The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show

Infobox Television
show_name = The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show


show_name_2 = The New Adventures of Tom and Jerry
genre =
creator =
director = Bob Arkwright
John Armstrong
Kent Butterworth
Ed Friedman
Lou Kachivas
Marsh Lamore
Ernie Schmidt
Kay Wright
Lou Zukor
art_director = Bob Kline
developer =
presenter = Filmation
MGM Television
starring =
voices = Frank Welker, Lou Scheimer
narrated =
theme_music_composer = Ray Ellis (Pseudonym "Yvette Blais/Jeff Michael")
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer =
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons =
num_episodes =
list_episodes =
executive_producer =
producer = Norm Prescott
Lou Scheimer
supervising_producer =
asst_producer =
co-producer =
editor = Ron Fedele
Joe Gall
Hector Gika
Tom Gleason
Jim Puente
Robert Waxman
story_editor =
location =
camera = F.T. Ziegler
Dean Teves
David Link
Dan Larsen
Lindsay Rogers
Gary Gunther
Steven Wilzbach
Roncie Hantke
Jeff Mellquist
David Valentine
Craig Littell-Herrick
Richard Haas
runtime =
network = CBS
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run =
first_aired = September 6, 1980
last_aired = September 4, 1982
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website =
imdb_id = 0282315
tv_com_id =

"The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show" is an animated television program produced by Filmation for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Television in 1980, on CBS for Saturday mornings.

Description

This was the fifth incarnation of the popular "Tom & Jerry" cartoon franchise, and the second made-for-television production. The series was notable in being the first attempt since the closing of the MGM studio in the 1950s to restore the original format of the cat and mouse team. After the original 114 theatrical shorts run of the Hanna-Barbera directed series, the characters were leased to other animation studios who changed the designs, and eliminated all of the supporting characters. The previous made for TV Tom and Jerry Show for the ABC Network in 1975 was produced by Hanna and Barbera, but had made the cat and mouse friends in most of the episodes, due to the reaction against violence in cartoons.

The version by Filmation (Hanna-Barbera's leading competitor for TV animation at the time) was able to restore the familiar slapstick chase format, and reintroduced not only Spike, Tyke and Nibbles, but also some of the other MGM stars. Half hour shows would consist of two 7 minute Tom & Jerry episodes, plus one Droopy Dog cartoon in the middle, featuring some other characters such as Barney Bear. Spike from Tom and Jerry was used in many of these Droopy episodes as well, filling in for the other "Spike" bulldog created by Tex Avery for the old Droopy films, who was not used as a separate character here. The villainous wolf from the classic series was also included, and named "Slick Wolf". Still missing was the "Red Hot Riding Hood" character, who would not reappear until the following made for TV series, Tom & Jerry Kids, in 1990.

The show's opening begins with Tom chasing Jerry through a blank yellow screen. They continue chasing, as all of the other stars build a giant "Tom & Jerry" sign. (Similar to the second opening of Tom & Jerry Kids). The familiar rotating executive producer credit of Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott briefly runs as Tom chases Jerry past the screen, knocking things over and running over others along the way.After the opening sequence would begin the wraparound segments, hosted by Droopy. He would start by painting the whole background with a single large brush stroke (making stylistic use of Filmation's characteristic "limited animation" technique), and he and the other speaking characters would engage in brief comedic sketches. (Like Droopy's opening poem "Roses are red, violets are blue, painting's my job, that's what I do; cute and somewhat wet").

In addition to the animation, the show was characterized by very limited music score; all of the episodes, both Tom & Jerry and Droopy, used the same stock, mostly created new for the series, but consisting of only a handful of largely synthesized tunes, either with minor variations or played at different speeds or pitches. This did match the chase scenes, but gave the episodes a very monotonous soundtrack, making these episodes "stand out" to many "Tom & Jerry" viewers when they aired. Where the original series and the third series by Chuck Jones would have favorable endings for Tom occasionally, this series followed the second series by Gene Deitch in never having definite "wins" for Tom (although in "When The Rooster Crows", he and Jerry ended off mutual). Also similar to the Deitch films is the character design, in them being drawn similar to the original, but still slightly different. The Droopy episodes would usually feature Slick and sometimes Spike being antagonists to Droopy. Barney had miscellaneous roles, such as being the boss of movie studio guard Droopy in "Star Crossed Wolf", and a frightful companion to Droopy in a haunted house in "Scared Bear".

The series lasted for two seasons (with the second season consisting of reruns) and the individual episodes were eventually added to syndicated "Tom & Jerry" packages, and also occasionally appeared on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Most voices were by Frank Welker and Lou Scheimer.

Rights

The show is currently owned by Warner Bros. Television (through its Turner Entertainment subsidiary). As of 2007, there are no plans to release the series on DVD.

Episodes

01 "A Connecticut Mouse in King Arthur's Court"

02 "Cat in the Fiddle"

03 "Farewell Sweet Mouse"

04 "Get Along Little Jerry"

05 "Gopher it, Tom"

06 "Heavy Booking"

07 "Invasion of the Mouse Snatchers"

08 "Jerry's Country Cousin"

09 "Kitty Hawk Kitty"

10 "Mechanical Failure"

11 "No Museum Peace"

12 "Most Wanted Cat"

13 "New Mouse in the House"

14 "When the Rooster Crows"

15 "Superstocker"

16 "Under the Big Top"

17 "The Trojan Dog"

18 "The Puppy Sitters"

19 "The Plaid Baron Strikes Again"

20 "Mouse Over Miami"

21 "The Great Mousini"

22 "Pie in the Sky"

23 "Stage Struck"

24 "Spike's Birthday"

25 "Snow Brawl"

26 "School for Cats"

27 "Say What?"

28 "The Incredible Shrinking Cat"

29 "Save That Mouse"

30 "Pied Piper Puss"

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282315 Internet Movie Database]