Merv Griffin Enterprises

Merv Griffin Enterprises was a production company founded in 1964 by none other than television personality/entrepreneur Merv Griffin. When it started out, it was simply called Merv Griffin Productions.

The 1980s and 1990s
In 1980, Griffin and Metromedia picked up syndie rights of Wheel of Fortune from NBC as well as the revival of the Jeopardy! television series.

The syndication rights to Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and The Merv Griffin Show were given to King World (now CBS Television Distribution) in 1982 to syndicate a nightly version of Wheel of Fortune. Until 1986, King World company also had the rights to syndicate The Merv Griffin Show, when the syndication rights were moved to Columbia Pictures Television for the final episodes and the first two pilots of Jeopardy! in 1983 and January 9, 1984. In 1984, Griffin expanded his company as Merv Griffin Enterprises. That same year, Jeopardy! also returned to television, but was syndicated nightly as well on September 10, 1984. On May 5, 1986, Griffin sold the company to The Coca-Cola Company (then-owner of Columbia Pictures Industries) for $250 million during his retirement. Griffin, however, still held the copyrights of the game shows. The company later became part of Coca-Cola Television on November 24, 1986, merged into Columbia Pictures Entertainment on December 21, 1987, 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 July 22, 1994; Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune were taken over by Columbia TriStar Television, while Griffin remained executive producer for both game shows until 2000. Griffin later founded independent production company Merv Griffin Entertainment, a division of The Griffin Group on May 13, 1996.

Shows Created/Produced

 * Wheel of Fortune
 * Jeopardy!
 * Monopoly
 * Headline Chasers
 * Joe Garagiola's Memory Game
 * Let's Play Post Office
 * One In a Million
 * Reach for the Stars
 * Word for Word (back when it was called Milbarn Productions)
 * Dance Fever (1979-1987 version)
 * Ruckus

Shows Based on Griffin's Formats

 * Jep!
 * Rock & Roll Jeopardy!
 * Sports Jeopardy!
 * Super Jeopardy!
 * Wheel 2000 (Also called Wheel of Fortune 2000)

Pilots

 * Shopper's Bazaar (original prototype of Wheel of Fortune)

Copyright Holders

 * Califon Productions, Inc. is the copyright holder for Wheel of Fortune.
 * Califon Enterprises, Inc., a subsidiary of Califon Productions, Inc., produced the 1978-1979 revival of Jeopardy!, known as The All-New Jeopardy!.
 * Anthony Productions, Inc. is the copyright holder for The Merv Griffin Show and Dance Fever.
 * Jeopardy Productions, Inc. is the copyright holder for the current revival of Jeopardy! and the ABC edition of Super Jeopardy!.
 * Line Chasers, Inc. is the copyright holder for Headline Chasers.
 * Fortune Productions is the copyright holder for Monopoly.

The Logo 1964 Present
The Merv Griffin logo was simply a griffin. A griffin is a Greek mythical creature with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. The 1993-1994 version is interesting, since it features the griffin with the Columbia Pictures clouds behind it.

Wheel of Fortune 1973 Present in 1983 Season 1
Wheel of Fortune Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 in Bob Goen 1989-1991 in 1987 Until 1991