (and thanks to the video archives, someone with great editing prowess could re-edit it into at least three solid commercial-free hours).
** The few pictures that show up are publicity shots that I'm pretty sure were taken from Getty Images. Chuck is briefly mentioned (with a publicity shot I'm certain is from Scrabble based on his appearance), along with the host changeover (brief clips are shown of Pat at KNBC); Susan and Vanna appear in publicity shots, but aren't named or brought up.
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Near the very end, mention is vaguely made to a new network game show being done by Merv Griffin Entertainment. Unless I'm really out of it, that show had to be It's Worth What?, which only ran one season.
So in summary...if you want to learn about Merv, go ahead and watch. If you're just there for the game shows, pass.
Secondly, Merv's game show work is mostly glossed over, with mentions of Play Your Hunch, Word For Word, Jeopardy!, Wheel, Click, and Crosswords. None of these got any footage in either medium, but I'll get back to that in a bit...
Wherever there were still-shots used, they were almost always given this "popout" effect to look 3D and stylish and cool. It just comes across as bad, especially since there's so many of them.
There was some good stuff about Merv's early career, but once it got to his talk show that was all they really talked about until they got past 1986. Of the video footage shown during the special, almost all of it was from The Merv Griffin Show.
====
And now back to Merv's game show work. In rough order...
* Play Your Hunch is mentioned only once. No mention is made of the fact Merv left the show, or what subsequently happened to it (Robert Q. Lewis became host, and it ended a year later).
* The failure of Word For Word's one-year run is noted, but not the fact that Merv bought the idea from Bill Derman, and in retaliation KTLA canned Derman's popular Beat The Odds.
* Reach For The Stars isn't mentioned at all, which is odd given that it was infamous for Merv's concept being completely misunderstood by his staff (he wanted a curtain with stars hung on it, they gave him a spaceship with stars hung out of portholes).
* The creation of Jeopardy! is mentioned, but not what it went through to get on the schedule (originally called What's The Question? until an NBC executive wanted "more jeopardies", it was originally meant to be a comedic game, Mort Werner was originally skeptical but was talked into it by Grant Tinker). Mention is also not made of the show's popularity, who its host was(?!), how it became popular, or anything regarding Lin Bolen and the 1973-75 period.
** On top of that, no mention is given to the 1978-79 series or the current revival.
* No mention is made of Monopoly either, despite the notability of taking three years to develop a daily series only to get 12 episodes and a lame host.
* As for Click, I'm 99% sure it was brought up solely because of Ryan Seacrest. Not even any publicity shots are used.
* Let's Play Post Office, One In A Million, Joe Garagiola's Memory Game, Headline Chasers, Ruckus, and Dance Fever are never mentioned at all. Sure, all but the last one ran a year or less, but Dance Fever was a very long-running series.
* Crosswords is mentioned with a generic logo animation shown. No mention is made of how it fell down after one season, the host, or anything else about it.
* And now for Wheel...it's barely even mentioned, despite being Merv's longest-running creation and enough history that there was a two-hour E! True Hollywood Story on it (and thanks to the video archives, someone with great editing prowess could re-edit it into at least three solid commercial-free hours).
** The few pictures that show up are publicity shots that I'm pretty sure were taken from Getty Images. Chuck is briefly mentioned (with a publicity shot I'm certain is from Scrabble based on his appearance), along with the host changeover (brief clips are shown of Pat at KNBC); Susan and Vanna appear in publicity shots, but aren't named or brought up.
====
Near the very end, mention is vaguely made to a new network game show being done by Merv Griffin Entertainment. Unless I'm really out of it, that show had to be It's Worth What?, which only ran one season.
So in summary...if you want to learn about Merv, go ahead and watch. If you're just there for the game shows, pass.