MTM Enterprises

MTM Enterprises took its name from Mary Tyler Moore, though much of its creative direction came from her husband, Grant Tinker, and the writers he supported. The couple founded the company in 1969 to produce a sitcom centered on Moore as an independent career woman in a Minneapolis newsroom. Each episode ended with a gentle parody of the MGM lion: a small orange kitten that mewed instead of roared. Behind that whimsical logo developed one of the most respected creative environments in television history.

Tinker's philosophy was to hire talented writers and give them creative freedom, and the results expanded the possibilities of the medium. *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* led to the spinoffs *Rhoda*, *Phyllis*, and the drama *Lou Grant*, while *The Bob Newhart Show* and *WKRP in Cincinnati* demonstrated the company's strength in character-driven ensemble comedies. In the 1980s, MTM transformed the drama genre with *Hill Street Blues*, which introduced overlapping storylines and handheld camerawork, and *St. Elsewhere*, which applied the same complexity to a hospital setting.

The company's success waned when Tinker left in 1981 to lead NBC, taking part of MTM's creative vision with him. It continued to produce prestige content, but the founder-driven energy proved difficult to sustain.

In 1988, MTM was sold to the British broadcaster TVS Entertainment for an estimated $320 million, a significant amount that highlighted the value of its library. When TVS lost its regional broadcasting rights, it sold MTM in the early 1990s to Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment, which owned The Family Channel, for a much lower price. That company was later absorbed into Rupert Murdoch's expanding media empire, and in 1998, the MTM name was retired, its library integrated into Fox's television assets. The kitten logo was silenced, but the company's legacy of writer-led television continued to influence the industry.