To Spin, Or To Solve

Today’s headlines brought sad news of the passing of Merv Griffin, crooner turned host and game show mogul. It was Merv who developed Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune; it was Merv who conceived the daily double wager and the classic conundrum, “To spin, or to solve?”

Merv was on my mind today as I recalled last night’s interruption of our usual Saturday routine: dinner with Alex Trebek followed by dessert with Vanna. Since Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune had been pre-empted by local programming, we were forced to eat our meal without the thrill of final jeopardization or the vicarious relief of just missing bankruptcy. Alas, even “The Singing Bee” was pre-empted. We were experiencing serious game show withdrawal, but salvation arrived in the unlikely form of Drew Carey and a new program called “The Power of Ten.”

Ten minutes into “The Power of Ten,” and with game show endorphins finally flowing I marveled that CBS management dodged a bullet and hired Carey instead of Rosie O’Donnell to succeed Bob Barker on “The Price is Right.” Well, they say even a blind squirrel can find an occasional nut, and although network television executives are about as bright as squirrels they definitely found the right nut in Carey. Drew is everything Rosie is not: funny, personable and unlikely to induce nausea. Affability is the most highly prized trait of a successful television host. Drew has it, Merv Griffin had it, and Rosie O’Donnell lacks it.

On the premier episode of “The Power of Ten,” a sharp but slightly rumpled nineteen year-old named Jaime matched wits and quips with Carey and went on to win a million dollars by successfully guessing (among other strange scenarios) the percentage of Americans who said that in a duel with Dick Cheney they would probably get shot by the vice-president instead of the other way around. This is a show worthy of your attention, if only for its surreal questions and hysterical comebacks: when Jaime said he planned to buy a car with his winnings, Drew looked at the young millionaire’s wrinkled shirt and said “Why doncha buy yourself an iron, first?”

Now Merv has gone on to join the legendary television hosts of television in what a friend of mine likes to call “eternal syndication.” Maybe tonight Merv is reminiscing with Groucho Marx, who, while not being the most affable game show host, was certainly the funniest during his stint on “You Bet Your Life.” (Groucho once told a contestant who had birthed 27 children and claimed she did it because she loved her husband that he loved his cigar too, but that he took it out of his mouth occasionally).

“Groucho (I imagine Merv saying) things aren’t so bad down there, even on nights when my old show Jeopardy’s being pre-empted. They’ve still got some pretty decent programs, and a funny kid named Drew Carey is hosting two of them. I bet you'd like him... but not on my life!”