Griffin Bets on New Year’s Eve Special

TV or not TV. . . .

THE MOGUL: At 66, former TV talk host Merv Griffin is a big-time hotel owner and produces the enormously successful game shows “Wheel of Fortune� and “Jeopardy!�

A onetime band singer, he hardly needs a musical gig--or any gig--anymore.

So why in the world is he starring tonight in the nationally syndicated TV show “Merv Griffin’s New Year’s Eve Special,� which will be seen locally at 9 on KCOP Channel 13?

At this point in his life, says Griffin, “It’s for fun, personal diversion. I’m not at the point where I’m trying to achieve fame and fortune.�

Well, that’s reasonable. But a little more fortune never hurt anyone, and the hour broadcast should be a piece of cake to do--as well as bringing national attention to Griffin’s Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., from which the show will originate.

And with rock ‘n’ roll New Year’s Eve specials taking over from the era of the late bandleader Guy Lombardo--who was synonymous with the big night--it’s possible the older audience will latch on to Griffin.

Griffin says, however, the band on his special is “hipper� than Lombardo’s. And the performers tonight will also include the Temptations.

Although the special will be tape-delayed here, Griffin notes that it’s live back East: “I said I’d only do it live. It’s that little edge of danger.

“I conduct the band. We do that twice a year in Atlantic City, and it’s one of our biggest events. They just mob the dance floor. It’s all ages. We do it four or five nights in a row. The special will be just a big, fun dance show where you sit home and watch people working up a headache.�

Griffin says more than 175 stations will carry the show, many of them defecting from regular network programming: “So maybe I’ll do four specials a year--New Year’s Eve and three others, perhaps from other places in the world.�

As of now, says Griffin, he owns half-a-dozen hotels: the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, the Resorts Casino and four others in the Bahamas.

“That’s what I’ve been doing for the last three or four years--working on the marketing of these hotels and writing their revues,� he says.

But, of course, once an entertainer, always an entertainer--and you can be sure Griffin will be enjoying tonight’s return to the TV limelight, especially since his talk show folded in 1986.

In a way, it’s intriguing to watch the flip sides of this smiling but tough and enduring performer-entrepreneur who gave the formerly awesome real estate developer Donald Trump all he could handle in their fight for hotel dominance in Atlantic City.

“I don’t know if I’m a good businessman, but I’m a good smeller,� says Griffin. “He (Trump) lives for the front pages, and that’s been totally removed from him. Like a lot of people, he just got carried away.

“But don’t discount Donald. He’s very interesting. He loved all that publicity, but I kept my mouth shut. He went out and bashed me, and I kept my mouth shut. And it had an ending that nobody expected.�

MIXED MESSAGE: On the one hand, it was exhilarating to see the tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers and the writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green (“Singin’ in the Rain,� “On the Town�) saluted on last week’s “Kennedy Center Honors� on CBS.

It was a swell show--from Washington--that also honored Gregory Peck, chorale master Robert Shaw and country music singer Roy Acuff.

But on the other hand, it was sad to contemplate that today’s TV--and its viewers--have become so hardened that there is no place in network prime time anymore for a regular series featuring the kind of musical magic that the Nicholas Brothers, Shaw and Comden and Green created.

A nasty sense of meanness and cynicism now has infiltrated TV program content. And it is no accident that elegant and stylish specials like “The Kennedy Center Honors� are buried during TV’s slow periods.

By the way, fans of ABC’s “Life Goes On� undoubtedly were delighted to see Patti LuPone, who plays the mother, showing her other talent--singing--during a smashing medley on “The Kennedy Center Honors.�

Which reminds us: If ABC goes ahead with its reported plans to counterprogram CBS’ “60 Minutes� with a newsmagazine series next summer, what’s going to happen to “Life Goes On,� which currently occupies the time slot--and is doing well?

Surely, ABC, which already has damaged its reputation by canceling “thirtysomething� and “China Beach,� would not risk further harm to its status. The network is going to protect “Life Goes On�--right?

I mean, right?

THE BITTER END: This is to inform you that the Arts & Entertainment cable channel will present “David Steinberg’s Biased and Insensitive Review of the Year� on Sunday at 6 and 10 p.m. Every so often, it’s good to remind folks that Steinberg is a great comedian. And the premise behind his show’s title is delicious.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: Get out the wine and cheese for a Francois Truffaut double feature--�Day for Night� and “Shoot the Piano Player�--on KCET Channel 28 on Jan. 11.

IN LIVING COLOR: Head for the Tiffany Theater on Sunset to catch the new comedy stage hit “The Sicilian Bachelor,� which stars two actors well-known to TV viewers: Lou Cutell (“Empty Nest,� “The Golden Girls� and more than 200 other guest roles) and Tracy Scoggins (Monica Colby in “The Colbys�). A charming production, it’s adding Wednesday performances starting New Year’s Day.

ABOUT TIME: KTLA Channel 5’s two-hour “Morning News� hasn’t lived up to its promise, but the station has made a good move in naming as its new executive producer Joel Tator, who formerly guided KCBS Channel 2’s “2 on the Town.� An even smarter move, as an insider notes, would have been to name KTLA’s longtime, familiar weekend news team of Larry McCormick and Minerva Perez to anchor the morning series. Perez now has left the station.

ON THE MONEY: We love that food commercial with the punchline, “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good.�

TOUGH TALK: Condoms are the subject of the CNBC cable channel’s “McLaughlin� talk show Saturday, and taking part in the discussion is former KNBC Channel 4 medical reporter Steve Gendel. Talk is king on CNBC, which often shows more zest than NBC’s embattled network news organization.

HIGH WIRE: CBS’ ratings lead is amazing considering that six of its seven new fall series are already gone--and the seventh, “Brooklyn Bridge,� is only marginally competitive despite its excellence. It is not true the network consults a palm reader--it just has the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.

BEING THERE: “We’re all pawns, my dear.�--The Admiral in “The Prisoner.�

Say good night, Gracie. . . .