MTM Enterprises/Summary (2024)

Logo description by James Fabiano and Jason Wuthrich

Logo captures by wisp2007, EnormousRat, Eric S., Logophile and Ben Masters

Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly and Eric S.

Description[]

Background: MTM Enterprises, Inc. (also known as "MTM Productions, Inc.") was an independent production company established in 1969 by beloved actress Mary Tyler Moore (hence the initials of the company) and her then-husband Grant Tinker. The company was formed as a result of an agreement with Moore and the CBS network to produce 22 episodes of a new sitcom, which would become The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In 1986, MTM acquired television distribution company Victory Television, Inc. and became "MTM Television Distribution". MTM was sold to TVS Entertainment (a subsidiary of now-defunct ITV franchise holder TVS) in 1987. In 1992 after TVS lost its ITV franchise to Meridian Broadcasting, it was then sold to International Family Entertainment, Inc., which in turn was sold to Fox Family Worldwide (now "ABC Family Worldwide") in 1997. MTM ceased operations the following year, and its library assets were folded into 20th Century Fox Television, and are currently distributed by 20th Television. MTM titles had previously been distributed by Viacom Enterprises (now CBS Television Distribution), prior to MTM purchasing Victory. Eventually, both founders would pass away within two months, starting with Grant Tinker on November 30, 2016, followed by Mary Tyler Moore on January 25, 2017.In loving memory of Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017), Grant Tinker (1926-2016), and Mimsie The Cat (1968-1988). May you all rest in peace.

(September 19, 1970-May 19, 1998)[]

Nicknames: "The MTM Kitten", "The MTM Cat," "Mimsie the Cat" (and see "Unofficial Nicknames" for other cats used in the logo), "MEOW!"

Logo: Over the years, the logo has been tweaked colorwise and according to certain shows, but here's the basic concept: An "M" flies backward from off screen, then splits into two. In the space left between the two letters, two "T"'s come from the top and bottom of the screen and join to form one. This completes the initials of the company, and the letter "T" shrinks when a gold circle appears over it. Under the letters are the words "ENTERPRISES, INC.", "ENTERPRISES", "PRODUCTIONS, INC." or "PRODUCTIONS". Sometimes the finished logo will read out "AN MTM ENTERPRISES (INC.) PRODUCTION" ("AN" appears over the first "M"). Back to the circle, it is ribbon-like and decorated with stars and the letters "MTM" on top. Inside is a live-action orange striped kitten who meows once, obviously as a parody of the MGM lion. All the text (except for the later versions) appears in the Peignot font used for the 1971 Viacom logo.

See Also

Viacom (1970–2006)/Other

Trivia:

The cat's name was "Mimsie", though nicknames such as "Dick Turpin" and "Dick Marino" have also been used in naming the cat.
The logo (with just the cat meowing) made an appearance within the Family Guy S7 episode "420".
On recent Me-TV promos of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart uttered the word "Meow!" on the MTM logo at the end of the promos from their respective shows.
On "Love is All Around," the Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion episode of Hot in Cleveland, the end scene involves the camera panning out the windows until you see a vaguely familiar orange kitten sitting on one windowsill. The cat gives Mimsie's meow.
Mimsie appears within the Shout! Factory logo in a commercial for the Rhoda DVDs.

Variants: First here are the little differences in the logo, along with dates in which they were used:

September 19, 1970-March 2, 1974: One "M" is red-orange, the other is red, and the "T" is blue and is formed by the merging of a light blue "T" and a green one.
September 18, 1971-1978: The M's are both red-orange, and the "T" is light blue.
1978-1982: Company now identified as "MTM Productions Inc.". The M's are now orange.
1982-1990: Company identified as "MTM Enterprises, Inc.". The M's are now red.
September 17, 1990-1993: Same as above, but "ENTERPRISES, INC." is smaller than usual, and below it is a byline that says "A TVS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY". In early 1993, the byline was removed.
1992-May 19, 1998: All letters are orange, the words "AN INTERNATIONAL FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" appear with an orange line above it, after MTM was bought by the Family Channel.
1995-1996: 25th Anniversary logo; on a white background is a black-silver gradient "25," with a similarly colored MTM under that. The kitten appears in the rounded part of the "5". Likely only a print logo.
A still version of this logo did turn up in the movies, notably the Orion Pictures release of Just Between Friends and possibly more. This is a still of the "Red/Blue Letters" version of the logo, and is shrunk to a considerably small size. No music, animation, or "meow" is present. Mimsie's head is turned away, pre-meowing.
Another still version of this logo appeared at the beginning of a FamNET rerun of the season 8 Newhart episode "Don't Worry, Be Pregnant". The logo is the same as the later International version, except the letters "MTM" appear to be slightly smaller, the circle with Mimsie appears to be slightly larger and the logo just reads "MTM INTERNATIONAL".
Fresno has the "M"s in red and the "T" light blue. Here it just reads "MTM PRODUCTIONS".
The appearance of the circle varies amongst logos. The most common one kind of "iris-in's." In others, usually ones where there's special animation or a different cat, the circle just appears.
Sometimes the letters don't animate, as seen in the Carlton, White Shadow, and "Abogast" variants. Everything is up there at once.
On Shout! Factory DVD prints of several S1 episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati, the logo cuts to the "M" splitting. The season 2 episode "Put Up or Shut Up" shortens the logo even further, starting off with the "M" already split in two.
On most season four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the logo fades out just as soon as the meow ends, especially unusual since the logo would usually cut to black.

Custom Variants: Now, one thing that the MTM logo was known for was that often, it would be custom made for whatever show it appeared at the end of. This means Mimsie's appearance would sometimes be different, usually involving her "wearing" a costume or saying something other than "meow". Here are those variants:

The Duck Factory: Right at the end of the credits, before we cut to the logo, an off-screen voice states, "Where's the cat?", or "Here's the cat" and other phrases. The logo then proceeds as normal, but instead of meowing, Mimsie says, "Quack!".
Graham Kerr: Mimsie wears a chef's hat.
Hill Street Blues: Mimsie wears a policeman's cap.
Lou Grant, Paris, Something for Joey, Just Between Friends, and Three for the Road (pilot): There is a still picture of the logo.
Lou Grant (blooper reel): One variant features Mimsie chirping (much like the bird at the end of the opening credits), and another is a still shot of Edward Asner.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show:
- On the 2nd episode, "Today, I am a Ma'am", Mimsie's meow is higher-pitched and rather shrill.
- On episode 71, "Put on a Happy Face," the cat is replaced by the image of Miss Moore herself, saying "ibde-ibde-ib-that's all folks!", a line spoken by Mary Richards during that episode.
The Bob Newhart Show:
- The season 1 Christmas episode "His Busiest Season" features a wreath in place of the MTM ribbon.
- On the season 4 episode "No Sale," footage of a cat from the episode named Abogast appears in the circle instead. He jumps down, disappearing from the circle's view, and as he does, you hear Mimsie's meow.
- On the season 5 Christmas episode "Making Up Is the Thing To Do," another Christmas wreath is used.
- On the season 3 episode "Big Brother is Watching," a loud lion's roar is heard in place of the usual meow-sound (which is funny considering the origins of the company and the logo...).
The New WKRP in Cincinnati: Dubbed with Les Nessman exclaiming "Ooh!".
Newhart:
- Each episode (except the pilot) featured Mimsie meowing... in Bob Newhart's voice.
- The episode "No Room at the Inn" features a Christmas wreath similar to the one shown on Newhart's prior sitcom and Rhoda.
- On the season 5 episode "Dick the Kid," Bob's meow sounds duller.
- On the final episode, "The Last Newhart", the cat yells "QUIET!" (the two Darryls' first and only word).
Rhoda: On the season one episode "Guess What I Got You for the Holidays", it's the same as on "Making Up is the Thing to Do."
Remington Steele: Mimsie wears a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker cap and meerschaum pipe. As she begins to meow, the pipe drops out of her mouth and falls in front of "PRODUCTIONS" or "ENTERPRISES, INC.".
St. Elsewhere:
- Mimsie is wearing a scrub suit and a surgical mask, which is animated to look like a mouth is moving underneath when she meows.
- On the final episode, "The Last One", she (possibly portrayed by another cat) is hooked on life support on a hospital bed throughout the last credit roll. The credits run as usual over a picture of the MTM circle, with life support equipment attached on either side. You can hear the beeps of the heart monitor over the end theme, too. After the credits complete, the company name fades in and Mimsie flatlines and dies, with a long, high-pitched beep heard. This variation is especially rare, as reruns of the series finale plastered it over with the typical credits (As a sidenote, the actual cat, Mimsie, died in 1988, the same year St. Elsewhere ended).
- Two first-season episodes, "Samuels and the Kid" and "Working," use a different meow track, but not the same one as on one WKRP in Cincinnati episode (described further down).
The Steve Allen Show: Mimsie (who also wears Allen's famous eyeglasses) lip-syncs Allen's "Schmock!".
The White Shadow: Mimsie is replaced by a black and white cat bouncing a basketball. Two versions of this exist.
- A shorter version has the company name already there and the cat footage looped (and thus the cat is continually bouncing the ball).
- At the end of the series pilot, the letters animate as usual and at the end, the ball falls off-screen and the cat appears to be looking down at it. Some prints of the pilot have the looped version, however.
Xuxa: Another dub job; instead of "meow", Mimsie says "tchau" ('goodbye' in Portuguese).
A Little Sex: The MTM logo forms as usual... but Mimsie is a cartoon! She is also more to the side of the circle, which now has a black background. She meows as always, and then another cat (possibly a Siamese due to its point coloration) enters the circle! The two felines rub against each other and start purring.
Carlton Your Doorman: Carlton's cat Ringo is seen in the MTM logo instead of Mimsie. The circle seems to have been redrawn to be more "animation" like. Carlton says off-screen, "C'mon, 'Meow!'". When Ringo doesn't meow, Carlton mutters "Damn cat...".
Bay City Blues: An animated Mimsie wears a baseball cap and baseball glove in her right paw; she catches a baseball and meows.
Vampire: The MTM text is all in dark red, and Mimsie is nowhere to be seen.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show 20th Anniversary: At the end, Mimsie says "Bye!" (in Mary Tyler Moore's voice).
Einsenhower and Lutz: The "meow" is sung in the style of the closing credits music.
The Bob Newhart 19th Anniversary Special: Bob Newhart himself says "Meow!" much like he does on the main Newhart variant.
The Trials of Rosie O'Neill: The logo appears in a still shot against a brown background with gold lettering.
The Betty White Show: On one unknown part of the two-part episode "We're Not Divorced", the "meow" is not heard.
The Texas Wheelers:
- A full-screen scene has a black-and-white kitten looking from around a corner where there is a water pipe and meows (though not the same as Mimsie's meow). The company's name appears over the scene in the same font as the closing credits.
- Another "mystery" variant is yet to be seen... A story, featured in a Chicago Tribune article in 1985, recalled that "In the final episode...an animated version of the kitten staggered from behind a wagon wheel and dropped dead".
- Also, according to Jacob Dennis-Oehling on Youtube, there was another version where an animated version of Mimsie dressed as a cowboy shoots some guns in the circle. He also describes another version of the finale variant, where it's the other variant except Mimsie is instead shot to death. However, these "mystery" variants could be hard to find, as usual.
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers: At least the final episode is said to involve the MTM circle turning upside down. Awaiting confirmation/denial/description.
WKRP in Cincinnati: The season 2 episode "Jennifer Falls in Love" uses a different meow track.
In the Lion's Den: Instead of meowing, Mimsie says a strange word that sounds like "Belrunyth!"

Unofficial Nicknames: for the non-Mimsie MTM cats...

"Shadow" - White Shadow.
"Shadow Jr." - The Texas Wheelers (as it looks like a younger version of the WS cat, you see).
"Abogast" - from the Bob Newhart "No Sale" variant.
"Smokey" - Mimsie's companion from the A Little Sex variant.

FX/SFX: The "M" zooming out and morphing into 2 M's, and the "T" dropping. The rest is shown above.

Music/Sounds: None really, except the end theme of the show and Mimsie meowing. Starting in 1996, a 5-note jingle was added before the "meow". This was seen and heard on some shows such as the short-lived 1997 revival of It Takes Two with Dick Clark and the 1st season of the sitcom Sparks among other shows.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On the game shows Shopping Spree and the short-lived Wait 'Til You Have Kids!!, Burton Richardson announces "In association with MTM Enterprises, Inc." on the logo while the theme is playing and Mimsie meowing.
On the Shout! Factory DVD print of the season 4 Hill Street Blues episode "Grace Under Pressure", the 20th Television fanfare plays over the logo, cutting off the end of the closing theme & the meow.
On the Shout! Factory DVD print of the season 5 Bob Newhart Show episode "Et Tu, Carol", the last second of the show's closing theme & the meow is distorted, due to a tape error.
On the season 3 Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "The Good-Time News", Mimsie's meow is out-of-sync.

Availability: Fairly common. It was once a plaster victim; but not anymore. It can be seen on WKRP in Cincinnati, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Remington Steele, Newhart, and Rhoda, among other shows. The MTM logo is now followed by 20th Television (though it's followed by both the Viacom "V of Doom" and the 20th Television logo on some episodes of The Bob Newhart Show on Me-TV and the CBS Television Distribution logo on the first season of Evening Shade on DVD), but only on television. The only factors are the rarity of widespread reruns of MTM shows, and Fox's sparse releasing of DVDs from the company's library (and sub-licensing of certain series to Shout! Factory). On Hulu, the logo is intact. However, the St. Elsewhere finale variation is extremely rare to extinct, as it was only shown on NBC and nowhere else to our knowledge. VHS copies and reruns just use the regular credit sequence and logo (with the exception of the ALN print, which has the normal credits and only the 20th Television logo). You can see it on the Paley Center's copy, however. This was also the case with the Carlton variation, another rarity, until the special was added as a bonus on the DVD release of the final season of Rhoda. The logo with the later byline makes infrequent appearances at the end of some episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Also seen on 1994-98 syndicated prints of Rescue 911, which can be seen on the Justice Network. Texas Wheelers episodes are also available in Paley, awaiting logo information.

Editor's Note: It all depends on the variant:

Normal variant: None to minimal. The black background and meowing can catch a few off-guard, but otherwise, it's a really cute logo and a favorite of many.
Most variants: None to minimal, just like the previous logo. Some of these logos are funny, as well.
Carlton Your Doorman variant: Low. If you were expecting the normal version, you might be caught off guard, even if you include the talking. Otherwise, it's very funny.
Texas Wheelers variant: Low, even if you were expecting the normal variant, including the normal meowing.
Einsenhower and Lutz variant: Medium, mostly because of the distorted-sounding meow singing.
Vampire variant: Low to high. The lack of animation, red text and Mimsie not being seen can be unnerving to some viewers.
St Elsewhere Variant: Medium to nightmare. This is a very depressing logo, as it features Mimsie actually dying (and being dead). The flatline sound can also be unsettling.