Tom and Jerry Tales is an American animated television series featuring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment, it is the seventh installment in the Tom and Jerry franchise as well as the first Tom and Jerry production to emulate the original theatrical shorts created by Hanna-Barbera founders and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio staff William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; it originally ran in the United States from September 23, 2006[1] to March 22, 2008, on Kids' WB. This is the first Tom and Jerry television series from Warner Bros. Animation after parent company Time Warner had bought Turner Broadcasting System, then-owners of the franchise, in 1996. Joseph Barbera served as executive producer for the series before his death on December 18, 2006 (making this the final Tom and Jerry project with his involvement), and received story credit on some episodes of the first season. The series consists of two seasons and 26 episodes, each consisting of three 7-minute segments with a shared theme and approximately the same length as the original theatrical shorts. Some shorts – like The Karate Guard – were produced and completed in 2005 (explaining the 2005 copyright stamp in the end credits of season 1 despite airing during the 2006–2007 season) as part of a 30-plus theatrical cartoon schedule canceled nearly two years after the financial failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action.