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Regardless of how many negative posts, criticisms, rants and insults of it that come out of the woodwork, Hanna-Barbera's 1975 version of Tom & Jerry shall always hold dear to me! To each his own...

I've been a fan of it ever since 1979, when they first aired locally in my hometown, N'Awlins, every Monday-Friday afternoon @ 3:30 on ABC (now Fox) affiliate WVUE-TV Channel 8, on The Tom & Jerry Hour. It was a mixed bag of T&J cartoons, theatrical (1940 to 1967) and TV (1975 to 1977). This was how I first learned of these made-for-TV T&Js from H-B. The theatricals were great, but I (being a child of the 1970s and a connoisseur of Hanna-Barbera's mid-to-late 1970s work) somehow grew more attached to the 1970s version. Sometimes WVUE aired the main title sequence from The Tom & Jerry Show separately from the 48 7-minute T&J stories, sometimes they aired the end credits.

I later read in Stuart Fischer's book Kids' TV: The First 25 Years that they originally aired in 1975 on The (New) Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show. I remember thinking, "Ah! So that's where they came from!" This is also how I learned of The New T&J's originally pairing with The Great Grape Ape, which I only discovered via repeats on ABC Sunday Mornings! (Yep, I missed out on the original run on ABC, and I had just come into it.)

I decided that the 1970s T&J was my sole favorite, and faithfully followed its exploits from its first local airing on WVUE to its re-airing in the 1980s on WNOL-TV Channel 38 (now a WB affiliate) and Superstation WTBS, which, on Tom & Jerry And Friends, showed 7-minute 1975 T&J cartoons framed in-between main and end title sequences! I also realize that a huge number of serious animation fans have and continue to liken New Tom & Jerry to New Coke, calling it a cheap imitation of the originals, and thus giving them a bad rep over the years. I don't think it's all the 1975 version of T&J so much; I think a great many 'toon fans have prided themselves on being hooked on the originals and declaring any version out of that scope as inferior.

Hence my web presence, The New Tom & Jerry Info Site @ http://www.1975tomjerry.50megs.com/ , which I launched in March 1997, to show all and sundry that there was someone out there who took interest in them and, to a degree at least, put an end to all the bad press they've been getting. Until January 2004 (so far), Boomerang from Catoon Network has done the 1975 T&J's justice by showing them periodically on Boomerang Saturdays (1976, 1977 and 1978). They neglected to show them in April 2004 during the weekly Friday T&J marathons; they seem to be limited to the 1940-67 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatricals, Filmation's 1980-82 version (The Tom & Jerry Comedy Show) and that 1990-93 Fox revival Tom & Jerry Kids (that gray stripe between Tom's eyes was not his best feature, IMHO!). But CN more than made up for this with the addition of the 1975 T&Js to their rotation in May 2005.

Like I said, to each his own. Everyone here has his/her favorite version of Tom & Jerry; mine is and shall forever remain H-B's "black sheep" 1975 made-for-TV version. Just because a Tom & Jerry cartoon, be it old or new, is nonviolent does not mean it cannot be watched and enjoyed. (I mean, check out the sports-themed New T&Js! And Spike! And Hoyt Curtin's jazzy underscore!)

So, if you will, sing along!!!

Set your dial for a while! Have a laugh, wear a smile! It's The Tom & Jerry Show! You'll begin with a grin When you first tune us in On The Tom & Jerry Show!

Introducing that world-famous cat...Tom! And that magnificent mouse...Jerry!

(instrumental solo)

Lots of zing, lots to sing! Everything's gonna swing! So, get ready - here we go! Big or small, short or tall, You will all have a ball On The Tom & Jerry Show!

"Thank you. Thank you very much, and a most cordially welcome to a brand-new and, we hope, very exciting show for you. It's called 'The Joker's Wild.' It's a show where Knowledge Is King and Lady Luck Is Queen, and where winning players can win up to $25,000 in cash and prizes!" Those were the first lines ever spoken by Jack Barry on the network daytime premeire of "The Joker's Wild", which occurred @ 10:00 (EST), Monday morning, September 4, 1972 on CBS Television (just before Goodson-Todman's "The [New] Price Is Right" and Heatter-Quigley's "Gambit"!). And, for the first time since their original airing, Game Show Network has managed to unearth more episodes of its pioneering CBS Daytime run (Sept. 4, 1972 - June 13, 1975; 636 episodes) for endless repeats, starting with PREMEIRE WEEK on Monday, December 4! I was so enthused, I taped the CBS series premeire TWICE! It was interesting to see the evolution of "The Joker's Wild" in its initial CBS heyday before it would gain even more fame in its 1977-1986 syndicated run. Until recently, only the final CBS season of TJW (1974-1975) was assumed to exist, with the first 2 years erased by CBS for reuse. But now, the earliest shows has been recently uncovered, much to my amazement. I was always curious and anxious about seeing this version, and had serious doubts about the destruction of all of the first 2 seasons (I'd hoped a surviving CBS "Joker" episode from '72 or '73 might show up on GSN's "Game Of The Week"!), having read about it umpteen times in books and on The 'Net; I've never seen the original network edition of TJW (I was but a wee waif when it started), but, thanks to GSN, my doubts were confirmed, and I finally get my chance! Kudos to The Eye Network for preserving "The Joker's Wild" in its archives! This is a GOOD show, playing every Monday-Friday @ 11 AM EST and 3 PM EST on GSN, and very essential for game show enthusiasts like me who are getting a taste of it for the first time. Please watch!