Tom & Jerry

Tom & Jerry
Premiere	September 25, 1965
Finale	October 17, 1968
Creator	William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Network/Provider	CBS
Style	30-minute animated comedy
Company	MGM Television
Seasons	2
Episodes	26
Origin	USA

This article is on the series of repackaged theatrical cartoons that originally aired in the 1960s. For other Tom & Jerry series see Tom and Jerry.

Tom & Jerry was the television run of the classic Oscar-winning theatrical shorts produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's cartoon studio from 1940 to 1957. They were created by William Hanna (who timed each cartoon) and Joseph Barbera (who storyboarded them). It aired on CBS from 1965 to 1972.

Puss Gets The Boot was the first film starring the blue-gray cat who was named Jasper in the short and the brown unnamed mouse. It was the first of some 170 cartoons in a 17-year span, garnishing 15 Oscar nominations and winning seven. It was basically the standard cat-and-mouse chase routines with no-holds-barred cartoon violence. Typical hunter-vs.-prey animosity certainly ruled, but there were times when Tom and Jerry could cooperate. They rarely talked, letting the action speak louder (Bill Hanna provided Tom's voice in some early cartoons and did all the gasps and screams). The episode Puss Gets The Boot was first aired when the cartoons went into syndication in 1978.

Tom's usual nemesis was Butch, a bulldog later named Spike. Jerry would usually cross Tom with Spike through misunderstanding through his own machinations. Other noted continuities had Jerry acquiring a tagalong waif, Nibbles (named Tuffy in the comic books) and the two usually took on the persona of Mousketeers (some two years before Disney would capitalize on it for The Mickey Mouse Club. Classical music played a notable part, as Tom would show off his prowess with the piano in Cat Concerto and Johann Mouse (both Oscar winners).

MGM closed down their cartoon studio in 1957 (Hanna and Barbera would open their own studio by that time) and in 1961 farmed out Tom & Jerry cartoon work to Rembrandt Studios in Czechoslovakia, helmed by Gene Deitch. In 1964, Chuck Jones' SIB/Tower-12 Studio was commissioned to make a batch of T&J cartoons.

The first two seasons of the CBS run showcased cartoons from 1946 to 1955 (although 1941's Twas The Night Before Christmas was screened the 1965 holiday season). The half hour has two T&J cartoons, bumpers by Chuck Jones, and the middle feature had MGM cartoons starring Droopy and some one-shot cartoons. In 1967, CBS moved the show to Sunday mornings at 9 AM Eastern. In 1968, the Deitch and Jones cartoons were added to the mix. The show continued its run to September 3, 1972.

Numerous made-for-TV revivals followed, and a theatrical feature-length Tom & Jerry movie was released in 1992.

In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

DVD Releases

Title	Release Date	#
The Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 1	October 26, 2004	2
The Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 2	October 25, 2005	2
The Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3	September 11, 2007	2
The Tom & Jerry Deluxe Collection	July 13, 2010	3