View Full Version : Desilu Productions OR MTM Enterprises: Which Production Company Was Better?


Brian Damage
02-18-2012, 11:30 AM
http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/e/e1/Desilu.jpg

* I Love Lucy
* Star Trek
* The Andy Griffith Show
* Mission Impossible
* The Dick Van Dyke Show
* My Three Sons
* Family Affair
* Make Room for Daddy
* The Untouchables
* I Spy
* Whirlybirds
* Harrigan and Son
* Mannix
* The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
* Our Miss Brooks
* The Real McCoys
* Gomer Pyle, USMC
* That Girl
* The Jack Benny Program
* Meet McGraw
* Hogan's Heroes


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Z3846GKFC-k/SKHXBmYCWKI/AAAAAAAAArU/K1tDpkyLnPo/s400/logo.JPG

* The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
* The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978)
* Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers (1974–1975)
* The Texas Wheelers (1974-1975)
* Rhoda (1974-1978)
* Doc (1975-1976)
* Three for the Road (1975)
* Phyllis (1975-1977)
* The Tony Randall Show (1976-1978)
* Lou Grant (1977-1982)
* The Betty White Show (1977-1978)
* The White Shadow (1978-1981)
* WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982)
* Paris (1979-1980)
* The Last Resort (1979)
* Hill Street Blues (1981-1987)
* Remington Steele (1982-1987)
* St. Elsewhere (1982-1988)
* Newhart (1982-1990)
* Bay City Blues (1983)
* The Duck Factory (1984)
* Beverly Hills Buntz (1987-1988)
* Capital News (1990)
* The New WKRP in Cincinnati (1991-1993)
* The Pretender (1996-2000) (Note: Only the first season was produced by MTM, with 20th Century Fox Television assuming the series thereafter.)
* Sparks (1996-1998)
* Good News (1997-1998)

Regulus
02-18-2012, 12:52 PM
Desilu, Hands Down! :thumbsup:

LUNCH
02-18-2012, 12:57 PM
Desilu,almost all the shows they made are either good,very good or excellent.MTM did produce a couple of excellent shows though.

MRPITT
02-18-2012, 01:18 PM
I like them both but I like MTM a little more.

broadmoor
02-18-2012, 02:00 PM
Well, Desilu has a pretty impressive track-record, with a nice variety of above-par shows, so I'll go with them. However, some of the series listed aren't technically Desilu productions, but rather, just happened to be filmed at the Desilu (ex-RKO) studios.

70s show watcher
02-18-2012, 04:35 PM
i liked some of the desilu shows but i liked the mtm shows better

old grouch
02-19-2012, 11:52 AM
As far as producing classic shows, I would say they were neck and neck. Both came into existance for the same reason: a producer wanted to make a vehicle for his talented wife.

ComedyGuy
02-19-2012, 12:03 PM
Desilu for sure but MTM did have a few good shows though.

comedyfreak
02-21-2012, 04:55 AM
Desilu

TV_on_the_Porch
02-21-2012, 05:16 AM
Desilu was actually really really terribly bad at developing its own properties. Many shows on that list had little more connection to Desilu than tenant space. Other than the shows Lucy starred in, Whirlybirds and Those Whiting Girls were typical of the success of Desilu show development until almost the very end when they had sense enough to say yes to Star Trek and Mission: Impossible.

megamanj2004
02-22-2012, 01:41 AM
Desilu Productions seemed to fare better w/ the dramas than w/ the sitcoms that were produced by their production, save for I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show, which starred and was produced by Lucille Ball herself and a handful of sitcoms were produced at Desliu Studios than produced by Desilu itself.

MTM had more variety to them and much more success w/ sitcoms. They also even branched into the game show a bit too since MTM did have some involvement w/ 3 game shows from The former Family Channel (now ABC Family) such as Shopping Spree, Wait Til' You Have Kids and the 1997 revival of It Takes Two, w/ the former-most lasting more than a half to 1 full season and also syndicated a few off-network shows such as America's Funniest Home Videos and Rescue 911, I think?

icecream
02-22-2012, 02:54 AM
They both have good shows but MTM gets the edge because of the cat. :D

bencasey
02-23-2012, 10:19 PM
MTM was the studio for high quality shows for over 2 decades. Even their bomb shows were above average. Desilu had some successful shows but not necessarily quality shows. MTM by far the better of the two. By the way, how many of those shows listed did Desilu actually produce?

1960'sTVfan
02-23-2012, 10:39 PM
Desilu gets my vote, shows from the 50's & 60's are better than shows from the 70's & 80's. The only MTM shows I enjoy are Lou Grant and The White Shadow.

KurtfromPitts
02-25-2012, 11:46 AM
Desilu gets my vote.