This feels like a terrible reason to start a thread, but I just read somewhere that Merv Griffin is very ill. The trifecta of his show and those of Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore were the holy trinity of my daytime TV watching after school when I was young.

Where else would I have learned of Zsa Zsa Gabor? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, Mrs. Miller?

Anybody else remember this show?

The first thing I thought when I saw the thread was "Oh no, Merv's dead?!" I saw in EW a couple of weeks ago that he was ill again and it mademe very sad. My grandmother loved his shows and I too blame it for my extensive knowledge of all things Gabor.

I really liked his friendship with Eva, it seemed like they just really sincerely enjoyed each other's company so much.

Mrs. Miller! And Jack what's his name, with the trumpet...

I used to watch it on occasion - but only when I liked the guest. My favorite was Dinah Shore, followed by Mike Douglas (who seemed to get the 'hipper' guests). They just seemed friendlier somehow. Merv seemed to get the older and more established guests.

That would be Jack Sheldon. Hellava musician, and for extra triva points, the vocalist on many of the Schoolhouse Rock pieces ("Conjuction Junction" & "I'm Just a Bill")

A very cool cat !

Oh Merv, please get well soon, dear friend. Yes, I watched his show for many years. Mrs. Miller was a sweetie and I remember Merv paid for her to have a nice funeral. I was living in Las Vegas during most of his show years and I got to know Totie Fields both in person and via his show. I hope they play the wonderful show he did as a tribute to Totie upon her death. He showed old clips of her in her comedy heyday and all the fun they had together. I know Rosie O has always wanted to do a movie about Totie and so I hope she has this tribute show in her collection.

I always thought I was just a bit odd but in one case Merv proved me right and he agreed with me. Neither of us can stand the flimsy tiny washcloths that hotels provide. He likes a big, thick washcloth so he brings his own and when he had all his hotels he made sure that they all provided big ones!

Does anyone remember when his sidekick on the show was Arthur Treacher? Ah, what golden days of daytime TV.

I loved the Merv Griffin show back in the day. Back then people seemed to have actual conversations. He would really mix up his guests. It wasn't just someone's sixth appearance saying the same things about a movie I'm already bored with even before it has come out.

I have a bit a Merv triva, at least according to a story my mother told. Merv, back in the fourties, sang at a bowling alley in San Mateo, Ca. He was booked to sing at my mom's (1st) wedding. He ended up canceling because just before her wedding he got signed by the Freddy Martin orchestra, a very good gig back then. After that, I don't think he booked anymore weddings!

I loved Totie Feilds. Its a shame she is not really remembered anymore.

Merv's show is where I first saw Monty Rock the Third. Such a character!

People would just be guests on his show, no agenda to sell a movie or record. There were exceptions, Charro and her grandfather looking husband Xavier Cogart who was trying to sell her a career was a guest many times.

Arthur Treacher looked as if he had smelled bad fish while he was a side kick to Merv. Maybe it was his fishsticks he was smelling after all.

God, Totie Fields! She's one of the first female comics I remember. She's due for a biopic.

I read somewhere that his one of the few talk shows to talk about 'issues' eg, the Vietnam War, but I don't really remember that. I DO remember Charo. Merv was a virtual waiting room for Love Boat and Fantasy Island guest shots, wasn't he?

I thought Merv Griffin always had a good mix of people on his show, and it was a nice change of pace during the day from soap operas. He had some good people- John Lennon and Yoko Ono- and the familiar show biz folks, like Charo, Jaye P. Morgan, and the like. Merv Griffin is one smart man in the entertainment industry- didn't he come up with the concept for Jeopardy?

Totie Fields was great - she was one of the guests I'd be sure to tune in for. I remember that she even made jokes about the amputation of her leg. She wrote a "diet" book that was pretty funny, iirc.


That's true. On Martha, Martha Stewart showed a clip of her and Charo when they were both on The Merv Griffin Show.

Sheldon! That was it! Thanks, kib.

Totie Fields was fantastic. She used to do the rounds of all the shows. I remember her on the Mike Douglas show, too.

Remember Lonnie Shore? He was a comedian Merv used to have on frequently.

If I'm not mistaken, he also wrote the "Thinking Music" for Jeopardy! - the song they play during Final Jeopardy.

I believe Merv also created Wheel of Fortune. I recall hearing him talk about how when he and his sister were younger they used to play "hangman", so he just translated that into a TV game show.

I grew up in Monterey, CA, so I encountered Merv a few times. Once was during a pro-am tennis tournament in Carmel (I think Clint Eastwood sponsored it). I remember seeing Merv's son - what a good looking guy! Another time, I was working in the linen department at Macy's and Merv came in (with his entourage of one) to buy sheets. He was just the nicest guy you can imagine.

I also remember that when he was interviewing someone on his show, he'd often say Ooooooooooohhh... (soft o)

Oooooooh, I do remember Lonnie Shore, though I don't remember what the heck he looked like.

Yup, lots of game shows; apparently a new one called Merv Griffin's Crosswords which was supposed to air in syndication this year, I think. He's quite the business maven, between the shows and the hotels.

R.I.P. Merv.

Well, fuck.

The thing with Lonnie Shore, and god help me I can still picture him clearly, is that I always wondered if he and Merv had something going on. I wish I could remember why I thought that.

Wasn't it the ex-Mrs. Griffin who came up with the twist that made Jeopardy unique--having to supply a question? I'm pretty sure I recall him telling that sotry more than once.

Merv was also the mastermind behind Dance Fever. It's host, Denny Terio, claimed Merv sexaully harassed him.

Wow, it'a little eerie that the Biography channel showed the MG biography this past week.

Which leads me to ask: who were the other ones they highlighted last week? :)

ETA: Denny Terio. My God, could I have actually maybe had a tiny crush on him during Dance Fever days? No. No. No.

Well, I don't think it was a coincidence--he'd been hospitalized for a couple of weeks (I read it in EW at least 2 weeks ago) and it looked pretty bad since it was a reoccurance of the cancer.

CNN will be running the Larry King Live interview at 9 Eastern.

Here's a photo of Lonnie Shorr. It was pretty widely believed that Merv was gay and that Eva Gabor was his beard.

RIP, Merv. I'm betting he's lining up St. Peter as his first guest on his talk show in the sky.

See, I never thought of Eva as a beard, because they seemed to really like each other and enjoy hanging out together--you know, as friends-- as opposed to pretending there was a romantic attachment for publicity purposes.

I remember when the palimony suit broke and thinking "didn't Merv come out a couple of years ago?" Really, it was like hearing about Ellen or Rosie--was there anyone who didn't already know?

But back to Lonny...he looks the same. Freaky. I really wish I could remember what the specific thing was that made me think he and Merv had a sexual relationship. Maybe it was that LS wasn't very funny and I couldn't imagine another reason for his recurring guest status? 8-)

There was an article on Merv in Rolling Stone a couple of years back and he didn't deny he was gay.

I remember watching Merv in the daytime when I was very young. He was fun, sweet, funny, and a lovely singer and piano player.
I loved him and Eva Gabor together because they laughed so much. Friend and/or beard, they obviously liked each other very much.

I heard about Merv being gay several years ago, but it did not come out as a big gossipy deal. It just was. Maybe it was different times, without all the crap paparazzi and need to reveal everything about yourself (Rosie blogs her guts out indiscriminately imo.)

Merv, you were a sweetheart among talk show hosts. You left a great legacy in tv.

Perhaps I misspoke. I always got the feeling they liked each other a lot too. Maybe a better way to describe how their relationship came across to me is "girlfriends". (And this is coming from a straight woman with several gay male "girlfriends".)

What I don't get, however, was his close friendship with Nancy Reagan. I'm pretty sure Nancy shared Ronnie's feelings about homosexuals. "Don't ask, don't tell" my ass.

RIP Merv.

While I only caught a glimpse of last night's Larry King Live tribute show, here's a transcript of Larry's original interview with Merv. It was done about the time the DVD collection of Merv's greatest guests was issued. It's amazing the people Merv interviewed, and the little snippets show how relaxed Merv could be with his guests. LKL transcript of Merv Griffin interview

One day Merv was talking to someone on his show. He said "Why aren't there any blue foods? Would people eat blue foods?" So, he soon had a dinner party and the entire buffet was great food only colored blue. His guests just didn't eat much at all. Then, he explained to everyone that this was his experiment to see if people would eat blue food. Everyone laughed and then he moved the party to another room where the exact buffet was spread out and the food was normal colors. Everyone ate heartily of this buffet. Quite interesting!

Did you know that the brilliant actor/director Charles Haid is Merv's nephew?

As Merv enters the gates of Heaven I can hear Arthur Treacher saying, "And here he is, the dear boy himself...MERRR-VINNNN!!!

Is Charles Haid the actor who played Andy Renko on Hill Street Blues?

You are correct, sir!

The new Entertainment Weekly issue has a 2 page obituary for Merv. Same stuff as in most of them.

Until the horrible news about the Emmys came out (so to speak), I'd forgotten the Ryan Seacrest rumors. Damn you, Merv!

Don't ask, Don't tell was Clinton. I'm sure the Reagan's had a lot of gay friends over the years - they did come from Hollywood acting careers.

Ryan Seacrest and Merv... hmmm. Ryan was awfully upset when he was on Larry King, you could see that his eyes were all red, and he said that he was still contacting Merv about career moves. In fact he asked Merv about everything he did. Interesting.

That's really interesting, considering Simon Cowell always says that Ryan has everything because of HIM. Hmmm.... Has Simon or Merv ever talked about each other at all?