Merv Griffin's creation 'Jeopardy!' was launched after the big quiz show scandals of the 1950s. At the time he was trying to get a game show on the air but none of the networks would commit after the fiascos of the 1950s. So Griffin said that his wife suggested this "Why don't you do a show where you give the contestants the answers?" His response was "How do you think all those people just got sent to jail?"
Nonetheless, it was created and continues successfully to this day and will probably outlast Griffin who is now 80 years old.
Like I always tell those in any area of life searching for success, you never know where inspiration for your ideas will come from. This is the first time I heard that Griffin's wife had the initial idea for Jeopardy.
Of course the game shows have been a huge chunk of his fortune (he sold Merv Griffin Enterprises, which produces them, to Coca-Cola in 1986 for $250 million).
Another little tip to keep in mind with your creations: You know the little "Jeopardy!" theme song? That alone has provided more than $80 million in revenue for Griffin. Make sure you keep the royalties and license things out.
Charleston.net also says that "it was the talk shows he hosted from 1962 to 1986, 7,000 of them, with 25,000 guests that made him a fixture in American living rooms."
Looking for a talk show format to operate in, Griffin finally landed one on NBC but lost it because he radically outperformed a newcomer on "The Tonight Show," called Johnny Carson.
Griffin says "I could get all the guests I wanted, and he couldn't, He'd never had a show before where he talked with celebrities, he'd been doing quiz shows, and they all knew me.
"Finally the NBC guys came to me and said look, we love your show, but we get $2,500 for a commercial on your show and $12,000 for a commercial on 'The Tonight Show.' We've got to protect 'The Tonight Show."
"Carson wouldn't use what the (show) bookers call 'heavy furniture,' " he explains. "Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, all the writers I used to get. Carson's attitude was, 'We're coming on the air right out of the news, everything is always horrible, keep it light.' But I loved to have all those guys on my show. At first, I'd hold them until the last 20 minutes. But after a while, you realize that's what people want."
Giffin is offering a new three-DVD set which contains 8 1/2 hours of interviews he did with presidents, MLK, Rose Kennedy and a number of interesting celebrities. It's called "The Merv Griffin Show, 40 of the Most Interesting People of Our Time." You can get it anywhere that sells DVDs.
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