Having purchased rights from MGM to produce new Tom & Jerry cartoons for TV, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, T&J's creators, screened some of their best MGM theatrical Tom & Jerry shorts for ABC executives. The executives laughed heartily at the antics of the cat and mouse, then sighed because it was a shame that network Broadcast Standards and Practices ruled out such violence on Saturday mornings. Thus arose The New Tom & Jerry Show.