The Tom and Jerry Show is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Renegade Animation. It is based on the Tom and Jerry characters and theatrical cartoon series created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera before their deaths on March 22, 2001 and December 18, 2006, respectively. The series first premiered on the Canadian channel Teletoon on March 1, 2014 and began airing on Cartoon Network as a television series in the United States on April 9, 2014. Starting with the episode Say Uncle, it is now a web series on Boomerang's streaming service, though it continues to air on television on international Boomerang channels. A fourth and final season of the series was announced on July 24, 2018.
Plot
The series simply follows the antics of Tom in his pursuit to catch Jerry. Episodes each consisting of two segments can follow one of these scenarios:
Tom and Jerry's typical antics in a modern-day urban setting.
Tom and Jerry being pets to two witches named Beatie and Hildie.
Tom and Jerry working together as detectives in Tolucaville by operating a detective agency called "The Cat and Mouse Detectives", complete with a narrator.
Jerry living in a lab with a rat companion named Napoleon with Tom being an alley cat.
Tom working as a butler in a Downton Abbey property.
Tom and Jerry living in a scary Transylvanian environment in a parody of Van Helsing.
Characters
Main
Tom – A blue/gray cat who is always chasing Jerry.
Jerry – A brown mouse who is always running away from Tom.
Spike – A muscular bulldog whom Tom is frequently at odds with.
The Tom and Jerry Show was initially announced to consist of 26 episodes divided into 52 11-minute segments to air on Cartoon Network, with the intention to remain faithful to the original theatrical short series. The show was originally intended to premiere on Cartoon Network in 2013 before being pushed back to April 9, 2014. From the second season onward, the art style of the show was retooled and the series running time for the segments is now 7 minutes to more closely resemble the original MGM shorts. Because of the running time switch, the half-hour episodes contain 3 segments instead of 2. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Renegade Animation, with Renegade handling the actual production work under the supervision of Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postelwaite. Renegade Animation is also known for producing Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and The Mr. Men Show. It is the second Tom and Jerry television series produced in the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and the first to be animated in Adobe Flash. It is also the second made-for-television iteration of the cartoons to emulate the theatrical shorts and the fifth made-for-television Tom and Jerry production. It is also the longest running Tom and Jerry series, overtaking Tom & Jerry Kids.
Reception
The series has received generally mixed to favorable reviews, with criticism primarily directed at the switch from traditional hand-drawn animation to flash animation since the previous Tom and Jerry TV series, Tom and Jerry Tales.
The Tom and Jerry Show premiered on March 1, 2014 on Teletoon in Canada. The series premiered on April 9, 2014 on Cartoon Network in the United States. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it began airing on April 12, 2014 on Boomerang, and also on CITV in 2016. It premiered on April 21, 2014 on Cartoon Network in India. In Australia, Cartoon Network premiered it on May 5, 2014. The series began airing on Boomerang in the United States on January 5, 2015. In Indonesia, it is currently broadcast on GTV since February 13, 2017 and on RCTI since August 13, 2017. In China, it is broadcast on China Central Television. In Japan from September 23, 2014 NHK BS Premium broadcast it with the title New Tom and Jerry Show on December 15, 2015.
