Continuing my celebration of my 100th blog by
looking at famous production companies.
MTM Enterprises was founded by the amazing
Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband in 1969 to produce The Mary Tyler Moore
Show. MTM would go on to produce several successful television programs. Its recognizable
logo, shown at the very end of their shows, was a meowing Mimsie the Cat in a
pose similar to the MGM lion. The cat is one of my favorite logos, not only is
it cute but it just brings me back to a different time. Hard explain, so let’s
instead talk about the shows MTM produced.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
This was a really good show, which I never watched. Unfortunately
that is the case with most of these shows, since they were on in the 70’s and
early 80’s so they were a little before my time. That doesn’t mean I’m not
familiar with the show of course. What I’ve seen of it, it really was a funny
show. Basically it was about a group of employees at a news station, with Ted
Baxter as the bumbling newsman and Ed Asner as the boss Lou Grant. This show
has a special distinction, about half-way through it introduced character Sue
Ann Nivens played bu Betty White. She became a regular, and one of the most
popular characters. For that to happen so late in a series run is rare, but
Betty White is a special performer.
The Bob Newhart Show
Bob Newhart is a comedy legend, and this was his first hit
television series. He actually had a very long career before this show came on,
but it’s safe to say this show made even more popular. He played Dr.Bob Hartley
who was a Psychiatrist. He was surrounded by crazy people, at work and at home.
The amazing Suzanne Pleshette played his wife, and the cast also included many
famous faces. Great series, which I never saw too much of.
Rhoda
This was a spin-off of Mary Tyler Moore, as her best friend
Rhoda took off for a new life in New York. She met a guy, got married in a very
memorable wedding episode, and then divorced him. This was Valerie Harper’s
stare vehicle.
Phyllis
Mary lost another friend when Phyllis left for her own show.
Chloris Leachman took her character to San Fransciso rather than New York.
After Phyllis lost her much talked about husband, she moved there with her
daughter. This show was not as good, and had lots of bad luck within the cast.
As a result it didn’t even last as long as Rhoda did.
Lou Grant
After Mary Tyler Moore left the air, Lou Grant was spun-off
into his own show. The really unique thing was that Mary Tyler Moore was a
light hearted sitcom; Lou Grant was a serious drama which dealt head on with
social commentary. Rather than a TV news station, Lou Grant was set in a Los Angeles
newspaper where he was city editor.
WKRP in Cincinatti
This show was really interesting. It was set a broken down
radio station in Cincinnati, where the new program director decided to switch
to rock music to boost ratings and get the station back on its feet. The cast
included Howard Hesseman as the DJ, Loni Anderson as the receptionist, and of
course Gordon Jump as the slightly dimwitted Mr.Carlson. This show was pretty
silly, but it did occasionally take on more serious issues.
Hill Street Blues
Yes, Hill Street Blues was produced by MTM productions. Hill
Street Blues premiered in the early 80’s, and changed the way dramas were made.
This was no light and fluffy cop drama, this was a gritty and real as it got
(for the 80’s anyway).
Remington Steele
When Hill Street Blues did for cop shows Remington Steel did
for dramas. The series, starring Pierce Brosnan, was a blending of the genres
of romantic comedy, drama, and detective procedural. Never seen this show, so I really don’t have anything to say about it.
It did do a good job of putting romance and comedy into drama, acting as the
forerunner for shows like Moonlighting.
St.Elsewhere
What Hill Street Blues did for cop shows, St.Elsewhere did
for medical shows. This was another gritty, realistic show. The most famous
thing about this show may be the final episode, where it is revealed that the
entire show was in the mind of an autistic child. Before this became a cliché,
this was a remarkable way to end a series. This show had a very diverse cast
which included Ed Begley Jr, Howie Mandel, and Alfre Woodward.
Newhart
Speaking of remarkable way to end series, but we’ll get to
that. Newhart was Bob Newhart’s second vehicle, and this time he was an innkeeper
in Vermont. The people who lived in the town were a tad eccentric and basically
that’s where the stories came from. Tom Poston was the handyman, and of course
this is the series which gave birth to the classic “My name is Larry. This is
my brother Daryl, and this I my other brother Daryl.” The series finale was a
classic, as we see Bob waking up in bed with Suzanne Pleshett. The whole series
was just a dream his character from The Bob Newhart Show had had! Again, this
was before it became a cliché (thank you Roseanne), and is one of the funniest
endings to any show ever.
New WKRP in Cincinnati
In the early 90’s WKRP was revived in first run syndication.
There was an almost entirely new cast, and it sucked. The cast kept changing and the stories were so silly. They tried to bring
Howard Hessman back later on to get some viewers, but this show was just not
written as well as the original was and quietly faded away.
There were others to, including The Tony Randall Show, The
Betty White Show, Beverly Hills Buntz, and Good News which would be the final
MTM Production.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the alterations to the
MTM logo on these shows. For example, Remington Steele ended with the cat
wearing a detective’s hat. After Bob Newhart’s show the cat would meow in Bob
Newhart’s voice. After WKRP the cat would be Les Nesman saying his catchphrase “oohh”.
And finally, St.Elsewhere had him in medical scrubs, and in the final episode
of showed the cat lying on its back, dying.
MTM was also a distribution company, distributing shows such
as America’s Funniest Home Videos, Evening Shade, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Mary Tyler Moore is quite simply one of the best talents on
the planet, and it’s no wonder her production company came out with quality
shows like these. The company is gone now, but not forgotten.
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