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thatcrazycajunMerv Griffin, host of the 23-year-running archetypal daytime talk show bearing his name (whose template would be used to great success later on by Mike Douglas and Rosie O'Donnell, among others) and creator of some of the medium's most popular and enduring game shows, has died. Between his talk show and games such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, he almost single-handedly remade the face of daytime television. His death occurred at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, of complications from prostate cancer. He was 82. Coming on the heels of Tom Snyder's death last week, Griffin's passing marks another loss of a television industry pioneer.
He was also apparently a closeted homosexual, despite having married a woman and sired a son with her (and my heart goes out to them, as well as the two grandchildren, in their loss). He was sued for "palimony" by two men, including the host of his 1970s dance-competition show Dance Fever, Deney Terrio; both suits were dismissed. It is regrettable that he never felt able to come out publicly and lend his name to the efforts for LGBT equality under the law and against anti-gay violence, but in fairness, it should be noted that he was a product of his times. (There was a distinct irony—not by any means unnoticed in certain quarters—in Griffin's being asked to carry the coffin of former US President Ronald Reagan as a pallbearer a few years back, given Reagan's association with the Republican Party and its religious-right faction.)
I have many fond memories of the original Jeopardy! on NBC, with the late Art Fleming as host and Don Pardo as announcer. (Pardo went on to announce for Saturday Night Live at least in part due to his success as the distinctive voice of Jeopardy!) And it remains my fave TV game, even in its current Alex Trebek-hosted incarnation. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I also actually watched Dance Fever religiously, teenage disco-bunny that I was, every Saturday night after the late news. So Mr. Griffin had a profound impact on my life, even though we never met.
He was also apparently a closeted homosexual, despite having married a woman and sired a son with her (and my heart goes out to them, as well as the two grandchildren, in their loss). He was sued for "palimony" by two men, including the host of his 1970s dance-competition show Dance Fever, Deney Terrio; both suits were dismissed. It is regrettable that he never felt able to come out publicly and lend his name to the efforts for LGBT equality under the law and against anti-gay violence, but in fairness, it should be noted that he was a product of his times. (There was a distinct irony—not by any means unnoticed in certain quarters—in Griffin's being asked to carry the coffin of former US President Ronald Reagan as a pallbearer a few years back, given Reagan's association with the Republican Party and its religious-right faction.)
I have many fond memories of the original Jeopardy! on NBC, with the late Art Fleming as host and Don Pardo as announcer. (Pardo went on to announce for Saturday Night Live at least in part due to his success as the distinctive voice of Jeopardy!) And it remains my fave TV game, even in its current Alex Trebek-hosted incarnation. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I also actually watched Dance Fever religiously, teenage disco-bunny that I was, every Saturday night after the late news. So Mr. Griffin had a profound impact on my life, even though we never met.
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Merv Griffin
Date: 2007-08-12 11:36 pm (UTC)My baby's got such a cute little walk
Such a cute little wiggle and a swing
That when she goes for a stroll
The drivers lose control
It's become such a dangerous thing --
that she's been
Banned in Boston, condemned in Cleveland
And banished from Baltimore
She is now taboo
in Philly and St. Lou
and Chicago doesn't dig her any more.
I have no idea if Griffin wrote it -- never saw a copy of the record. I was surprised to hear that name (which I'd never heard before the record) as a major TV player, not that long afterwards and ever since. In any event, my sympathies to his heirs, friends and fans for their loss.
Nate