Merv Griffin Entertainment

Logo descriptions by Shadeed A. Kelly Logo captures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly, EnormousRat, and others Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, and MeesterFonnyboy

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 is still currently running today under his son, Tony Griffin.

1st Logo (1997-1998)

Nicknames: "The Griffin", "The Silver Griffin", "CGI Griffin", "The Zooming-Out Griffin" Merv Griffin Productions (1997) Logo: On a lavender background, we see a shadow of the 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 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.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo (1998-2006) MGE (Closing): 1999-2006MGE (Open Variant): 1999Merv Griffin Entertainment

Nicknames: "The Griffin II", "Silver Griffin in Space", "Sparkling Silver Griffin", "Silver 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: A seven note jingle. A synthesized whoosh can also be heard.

Music/Sounds Variant: There is a longer version of the theme that has elements in the beginning resembling the 20th Century Fox theme.

Availability: Extinct. It was last seen in 2003 on Dance Fever. 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 film Rain on TV One.

Scare Factor: None. It's an excellent logo.

3rd Logo (2003)

Nicknames: "The Griffin III", "Silver Griffin III"

Logo: On a blue background, we see the same silver griffin from the last two logos. We see the text "MERV GRIFFIN ENTERTAINMENT" zooming out from screen bottom and placing itself underneath the griffin.

FX/SFX: The name zooming-in from screen bottom.

Music/Sounds: A two-note jingle that resembles "tada" but holding the second note based on the recent logo.

Availability: Extinct. It was last seen on the 2003 pilot episode of Dance Fever on ABC Family.

Scare Factor: None.

4th Logo (2006-2008)

Nicknames: "The Griffin IV", "The CGI Blinking Silver Griffin", "Silver Griffin IV"

Logo: On a sapphire blue background, a modified 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 Merv Griffin Entertainment (2007)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 and NBC jingle 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.

Scare Factor: Minimal. The blinking griffin may get some. Other than that, it's a neat logo and the theme is rather soothing.

5th Logo (2010-2011)

Nicknames: "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 Merv Griffin Entertainment (2011)"E N T E R T A I N M E N T" is white and aligned right. The logo shines and zooms out slowly.

FX/SFX: The slide.

Cheesy Factor: Poor abstract design. This isn't the best Merv Griffin logo. There are no classic elements from the ones seen above nor from Merv Griffin Enterprises from 1975-1993. Everything looks so plain.

Music/Sounds: A soft xylophone theme.

Availability: Extinct. It was seen on It's Worth What? on NBC and Million Dollar Mind Game on ABC. It may have also been seen on The Mentor.

Scare Factor: None. This has got to be the worst Merv Griffin logo ever.