MERV GRIFFIN TO LEAVE THE TALK-SHOW SCENE

Merv Griffin, whose talk show has aired in one form or another for 24 years, will tape his last show Sept. 5, a spokesman for Merv Griffin Enterprises announced this week.

Though the syndicated “Merv Griffin Show” has declined in recent years, airing on fewer stations and often with lower ratings than in its heyday, Griffin is not leaving television. He hopes to trade in his talk-show host seat for an orchestra podium on a new big-band variety show, “Cocoanut Ballroom,” to be produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises.

“According to Merv, he just wants to move on to other things,” a spokesman said.

A one-hour pilot episode of the new show, taped in June, has Griffin conducting as well as singing big-band numbers, sometimes backed by a musical group known as the Mervtones. The show also features guest vocalists.

“Cocoanut Ballroom” was initially intended for syndication to independent stations as the current “Merv Griffin Show” is, but at least one major network has shown interest in the program, the spokesman said.

Griffin is exiting the talk-show field just as it is heating up much the way it did in the early ‘70s, when CBS pitted Griffin opposite Joey Bishop on ABC and “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson on NBC.

ABC this week announced plans for a rotating wheel of midnight talk shows featuring Dick Cavett, Jimmy Breslin and possibly Linda Ellerbee; Carson’s grip on the late-night airwaves now carries over to “Late Night With David Letterman,” which has shown enormous ratings growth on NBC; and Joan Rivers and David Brenner are soon to debut late-night talk shows on independent TV stations.

A former band singer, Griffin started his talk-show career in 1962 with a daytime show on NBC. For most of the intervening years, his show has been produced for syndication and has been the foundation for a company that produces prime-time specials and a number of very successful game shows, including “Jeopardy” and top-rated “Wheel of Fortune.”

Griffin remains active in Merv Griffin Enterprises, which was sold to the Coca-Cola Co. this year for $250 million.