Live action Tom and Jerry Movie

[Daniel]

Because he's not. Simple as that.

[Dacey]

At the end of the day, T&J: The Movie had barely any impact on pop culture. Making Poochie be a "reference" to him (which of course he isn't!) wouldn't have made any sense when the majority of the audience would have no idea who "Pugsie" was.

[EricJ]

At the end of the day, T&J: The Movie had barely any impact on pop culture. Making Poochie be a "reference" to him (which of course he isn't!) wouldn't have made any sense when the majority of the audience would have no idea who "Pugsie" was.

The point was that it was an in-joke between animation studios.
(And general disgruntlement among classic cartoon-fan animators, since animation in the 00's now has to be about animators making jokes about animation for other animators.)

If the audience was too dopey to laugh at nothing but "Homer becomes a cartoon star" as the premise of the episode, so much the more mischevious for the snarky folks in the know.
And, like most showoff obscure pop-culture Simpsons references, if The Right People Did Get It (as MST3K says), there's that too.
A bit more subtle than the episode where Homer says "Sorry, you must have me confused with Fred Flintstone...", but after a couple seasons, you get USED to it.

I guess cartoon-fan complaints over the Gene Dietch Czech T&J cartoons were "too obscure" for Krusty the Klown's "Worker & Parasite" gag?

[Dacey]

Except that...that wasn’t the joke at all. “Poochie” was a reference to overly hip characters (created by “marketing research committees”) who get added to TV shows in order to spice things up, something that the episode was extremely blatant about.

[Daniel]

Not an "in-joke" it was satire. If Poochie is a reference to anything, it's to the "Cousin Oliver" trope.

[EricJ]

Except that...that wasn’t the joke at all. “Poochie” was a reference to overly hip characters (created by “marketing research committees”) who get added to TV shows in order to spice things up, something that the episode was extremely blatant about.

Sort of...like Puggsy was. And who got over the producers' nervous fears by getting I&S to talk, just like the T&J producers did.
But, like they say, sometimes a backwards baseball cap is just a backwards baseball cap.

(If you're going to watch the Simpsons, or Family Guy...you HAVE to be an overaged ten-yo. who still complains about the scene-specific cartoon and TV indignities he suffered as a kid, well into your thirties and forties. It worked for Matt, after all.
And that's even without the Film Roman connections.)

[Daniel]

Aside from being dogs and both wearing a hat, (Puggsy's would be on the side) they do not share any traits whatsoever. If there was any truth to it, (which there is not) don't you think it would've gotten out by now? Mentioned on the audio commentary? SOMETHING? No, because it's one of *your* crackpot theories.

[Otis8]

I don't get a Pugsie vibe at all from Poochie. They don't even sing the same. Just wow

[Daniel]

A "real" in-joke probably would've seen Itchy and Scratchy turn to one another and say "You can talk!?" Of course any fan would know they actually talked a few times before that episode. There was "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" from the second season and "The Front" from season 4; "Kids say no to drugs" to pick a few. Which throws that hypothetical argument out the window.

And no surprise, this isn't the first time this was brought up. "we" right...

[Ben]

Tom & Jerry talked a couple of times in the original cartoons, too...

[Daniel]

And sang! Is you is or is you ain't my baby!

[Ben]

"Ooh...!"

[Daniel]

Someone edited the trailer and inserted Tom's classic screams and MGM sound effects:



Much better!

[Ben]

Almost there...not quite...but better. Hope it has some effect to get the final mix on the movie more traditional...

[Daniel]

No new footage was shown during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, just the float itself. Here's a vid, terrible quality:



Thought it was pretty cool. The music that can be heard is a track from the soundtrack:



Jazzy, though nothing really special. I want to hear the theme!