MTM Enterprises

MTM Enterprises is a production company established in 1969 by actress Mary Tyler Moore 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 created "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, TVS Entertainment was sold to the Christian Broadcasting Network to form International Family Entertainment, Inc. In 1996, International Family was acquired by Canadian cable company Shaw Communications. In 1999, Shaw spun off its media assets as Corus Entertainment. In 2006, Corus spun off its US assets as Argosy Media.

Logo
MTM's logo of an orange kitten (either stationary or animated), introduced in 1970, has become something of a cultural icon. The idea came about because of founder Mary Tyler Moore owning an orange kitten named Mimsie. The original logo was created by filming Mimsie herself meowing and then chyroning in a ribbon around her with a black background (to parody the MGM logo) before zooming it out and adding the letters "MTM" sliding in. There were many minor variations.

An alternate logo debuted in 1998, but was short-lived. An enhanced version debuted in 1999. The kitten in the ribbon was the same, but the animation of the letters was changed.

In 2006, a new MTM logo was made with CGI animation for the letters. In 2016, Argosy Animation Studios created a new MTM logo. The kitten clip was remastered, and the letters were reanimated again.

One thing that the MTM logo is known for is that often, it is custom made for whatever show it appears at the end of. This means the kitten's appearance is sometimes different, usually involving her "wearing" a costume or saying something other than "meow".

Parodies and references
The MTM logo has spawned many parodies, such as:


 * Jesus vs. Predator, produced by MTM Enterprises, ended the 2008 episode "Not Funny" with Eric Fitzgerald arguing with his producer, Jennifer Hudson. Eric tells Jennifer to "Show the colourful ribbons, and then you have the spinning star, the Egyptian pyramid, and then the stupid meowing kitten".
 * The 2011 Jesus vs. Predator episode "Attack of the 50-Foot Hitler" contains a parody of the original 1970 logo, where the character Communist Cat (voiced by Dave Barnes) takes the place of the kitten mascot.