MTM Enterprises

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.

Video captures courtesy of Tlogos, MachineryNoise, JimHawkwind03411, JohnnyL80, superpooper180, Eric S., mcydodge919, DrLove0378, ih8ContentID, and ShadowTheHedgehog157

Background : MTM Enterprises, Inc. was an independent production company established in 1969 by 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.

(September 19, 1970-May 19, 1998)
Nicknames: "The MTM Kitten", "Mimsie the Cat", "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 goldcircle appears over it. Under the letters are the words "ENTERPRISES, INC.", "ENTERPRISES", or "PRODUCTIONS, INC.''. 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.

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.

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.
 * 1992-1995, 1996-August 14, 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 "25," with a similarly colored MTM under that. The kitten appears in the rounded part of the "5". Evidence needed for this variation; 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.
 * Another still version of this logo appeared at the beginning of a FamNET rerun of a season 8 episode of Newhart from 1989 "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.

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?". 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, and Just Between Friends: There is a still picture of the logo.
 * The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Same as usual, but on the 2nd episode, Mimsie's meow is different, it is more 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 "Th-th-th-that's all folks!", a line spoken by Mary Richards during that episode.
 * The Bob Newhart Show: The 1972 Christmas episode 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 1976 Christmas episode "Making Up Is the Thing To Do," another Christmas Wreath is also used. This was also used on the season 1 finale Rhoda episode: Guess What I Got You For the Holidays. On the season 3 episode of The Bob Newhart Show "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 Nesman Jr. exclaiming "Ooh!".
 * Newhart: Each episode (except the pilot) featured Mimsie meowing... in Bob Newhart's voice. On the final episode, the cat yells "QUIET!" (the two Darryls' first and only word).
 * 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, 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).
 * 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. There is a shorter version with the company name already there and the cat footage looped (and thus the cat 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. Some prints of the pilot have the looped version, however.
 * Xuxa: Another dub job; instead of "meow", Mimsie says "ciao".
 * 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 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 "D**n 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 from Newhart.
 * The Trials of Rosie O'Neill: The logo appears in a still shot against a pink background.
 * The Betty White Show: In the episode "We're Not Really Divorced", the "meow" is not heard.
 * 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.
 * Friends and Lovers: At least the final episode is said to involve the MTM circle turning upside down. Awaiting confirmation/denial/description.
 * There is a "mystery" variant 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".

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

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: None really, except the end theme of the show. Starting in 1996, a 4-note jingle was added before the "meow". On the game show Shopping Spree, Burton Richardson announces "In association with MTM Enterprises, Inc." on the logo while the theme is playing and Mimsie meowing.

Availability: Fairly common. It can be seen on WKRP in Cincinnati on Antenna TV and FamNET, St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues on ALN and on NuVO TV and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Remington Steele, Newhart on Me-TV and FamNET and Rhoda on MeTV (as of July 8, 2013) as MTM (and other production companies now under the News Corp. library) 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).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. The St. Elsewhere finale variation is especially rare, as it was 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, as is also the case with the Carlton variation, another particular rarity. The logo with the later byline makes infrequent appearances at the end of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman on UP. Texas Wheelers episodes are also found in Paley, awaiting logo information.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. The silence, the "meow", the fading out of the music, and the kitten coming out of nowhere might catch some people by surprise. Plus, there's the factor of not knowing what Mimsie will look or sound like per program. The St. Elsewhere finale variation may be extremely upsetting, as might the Texas Wheelers finale variation, if the description is accurate. Ringo appearing in the Carlton variant might be surprising and a bit disturbing due to his grumpy expression. Other than that, it's mostly a cute logo.