MTM Enterprises

The 1990s MTM logo.

MTM Enterprises was an independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS. The name for the production company was drawn from Moore's initials. [1]

After being an independent production company for many years, MTM was sold in 1990 to TVS Entertainment plc, which was in turn acquired by Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment in late 1992. IFE along with MTM was sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1996. MTM ceased operations and was folded into 20th Century Fox Television on August 15, 1998 when The Family Channel became Fox Family.

For many years MTM, with CBS, co-owned the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California, where a majority of their programs were filmed and videotaped.

MTM Records (a label founded by Mary Tyler Moore) and is only the name under MTM today.

Programs

MTM's productions included:

• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
• The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978)
• Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers (1974)
• The Texas Wheelers (1974-1975)
• Rhoda (1974-1978)
• Doc (1975-1976)
• Phyllis (1975-1977)
• The Tony Randall Show (1976-1978)
• Lou Grant (1977-1982)
• The Betty White Show (1977-1978)
• The White Shadow (1978-1981)
• WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982)
• Paris (1979-1980)
• Six O'Clock Follies (1979)
• The Last Resort (1979)
• Hill Street Blues (1981-1987)
• Remington Steele (1982-1987)
• St. Elsewhere (1982-1988)
• Newhart (1982-1990)
• Capital News (1990)
• Bay City Blues (1983)
• The Duck Factory (1984)
• Beverly Hills Buntz (1987-1988)
• The New WKRP in Cincinnati (1991-1993)
• The Pretender (1996-2000) (Note: Only the first two seasons were produced by MTM, with 20th Century Fox Television assuming the series thereafter.)

In addition to the above shows, MTM has distributed programs such as:

• The Steve Allen Show
• Graham Kerr
• Xuxa
• America's Funniest Home Videos
• Evening Shade
• Rescue 911
• Peter Gunn
• Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

Films

• A Little Sex (1982)
• Just Between Friends (1986)
• Clara's Heart (1988)

CBS connection

MTM programs appeared almost exclusively on CBS until the early 1980s, when Grant Tinker assumed the additional role of president of NBC. Soon, NBC picked up a number of MTM shows, and Tinker stepped down as head of MTM to avoid a conflict of interest. His intention was to leave NBC after 5 years (in 1986) and return to MTM, taking over the reins from interim MTM president Arthur Price. However, Price fired many of the key players in the company's ranks, and by 1986 they had few shows left on the schedules (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and Remington Steele were all nearing the ends of their runs, leaving Newhart as the sole entrant on the schedule). There was also a record label in the 1980s featuring the logo on the label. No major mainstream artists recorded for this label, however Judy Rodman and country girl group, The Girls Next Door, did have a few minor hits on the country charts in the mid-1980s.

Mimsie the Cat

The company is also remembered for its mascot, Mimsie the Cat (1968-1988), who was an obvious parody of MGM's Leo the Lion. Mimsie was in real life, Mary Tyler Moore's cat. In each MTM production, Mimsie (also known as "Dick Turpin" and "Dick Marino") would arrive in a different disguise as its closing logo, corresponding to the style and theme of a certain show. For example:

• Hill Street Blues: Mimsie wears a police cap.
• St. Elsewhere: Mimsie is seen animated in medical scrubs and a surgical mask. On the show's final episode, Mimsie is in a hospital bed as the credits roll, and then when the credits end, he flatlines and dies.
• The White Shadow: Mimsie is replaced by a calico cat dribbling a basketball. There is a shorter version with the company name already there and the cat footage looped (and thus he is continually bouncing the ball). The other (seen only at the end of the series pilot) has the letters animating as usual and at the end, the ball falls off-screen and the cat appears to be looking down at it.
• Remington Steele: Mimsie dressed as Sherlock Holmes. The smoking pipe in Mimsie's mouth would drop when he meowed.
• The New WKRP in Cincinnati: The "meow" is replaced with Les Nessman exclaiming "oooooOOOOooooh!"
• The Bob Newhart Show: The 1972 Christmas episode features a wreath in place of the MTM ribbon.
• Newhart: The "meow" is voiced by Bob Newhart (although the kitten meows normally on the pilot episode). In the last episode, instead of meowing, Mimsie yells "QUIET!" (which was the two Darryls' first and only word, spoken in the finale).
• Xuxa: Voice-over says "Ciao!"
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show: On episode #2, the meow is higher pitched. At the end of episode #71, Mary appears saying "That's all folks!", parodying Porky Pig.
• The Duck Factory: The singer of the closing song would ask "Where's the cat?", followed by Mimsie quacking.
• Lou Grant, Paris, and Just Between Friends: There is a still picture of the logo. The still picture is in the end credits of Just Between Friends.
• Phyllis: Same logo, but where others end as the end theme fades out or ends, the logo plays in a pause before the last note of the song.
• Graham Kerr: Mimsie wears a chef's hat.
• The Steve Allen Show: Mimsie wears Allen's glasses and lip-synchs Allen's "Schmock."
• The Texas Wheelers and Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers: Mimsie is a live cat photographed against a real landscape.
• A Little Sex: Mimsie is joined by a second cat. In this one, the cats are both animated and appear against a black background inside the circle.
• Bay City Blues: An animated Mimsie wears a baseball cap and baseball glove in his right paw; he catches a baseball and meows.
• MTM Home Video releases show Mimsie holding a remote control and, after meowing, stepping on the remote to "rewind" and meow a second time.
• Carlton Your Doorman: Instead of Mimsie, Carlton's cat is in the ribbon. Carlton (voiced by Lorenzo Music) can be heard saying "Say 'Meow!' C'mon, say 'Meow!'" When it doesn't, Carlton sneers "Oh, you naughty and damn old cat!"
• An MTM International variation was seen with an entirely still logo, the picture of Mimsie larger, and the text smaller (similar to the size of the MTM Home Video logo).
• Vampire: The MTM text is all in dark red, and Mimsie is nowhere to be seen.
• 25th Anniversary: The number "25" is seen in black on a white background, with a similarly colored "MTM" under that. Mimsie appears in the rounded part of the "5".

External links

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