[quote name=\'DjohnsonCB\' date=\'Dec 4 2003, 10:38 AM\'] Given the amount of mistakes prevalent in that book, I'd side with Merv, but did both parties actually have a hand in the creation of the format? [/quote]
I'm not sure who you mean when you speak of "both parties". You don't think Maxine herself had a hand in the creation of the format, do you?
Merv has told the story of Jeopardy's origin countless times, a lot more than "a couple". It's passed into legend, and as with any legend certain aspects of the story tend to get played up more over time. The gag about the earlier scandals is just that, a gag. It would have taken ten seconds of explanation to get past that concern.
Merv may have considered a comedy format at one point, or Maxine could have gotten the idea from comedy routines like Steve Allen's Answer Man or Johnny Carson's Carnak. In fact, I don't have her book in front of me, but I could have sworn that the example in the book was a comparison to Steve Allen's old routine, not an explanation of how the game would have been played.
Either way, I don't see the two stories as being mutually exclusive.