MTM, the television production company headed by Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker, had a signoff card at the end of each of its shows that was a parody of MGM’s “roaring lion.” Originally, they depicted a little cat in the circle, saying “meow.”
As time passed, humorous variations on the original appeared in different MTM shows. Here are the ones I can think of:
The White Shadow: The cat is dribbling a tiny basketball.
Newhart: Same cat, only here we hear Bob Newhart’s voice saying “meow.”
St. Elsewhere: The cat’s wearing a surgical mask and hospital smock (except in the final episode, where the cat was lying lifeless out of the circle hooked up to an IV, and we hear an EKG going “beep…beep…” followed by the “flatline” tone).
Hill Street Blues: ISTR the cat wearing a blue policeman’s cap.
Who can help me complete this list?