The Tom and Jerry Show (1975 TV series)

The Tom and Jerry Show, also known as The New Tom and Jerry Show, is an animated television series produced for Saturday mornings by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television in 1975 for ABC based on the theatrical shorts and characters Tom and Jerry. This series marked the first time ever that Tom and Jerry appeared in animated installments produced exclusively for television.

Plot
Here, in a much toned down, non-violent, Yogi Bear and Boo Boo-esque format, the long-popular Tom and Jerry, after years of rivalry, have finally become the best of friends in episodes wherein they roamed the world competing in sports, enduring on-the-job misadventures, running afoul of dastardly villains, solving mysteries and helping others. Some of the time, they are pretty competitive against each other. Quacker appears only once in this series, with Don Messick voicing the duckling. The characters Toodles Galore, Butch, Lightning, Topsy, Meathead, Tyke, Tuffy, Mammy Two Shoes, Joan and George do not appear in this show. Also, Jerry wears a red bow tie.

Cast

 * John Stephenson – Tom, Jerry (vocal effects only)
 * Don Messick, Joe E. Ross, John Stephenson – Spike

Broadcast history
A total of 48 7-minute New Tom & Jerry cartoons were produced in 1975 and originally aired in these following formats on ABC Saturday morning:


 * The New Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show (September 6, 1975 – September 4, 1976, ABC Saturday 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. [EDT])
 * The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show (September 11, 1976 – November 27, 1976, ABC Saturday 8:00 – 9:00 A.M. [EDT])
 * The Tom and Jerry/Mumbly Show (December 4, 1976 – September 3, 1977, ABC Saturday 8:00 – 8:30 A.M. [EDT])
 * The Tom and Jerry Show (international re-runs)

Immediately following the end of the original ABC run, these cartoons were edited within main and end title credits and added to run with theatrical-era MGM Tom and Jerry cartoons from 1940 to 1967 for syndication by MGM until 1986 (H-B retained ancillary rights to the Mumbly and Grape Ape segments, with syndication rights to those segments going to Worldvision Enterprises in 1979 – 1991).

Since 1986, it has been rebroadcast on TBS, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Canada's Teletoon and Teletoon Retro (the former 3 networks are part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System, which purchased the pre-1986 MGM library in 1986 and Hanna-Barbera in 1991).

The cartoons have been shown with the main and end title credits intact on TBS and on the Teletoon channels, whereas Cartoon Network and Boomerang air the cartoons without the opening/closing graphics.

DVD release

 * The premiere episode (show #TJGA-1, September 6, 1975) of The New Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show has been released as part of Warner Home Video's Saturday Morning Cartoons – 1970s Volume 2 on October 27, 2009; it marked the first home video release of the 1975 made-for-TV version of Tom and Jerry.
 * Another cartoon, episode #80-15, "Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse", is included as part of the Tom and Jerry: Deluxe Anniversary Collection, which was released by Warner Home Video on June 22, 2010.


 * On August 12, 2015, Warner Home Video will release the complete series of the show on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.