Western Animation / The Tom and Jerry Show

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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. Surprisingly, by reviving Tom and Jerry (even in their controversial non-violent format), they captured a massive audience. The New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show was the cornerstone of this success, as it dominated its 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM slot. Despite animation fans today critiquing the lack of violence, the 1975 series was a ratings hit at the time because it satisfied the era's strict "Broadcast Standards and Practices" while still offering recognizable stars. It marked the first time that Tom and Jerry appeared in animated installments produced specifically for television.

The show ran for 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.

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Tropes found in the original 1975 The Tom and Jerry Show:

• Aardvark Trunks: In the episode "Termites Plus Two", the titular duo brings in an anteater as one of the ways to dispose of a termite colony. As the anteater sucks up the insects, its snout becomes bloated. Its mouth also briefly moves to the underside of its snout when Tom helps it hold in a sneeze, caused by a feather that the termites were carrying in order to escape.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Both Tom and Jerry, who are both much friendlier and more considerate here than in their classic incarnations. Tom still chases Jerry on occasion, but it seems to be more for show than anything else, and while they might impose some slapstick on each other when competing over something, it's pretty mild and never done to cause any serious harm.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Tom and Jerry are Friendly Rivals who may compete or go up against one another, but otherwise get along fine.
• Adhesive Bow Tie: Jerry wears one in this series, as opposed to his classic look where he wears nothing.
• Animation Bump: The animation for the syndicated opening is noticeably smoother than that of the first-run series.
• Beanstalk Parody: In the short "Beanstalk Buddies", Tom and Jerry's last bean falls off their plate, through the floor of their shack and into the ground. While they sleep, the bean grows into a beanstalk. Tom and Jerry's shack is carried with the beanstalk into the sky. The next morning, they encounter a giant whose treasures include a talking harp and a goose that lays golden eggs. After they return home with the treasures and the giant's dog, Tom and Jerry enjoy a seven-course meal, made for them by the harp.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: One episode deals with the duo helping a lumberjack whose men have run off because of Bigfoot. When he's finally captured, Bigfoot turns out to be a shrimpy fellow with really big feet. He left society and became a hermit because everyone made fun of his big feet, but he found joy being hired as a park ranger, using his new shoes to stomp out unattended campfires.
• 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.
• Just Following Orders: In the episode "Give 'Em the Air", Tom and Jerry are in an aeroplane race where German pilot Spritz Von Spritz ("The Purple Baron") and his flunky Otto resort to Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat. Spritz secretly boards Tom and Jerry's plane in a sabotage attempt, but when Tom confronts him, he goes to his knees, pleading "I vas only following orders!"
• 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 parents groups, 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: In the episode "Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse", Tom and Jerry both disguise themselves as the titular superheroes and visit Spike 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. Spike 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.
• Ring Around the Collar: In this Hanna-Barbera adaptation of Tom and Jerry, Jerry is fitted with a bow-tie.
• Running Gags: After many mishaps and plenty of damage done to the ship (it sinks 5 times!) in "No Way, Stowaway".
• 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 Spike 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".
• Thundering Footsteps: Bigfoots steps are booming, which combined with a looming shadow implies he's a massive creature, only for the reveal that he's a man barely as tall as Tom who just has disproportionately massive feet.
• Turn Your Head and Cough: The show pulls this in an episode in which Tom and Jerry are animal doctors trying to remove a splinter from the paw of a zoo's lion. Tom dresses up as a lion nurse, and the lion goes gaga. He prepares for an exam and even says "I know. Turn and cough!"
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While some of the original theatrical shorts already portrayed the duo as such, this show ran with it and eventually made them Heterosexual Life-Partners.
• Walk the Plank: In "No Way Stowaways," the two compete to be the first mate of a pirate captain. Tom wins, and the captain orders him to make Jerry walk the plank. Secretly, Tom throws a cannonball into the ocean to make the captain think it was Jerry.

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