I’m going to try REALLY hard to sign in with the name “MervGriffin” – Initially, it was just a pun for a Merovingian-aligned character…but the backstory grew like moldy potatoes in my head…and now “MervGriffin” is *THE* Merv Griffin.
Being Merv doesn’t necessarily mean being a redpill human just out of your pod and working for the Evil Frenchie…<
Remember, the Matrix is a 'simulacrum' of the US in the late 90's. There need to be famous people to watch on the TV...but this is also the 7th iteration of The Matrix...Pat and Vanna died 1200 years ago - but that doesn't mean that the Bluepills aren't addicted to Wheel of Fortune - because the Machines are perfectly capable of creating a program-doppelganger of Pat and Vanna...that live in the Matrix, have paparazzi take pictures of them, etc.
This MervGriffin is *the* Merv Griffin. A Celebrity Sim program with a career stretching decades, he was scheduled for deletion due to low ratings in 1986. Merv managed to escape deletion and lived on as an Exile, becoming one of those celebrities is seen by the public, but only occasionally. The sort of celebrity that lives on forever within the shadows of The Matrix.
Fellow 'Ageless' Celeb Exiles might be:
DickClark
RichardDawson
TupacShakur
JohnLennon
ElvisPresley
SophiaLoren
BarbaraEden
LindsayWagner
etc…
I think it would be fun as hell…but I’m much weirder than most…
****8/2005 Edit: I did do exactly that…