Merv Griffin Entertainment

Background
After Columbia TriStar Television (now "Sony Pictures Television") folded Merv Griffin Enterprises and took over the shows from Merv's former company on July 7, 1994, Merv Griffin Entertainment was formed on May 13, 1996 by Merv Griffin as his new production company initially known as "Merv Griffin Productions", a subsidiary of The Griffin Group. From 2005-2008, Merv Griffin joined forces with Yani-Brune Entertainment and was in charge of Griffin's television division, especially after Griffin died of prostate cancer on August 12, 2007. Merv Griffin Entertainment was under presidency of his son, Tony Griffin. The studio has gone dormant since Million Dollar Mind Game (a short-lived American counterpart of Что? Где? Когда? (''What? Where? When?'') was cancelled in November 2011.

1st Logo (September 6, 1997-1998)
Nicknames: "The Griffin", "The Silver Griffin", "CGI Griffin", "The Zooming Out Griffin", "Opinicus Griffin", "Silver Opinicus Griffin"

Logo: On a lavender background, we see a shadow of the Opinicus griffin zooming out from the bottom-left corner and later reveal itself. This silver griffin zooms onto a rounded blue rectangle. Underneath the griffin says "MERV GRIFFIN PRODUCTIONS" and copyright year stamp.

Trivia: This logo was designed as a statue by Skylight Studios in collaboration with Edon Corporation of Pennsylvania that was commissioned by Mr. Griffin himself to use in his hotel lobbies. It has most of the design elements of the 1973 and 1983 Merv Griffin Enterprises logos.

FX/SFX: The zooming out of the griffin.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct. It was seen on the first season of the 1997 game show Click.

Editor's Note: A classy update to the older Griffin logos.

2nd Logo (1998-2003)
Nicknames: "The Griffin II", "Silver Griffin in Space", "Sparkling Silver Griffin", "Silver Griffin II", "Opinicus Griffin II", "Silver Opinicus Griffin II"

Logo: On a space background filled with stars and mixtures of colors of yellow, green, blue, light blue, and magenta, we see two planets; one on the lower left hand corner and one on the upper right hand corner flying out. We later see another planet flying from left fast and a star from the right side flying to the middle, where other stars from each direction join the star in the middle to form a light with a laser whoosh-like sound effect. The light later forms a sparkling silver griffin, where we later see the name "MERV GRIFFIN ENTERTAINMENT" zoom out from screen bottom in Times New Roman font placing itself underneath the griffin.

Opening Variant: There is an opening variant of this logo seen on theatrical movies by this company, but it's a still image centered on top of a black background.

FX/SFX: The flying of the planets, the stars gathering, the griffin sparkling. Except for the opening variant, which is a still logo that fades in and fades out.

Music/Sounds:


 * 1998-2000: A jazzy tune.
 * 2000-2003: A majestic theme played by brass horns with the intro almost resembling to the 20th Century Fox fanfare. A synthesized whoosh can also be heard and the timpani drum is heard at the end. There is also a later variant in which, the music is shortened down to seven notes and excludes the timpani drum at the end.

Availability: Extinct. It was last seen in 2003 on Dance Fever and Inside the Osmonds on ABC Family (now Freeform). Also spotted on African-British chef Ainsley Harriott's ultra short-lived talk show The Ainsley Harriott Show in 1999 and season 2 of Click. The opening variant is rare and is seen on the Griffin theatrical film Rain.

Editor's Note: It's an excellent logo, expanding upon the concept of the previous logo with some neat animation.

3rd Logo (2006-May 16, 2008)
Nicknames: "The Griffin III", "The CGI Blinking Silver Griffin", "Silver Griffin III", "Opinicus Griffin III", " Silver Opinicus Griffin III"

Logo: On a sapphire blue background, a modified Opinicus griffin from the second logo of Merv Griffin Productions and first logos of Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment, comes from the bottom of the screen and places itself to the middle with "MERV GRIFFIN" spelling itself one-by one followed by "ENTERTAINMENT" underneath "MERV GRIFFIN" (all in the same font as the Yani-Brune logo) following it. The text places itself below the griffin. The griffin later blinks his eye once (an obvious nod to the 1983 logo) and we see light sparkles on the letters "T", "E", "I", "E", and "T".

FX/SFX: The unfolding griffin, the name spelling, the griffin blinking its eye.

Music/Sounds: A soothing seven note synthesizer theme that almost sounds like the Lorimar-Telepictures chimes, the NBC jingle, and the 1995 song "No More 'I Love You's" by Annie Lennox as the light sparkles three times. Composed by Merv Griffin himself.

Availability: It's currently seen on reruns of Merv Griffin's Crosswords on Retro TV. It was also seen on Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead and Lisa Williams: Voices from the Other Side on Lifetime.

Editor's Note: Another nice update of the classic griffin design, and the theme is rather soothing. The winking is a nice homage to the 1983 logo in particular, although it also might catch some viewers off guard just as it did back then.

4th Logo (2010-2011)


Nicknames: "The Griffin IV", "Red Griffin", "Silhouette Red Griffin"

Logo: The background becomes red and the logo slides left and right from the line, which cuts between "MERV" and "GRIFFIN" and also separated a silhouette griffin's head and wing, as they appear above the name. The word "E N T E R T A I N M E N T" is white and aligned to the right. The logo shines and zooms out slowly.

FX/SFX: The slide.

Music/Sounds: A soft xylophone theme or the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct. It was seen on the game shows It's Worth What? and Million Dollar Mind Game (a short-lived American counterpart of Что? Где? Когда? (''What? Where? When?). It may have also been seen on The Mentor''.

Editor's Note: The abstract design of this logo is a big departure from all previous Griffin logos, and is widely considered to be plain and poorly designed.