MTM Productions was named for Mary Tyler Moore, whose husband -- Grant Tinker -- started the company in 1969 to produce a show for his wife. Rather than being some nepotastic disaster, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" became one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. And it allowed the company to develop a whole slew of classic shows. The couple split in the late 1970s, and both died recently. So I've decided to publish some comments on many of the programs (that I know of) with which MTM was involved...
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-77): Widely considered one of the greatest sitcoms of all-time, and with good reason. Summing up its accomplishments here would be meaningless. I will add that -- outside of major Northeast metro areas -- the show apparently did not fare well in syndication for very long. Their loss.
The Bob Newhart Show (CBS, 1972-78): Another classic. Newhart was originally going to be a guest star on the MTM show. That role eventually went to Bill Daly, who would play Bob's neighbor on "The Bob Newhart Show." The "Bob Newhart" pilot was apparently written over a weekend by David Davis & Lorenzo Music, and included a plot line about Bob & Emily Hartley managing their condo association. That proved troublesome (CBS thought people would mis-hear it as "condom") and was quickly dropped, as was the far-out decor of the couple's apartment. All of this is on display in the pilot episode, titled "P-I-L-O-T," and which actually aired as the ninth episode.
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (1974-1975), The Texas Wheelers (1974-1975), The Bob Crane Show (1975), Doc (1975-1976), The Lorenzo & Henrietta Music Show (1976), Three for the Road (1975), Phyllis (1975-1977), The Tony Randall Show (ABC, 1976-77; CBS, 1977-78), The Betty White Show (1977-1978), We've Got Each Other (1977-1978): a bunch of well-intentioned, high-quality but ultimately unsuccesful programs that are nowhere to be found today. "Phyllis" at least enjoyed solid ratings in its first season, but nosedived in year two. The fact that her castmembers kept dying probably didn't help.
Rhoda (CBS, 1974-1978): Mary's neighbor got her own spin-off that actually had higher ratings than the parent show for a time. However, the writers never found a way to make a happy, married Rhoda funny, and that led to her divorce and a weird, depressed Rhoda. Lorenzo Music played her unseen doorman, which led to the 1980 animated pilot, "Carlton Your Doorman." CBS passed on the show, which went on to win an Emmy and also got Music a lot of voice roles (such as Garfield the cat).
Lou Grant (CBS, 1977-82): the third classic from MTM, this multiple-Emmy-winner was one of the first examples of a sitcom spinning off a drama.
The White Shadow (CBS, 1978-1981): another classic, but oddly short-lived.
WKRP in Cincinnati (CBS, 1978-1982): yet ANOTHER classic, made by folks who had worked on "Doc," "The Betty White Show," "The Tony Randall Show" and other short-lived MTM properties. These younger writers were the B-team at MTM after the A-list left to make "Taxi." Almost the entire series is uniformly excellent, except...
In one early episode, everyone ends up fighting. Near the end, Jennifer (Loni Anderson) goes around the room playing "truth-teller," sagely pointing out everyone's strengths and weaknesses, to prove they are realy just a big family. It's the one "crappy sitcom trope" moment in the entire (original) series, which became a powerhouse in syndication after it was cancelled in 1982. In fact, the final episode apparently placed #7 for the week, and CBS tried wooing the cast back. Unfortunately, Howard Hesseman was already contracted to join "One Day at a Time," Richard Sanders had signed for (I believe) the pilot "The Invisible Woman," and Tim Reid was headed to "Simon & Simon." The entire cast was in-demand throughout the 1980s, except for Jan Smithers (who maintained a low profile after deciding to raise her family) and Gary Sandy (a fine actor who was in smaller parts and a lot of theater). So it wasn't surprising that they tried to bring back WKRP in 1991 with a hip, younger cast interacting with the original cast... all of them made cameos or signed-on as regulars EXCEPT Smithers and Sandy! Strange. Unfortunately, 1991 was not the time for a 1978 throwback, and "The New WKRP in Cincinnati" was cancelled in 1993 after two seasons in first-run syndication.
Mary (CBS, 1978)/The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979): In the fall of 1978, MTM conceived a lavish, big-budget variety show for Mary to star in. It was essentially filling the void left by "The Carol Burnett Show," which ended in the spring of 1978. Unfortunately, variety shows were on their way out. Despite some top-notch talent (Dick Shawn, David Letterman, Swoosie Kurtz, Michael Keaton), the show was a flop. It was revived the following year as "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour," an hour-long variety/sketch/sitcom hybrid that also flopped. See for yourself: this possibly unaired episode features a reference to Mary's previous show, a nice sketch with Dick Shawn at 3:40, and an overlong, terrible "Saturday Night Fever" parody later in the show. This unaired episode includes a catchy tribute to Canada, along with lots of Letterman.
The Last Resort (1979): A Gary David Goldberg dry (and not funny) run for Caddyshack, but with waiters instead of caddies? In 2009, I asked Goldberg if he had any copies or memories of working on the show, and his answer (verbatim) was two words: "no idea."
Six O'Clock Follies (1980): a short-lived dramedy from (I think) Norman Steinberg (Blazing Saddles)? This was trying to be MASH, except with Army news reporters instead of doctors. Zzzzzz. Includes a post-"Taxi" Randall Carver, plus a young Laurence Fishburne. Awful theme song by the usually great Joe Cocker.
Paris (CBS, 1979-1980): aka a dry run for "Hill Street Blues." This was first pairing for writers Stephen Bochco and Allan Kozoll, and starred James Earl Jones as a law professor. Apparently not bad, but impossible to find. I'm sure the mis-leading title didn't help.
By 1980, MTM shows had aired for a decade, almost exclusively on CBS. MTM even co-owned the CBS Studio Center in Studio City. In 1981, Grant Tinker assumed the additional role of president of NBC. Soon, NBC was picking up a number of shows from former MTM staffers ("Family Ties," "Cheers," "The Cosby Show"). Tinker was advised to step down as head of MTM to avoid a conflict of interest. His intention was to leave NBC after 5 years (in 1986) and return to MTM, taking over the reins from interim MTM president Arthur Price. However, Price fired many of the key players in the company's ranks, and by 1986 they had few shows left on the schedules. Tinker did step down in 1986 (just as General Electric was taking over NBC's parent company, RCA), but did not return to MTM. He tried creating a syndicated nightly news program in partnership with "USA Today," which was unsuccesful, and then largely retired. Notice how crappy TV has been since then?
Hill Street Blues (NBC, 1981-1987): this show was actually picked up before Tinker joined NBC, and was as groundbreaking as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was a decade earlier. Once again, re-hashing its accomplishments here would be a chore. Go watch it!
Remington Steele (NBC, 1982-1987), St. Elsewhere (NBC, 1982-1988), Newhart (CBS, 1982-1990): More classics.
Bay City Blues (NBC, 1983): from the creators of "Hill Street Blues," but about a minor league baseball team. Weird enough, till you learn that Dennis Franz and Sharon Stone were in the cast.
The Duck Factory (NBC, 1984): early Jim Carrey. One of the last single-cam-with-laugh-track sitcoms I can recall.
Mary (CBS, 1985-1986): a well-intentioned flop.
Fresno (1986): an interesting miniseries parody of "Dallas," with Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman and Charles Grodin.
Beverly Hills Buntz (NBC, 1987-1988): Dennis Franz's character was spun-off from "Hill Street" in this sitcom that feels like a really good episode of "Simon & Simon." With Peter Jurasik.
The Popcorn Kid (1987), Eisenhower and Lutz (1987-1988), Annie McGuire (1988), City (1990), Capital News (1990), You Take the Kids (1990-1991): no idea.
Tattingers (1988-1989): man, do I hate what little I've seen of this show. Stephen Collins plays a restaurateur who is sharing management of Tattinger's with his ex-wife. Get ready to laugh! I hope there were no groceries on-set, because this guy couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. So horrendous. The writers were lame yuppies who were smugly (and wrongly) secure in their hilarity. Gross. Oh, Stephen Collins also apparently has some issues.
FM (1989-1990): the very little I remember of this show is that it took place at a station with the wacky call letters, WIOU. Phil Morris -- son of "Mission: Impossible"'s Greg Morris -- played against type as a shark GM (I think) of the station, and said in an interview at the time that he enjoyed the challenge. (Phil Morris would later find fame as lawyer Jackie Chiles on "Seinfeld"). This seems to be one of the endless dramedies spewing forth for yuppies in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990-1991): another dramedy. Enough, already!
Boogies Diner (1994-1995), The Pretender (1996-2000; season one only), Family Challenge (1995-1997), Sparks (1996-1998), Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. (1996-1997), Goode Behavior (1996-1997), Good News (1997-1998): these don't even sound real. They sound like fake titles you would used within another show.
MTM also distributed a number of shows at one time or another, including...
Xuxa, America's Funniest Home Videos (now owned by Disney-ABC Domestic Television), Graham Kerr, Evening Shade (with CBS Productions), Rescue 911 (with CBS Productions), Peter Gunn, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (with CBS Productions), Shopping Spree, Wait 'til You Have Kids, It Takes Two (1997) and Christy. Also on the list is The Steve Allen Show. I have no idea which iteration of his show this is. However, the only one I know of that was called "The Steve Alen Show" verbatim, aired 1962-64 in syndication and was produced by Westinghouse. Why would MTM distribute reruns of that? And when? I've never seen even a clip of this program, which was apparently a big an influence on future comedians such as David Letterman.
And let's not forget the MTM logo.
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