The 15 Best 'Tom and Jerry' Episodes for Your Saturday Morning

• Original release date: August 31, 1946
• IMDB rating: 8.1/10

Alright, so imagine your chillin with your significant other and you're trying to add to the romantic vibe by serenading your partner. All is going well, until a random third-wheel comes out of nowhere to kill the vibe. That's exactly what happened in Solid Serenade—Tom was hanging out with his girlfriend trying to swoon her with a rendition of "Is You Is, or Is You Ain't My Baby," and because Jerry is annoyed with the singing, he throws a pie in Tom's face. Tom gets pissed, starts chasing Jerry, and you know the rest.

• Original release date: July 9, 1949
• IMDB rating: 8.1/10

In Heavenly Puss, Tom is chasing Jerry (again) and in the process he gets squashed by a piano, dies, and goes to heaven. Needless to say, Tom has met his maker, and is at the point where he has to see if he qualifies to get through the pearly gates.

Slight Spoiler: He doesn't. And it's all because of Jerry.

• Original release date: January 30, 1954
• IMDB rating: 7.1/10

Thomas aka Tom is a major sellout—no loyalty whatsoever. We talk a lot about Squidward, but at least Squidward never really threw SpongeBob under the bus like that. That isn't the case with Tom. In this episode, Tom and Jerry are in the wild wild west. Tom's owner (who's a ranch cook) tells Tom that he won't be getting any food unless he gets rid of Jerry. So, Tom makes a deal with Jerry to split the food with him if he "scrams." The two fake a fight to make it seem like Tom scares Jerry away, but when it comes time to split the food, Tom refuses to honor the deal which is super messed up. Guess all really is fair in love and war.

• Original release date: April 8, 1950
• IMDB rating: 7.4/10

Confession—in order to fully understand this episode, we did Google whether or not lions and cats like each other, and what would happen if they were in the same space together. We did this because in Jerry and the Lion, Tom angers a circus lion that has become friends with Jerry. While a friendship between a lion and a mouse is unusual, they become close because Jerry tries to find food for the lion and a way to help it return to Africa, and Tom can't mind his business, thus leading to the lion not liking him. Typically a lion wouldn't pay much attention to a cat, but Tom made it a point to bring the attention to himself. Oh well.

• Original release date: May 18, 1946
• IMDB rating: 7.8/10

Fun fact: Jerry's nephew Nibbles makes his debut in this episode, which causes some problems. Tom is already in a bad mood because he's having a bad dream about Jerry, but then he finds out Nibbles has been stealing milk from his bowl which makes him even more irate. We can kind of understand Tom's rage in this one—that's the equivalent of a co-worker taking a sip of your drink. Have you ever had that happen? It's maddening!

• Original release date: June 29, 1946
• IMDB rating: 7.9/10

In Trap Happy, Tom has had it up to here with Jerry, and decides he's going to call an exterminator to get rid of him once and for all. To Tom's surprise, they send a cat instead of a regular human being to get the job done. Despite the cat possessing various tools that should allow him to easily capture Jerry...he doesn't come close. At all. Guess he needs to have his mouse exterminator badge stripped.

• Original release date: December 6, 1941
• IMDB rating: 7.9/10

The holidays are supposed to be peaceful and relaxing, but as you all know, sometimes there's that person who wants to start some mess. As usual, Tom and Jerry are fighting—this time under the Christmas tree. The two go back and forth and forth and back before they both finally come to their senses and realizes it's bit ridiculous to be doing all that fighting the night before X-Mas. At least give it a two day break (which they do).

• Original release date: September 16, 1950
• IMDB rating: 7.9/10

Not sure how Tom landed the job of a symphony conductor in the first place, but nonetheless he's the head honcho in charge of the Hollywood Bowl in California. All seems to be going well with the orchestra until Jerry shows up and decides he's going to "help" Tom. Perhaps things might have turned out better had Tom not whacked Jerry with his baton, but we can understand the frustration because Jerry—why would you do that yo?

• Original release date: April 26, 1947
• IMDB rating: 8.2/10

We're on Tom's side again with this one because Jerry was out of line the whole episode. Here's the deal—Tom's performing a piano solo at a show in Mumbai, and Jerry (who was hiding inside the piano) wakes up and decides to start "conducting" Tom in order to throw him off his game. We probably would have chased after Jerry ourselves if he tried to do something like that to us, so we're with Tom.

• Original release date: July 22, 1944
• IMDB rating: 7.8/10

This is the episode where Jerry hit Tom with a wild card. You see, Jerry helps Spike the Bulldog escape from a dogcatcher's van, which leads to the two becoming friends. Grateful that Jerry saved his life, Spike offers to help Jerry anytime he's need of help. The two decide that the help signal is whistle from Jerry, and unbeknownst to Tom, he has to start getting through Spike if he wants to mess with Jerry, which puts a roadblock in his plans to say the least.

• Original release date: January 27, 1944
• IMDB rating: 7.4/10

Tom is feeling himself when he puts on a dapper green and orange suit that has him looking fresher than Cary Grant. He's bopping, flirting with the ladies and even getting a little girlfriend, but even that isn't enough to stop him from chasing Jerry. To be fair, Jerry shouldn't have been there interrupting his date in the first place, and he probably wouldn't have left Tom alone even if Tom had ignored him. Suffice to say this courtship was doomed from the start.

• Original release date: January 27, 1944
• IMDB rating: 7.4/10

In Cue Ball Cat, Tom's minding his business playing pool, until he decides not to mind business anymore because he discovers Jerry sleeping in the corner pocket. You can probably guess what happens next. Tom gets upset, he starts to chase Jerry around the pool hall, Jerry evades him—wash, rinse, repeat.

• Original release date: July 18, 1942
• IMDB rating: 7.7/10

One of the first episodes of Tom & Jerry, the two are at a bowling alley and are supposed to be having their respective definitions of fun we guess (fun as in getting on each other's nerves). Tom and Jerry are slipping on the lanes they aren't supposed to be walking on in the first place, with Jerry eventually ending up where the bowling pins are. Of course, Tom decides he's gonna try to take Tom and down by knocking him over with the pins, but the attempt doesn't quite go as expected.

• Original release date: 1945
• IMDB rating: 7.8/10

Jerry grows tired of living the country life, and decides to go to Manhattan for a little more excitement. So he leaves Tom a note and heads for the Big Apple. The experience, however, isn't anything close to what Jerry expects as instead of being chased just by Tom, he's now chased by multiple cats, cars, humans, and other objects. Realizing he's not cut out for the city life after all, Jerry packs it up and heads back home.

• Original release date: December 11, 1948
• IMDB rating: 7.7/10

When Tom is threatened to get thrown out of the house by Mammy Two-Shoes, he decides to use the opportunity to get rid of Jerry. What Tom doesn't understand though is that Mammy Two-Shoes said no more messes regardless of who made it, or else he has to leave the house. So yeah, it doesn't work out the way he wanted it to.