The Tom and Jerry Show is just what it sounds like: a TV show based on MGM's classic Tom and Jerry cartoons, made by Hanna-Barbera, the company whose owners created the franchise. The show, which originally aired on ABC in 1975, was first aired together with The Great Grape Ape. It starred Tom and Jerry, now made friends (or at least Friendly Rivals), as they competed in sports, solved mysteries, ran from villains or did whatever else made hilarity ensue.
Needless to say, some fans were not pleased (though it still has its followers) and the show only ran two seasons (only one of which was new episodes) before being sent to reruns. In the late 70s and The '80s, select cartoons from this show were routinely mixed in with the classic theatrical shorts in local UHF stations' airings of Tom and Jerry cartoons; and even today, they are sometimes mixed in with other Tom and Jerry shorts that play on Cartoon Network and Boomerang (often also incorporating shorts from the 1980 Filmation series).
Another show with the same title was made in 2014 and aired on Cartoon Network coming on the heels of 2006's Tom and Jerry Tales. Unlike previous shows, this show was made with Adobe Flash but otherwise follows the usual formula of the series.
Hanna-Barbera would later go on to make another Tom and Jerry series in 1990, entitled Tom & Jerry Kids.
Tropes found in the original 1975 The Tom and Jerry Show:
- Animation Bump: The animation for the syndicated opening is noticeably smoother than that of the first-run series.
- Continuity Nod: It may be considered this for those that recall some of the older shorts where Tom and Jerry worked together happily. As it certainly didn't originate in this show.
- Cryptid Episode:
- Bigfoot tracks are actually left by a diminutive hillbilly hermit who lives all alone because he's tired of people making fun of his giant feet.
- The "never before photographed, fuzzy-feathered Pipsquacker Bird" might also count.
- Flat Joy: In an episode from the 1975 series, Robin Hood (here called Robin Ho Ho) tries to get his Merry Men to laugh, and they all respond with a mirthless "ha ha ha...ho ho ho...hee hee hee." This kind of laugh becomes the Running Gag of the whole episode right up to the end, when the Merry Men break out of this habit and have a truly joyous laugh at Robin Hood's expense.
- Friendly Rivalry: The titular duo in many cases.
- Lighter and Softer: There's little to no violence and the main duo were friends instead of the enemies they were in the originals. This was due to the series being made in The '70s, when animation aimed at children was heavily policed by Moral Guardians, and the older, more violent cartoons were Bowdlerized to hell and back. This didn't change until the advent of Merchandise-Driven cartoons in The '80s.
- Miles Gloriosus: In "The Super Cape Caper", Super Cape is a cowardly expy of Superman, so Tom and Jerry try to boost his confidence.
- Repetitive Audio Glitch: From the episode "Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse", Tom and Jerry both disguise themselves as the titular superheroes and visit the bulldog whose beauty sleep is being interrupted by their watching the titular show, with both characters lip-syncing to a record playing out the voices of the superheroes. The bulldog catches on that he's being duped when the record player hidden behind Tom's back skips on "Cosmic Zinger", and so he decides to fix them by having the record player speed up so that Tom and Jerry are lip-syncing faster and at a higher pitch.
- Running Gags: After many mishaps and plenty of damage done to the ship (it sinks 5 times!)
- Show Within a Show: Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse, from the episode of the same name. The characters even appear outside their television show to give the bulldog a taste of their (real) power in order to defend Tom and Jerry who want to peacefully watch their show.
- Strictly Formula: Outside the changes to Tom and Jerry, the show stuck to the usual formula of Tom and Jerry competing over things or when they're not competing, being friends, and when there is a villain, the duo often runs from them.
- Superhero Episode: "Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse" and "The Super Cape Caper".
