After a short run as a daytime show on
NBC from October 1, 1962, to March 29, 1963,
Merv Griffin launched a syndicated version of his talk show produced by
Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W), which made its debut on May 10, 1965. Intended as a nighttime companion to
The Mike Douglas Show and succeeding
Steve Allen and
Regis Philbin in the time slot, this version of the Griffin program aired in multiple time slots throughout North America (many stations ran it in the daytime, and other non-NBC affiliates broadcast it opposite
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson). Stations had the option of carrying either a sixty–minute or a ninety–minute version. Griffin's announcer-sidekick was the veteran British character actor
Arthur Treacher, who had been his mentor. After reading off the list of guests for that evening's show, Treacher would introduce Griffin with the phrase: "...and now, here's the dear boy himself, Meeeer-vyn!" Seeing his strong ratings,
CBS offered him a network series opposite the
Tonight Show, and his program debuted there on August 18, 1969, with his debut guest lineup consisting of
Hedy Lamarr,
Ted Sorensen,
Leslie Uggams,
Moms Mabley, and
Woody Allen. Although the series did well enough to quickly force the cancellation of another Carson competitor,
ABC's
The Joey Bishop Show, it was unable to make much of a dent in Carson's ratings. Furthermore, the network was uncomfortable with the guests Griffin wanted, who often spoke out against the
Vietnam War and on other taboo topics. When
political activist Abbie Hoffman was Griffin's guest in April 1970, CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his trademark
American flag pattern shirt, even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, uncensored, and
Pat Boone appeared in an automobile commercial on that very broadcast wearing a similar flag-motif shirt. That same year, Griffin relocated his show from New York's
Cort Theatre to CBS
Television City in
Los Angeles, without sidekick Arthur Treacher, who told him "at my age, I don't want to move, especially to someplace that shakes!". From that point on, Griffin would do the announcing himself, and walk on stage with the phrase: "And now..., here I come!" However, Griffin's show continued to rank in second place behind Carson, even after the move. By late summer 1971, sensing that his time at CBS was ending, Griffin sought to exit his contract with the network early. CBS would soon agree, and on December 6, 1971, both Griffin and the network announced they were going their separate ways; CBS would replace Griffin with
The CBS Late Movie. The following day, Griffin signed a contract with
Metromedia and its production arm, Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC) to continue his program in syndication. The last edition of
The Merv Griffin Show on CBS aired February 11, 1972. His new MPC-distributed show began four weeks later, on March 13, 1972, and returned Griffin to late afternoon and late–night time slots. Metromedia also gave Griffin prime time clearances on the company's group of
independent stations, which included outlets in
New York,
Los Angeles,
Minneapolis–Saint Paul,
Cincinnati and
Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1981,
The Merv Griffin Show was cut back to one hour in order to accommodate stations who preferred that length over the 90-minute version.
King World Productions (now
CBS Media Ventures) took over syndication of the program in 1984; King World was Griffin's syndication partner for
Wheel of Fortune and was about to relaunch his other game show
Jeopardy! (Metromedia had briefly syndicated the original
Jeopardy! a decade prior and would initially provide the studio for the revival). Metromedia's independent stations continued to carry
The Merv Griffin Show until they were sold in early 1986 to
News Corporation and
20th Century Fox, who used the stations as the nucleus of the
Fox Broadcasting Company. As Fox was already setting up its own late-night talk show,
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, the former Metromedia stations dropped the show soon thereafter. The show was canceled altogether later that year, and aired its final episode on September 5, 1986. ==Overview==