Talking Tom & Friends (show)

Talking Tom & Friends (previously written as Talking Tom and Friends until 2021) is an animated television web series and sitcom created by Slovenian media company Outfit7 and based on the successful media franchise of the same name. It follows the many adventures of Talking Tom and his friends Ben, Angela, Ginger and Hank. It started off as a YouTube web series. Its incredible success has brought the show to TV stations and streaming services around the world by 2016. Season 1 contains 52 episodes, each around 11 minutes long, while later seasons of them have 26 episodes each. Starting with a pilot episode in 2014, it has run for 4 full seasons, with Season 5 currently airing on YouTube.

History
On October 7, 2013, Outfit7 announced that they have hired American animator Joe Ansolabehere to create a 52/11-minute CGI comedy TV series based on the Talking Tom franchise, under the name "Tom on the Road." The series was to star Tom, Ben, Angela, and Ginger, and was to premiere by the end of 2014. On March 3, 2014, Kidscreen Magazine announced that the series would go by the name of "Talking Tom and Friends," and instead be produced by BRB International's creative studio Screen 21.

The pilot episode officially released on December 23, 2014, as a CGI animated series which was produced by Austrian company arx anima, and introduced a new character named Hank.

On February 23, 2015, Outfit7 announced the full series was to premiere on April 30, 2015, with new episodes launching weekly. The first season ran from April 30, 2015 to December 22, 2016. It won Best Animated Series at the 2016 Cablefax Awards and so, on August 18, 2016, the show was greenlit for a second season with another 52 episodes, but the final product only had 26 episodes with the remaining episodes becoming Season 3. Season 2 aired from June 15, 2017 to March 8, 2018, Season 3 aired from May 10, 2018 to December 27, 2018, Season 4 aired from May 16, 2019 to March 27, 2020, and Season 5 is currently airing.

Synopsis
This series follows Talking Tom & his friends' everyday lives. Tom and his nerdy business partner, Ben, who constantly develops mobile apps and other inventions to reach fame and fortune and try to show off to the world, but it always backfires. His feisty girlfriend, Angela, tries to be a singing star, no matter what she does to achieve it. His cheeky neighbour, Ginger, pops by extremely frequently to mess around with mischief up his sleeve. His goofy best friend and roommate, Hank, is a couch potato who watches TV a lot and is a super fan of his favorite TV show: Bongo and McGillicuddy. And the formerly diss-driven popstar singer Becca Sparkles has become Angela's new roommate and her best friend and also seemingly has a crush on Hank. However, lurking in the shadows is trouble in all shapes and sizes, whether it's the evil CEO, the evil mad scientists Mel and Flo, Tom's mysterious new neighbour Roy the Rakoon, or just a mishap in Ben's newest creation, the gang will have fun no matter what, and always remember the one thing that keeps them together: friendship never ends!

Broadcast
The series premeired on YouTube in December 22, 2014 with the pilot. The series officially premeired in April 30, 2015.

In January 2018, Outfit7 made a agreement with Netflix to air the series. Seasons 1 and 2 premeired on Netflix on February 1, 2018. The third season started being added to Netflix in 2019. Season 4 was released on Netflix in the start of Summer of 2020.

Season 5 was added to Netflix in September 1, 2021. Season 5 has 26 episodes with 22 aired on YouTube, and 11 aired on Netflix.

Outfit7 made agreements with Hulu, Apple and Amazon to air the series. Hulu added the series during September 2019, Apple released the series on iTunes in April 5, 2020 and Amazon Prime Video added the series during late 2020.

iTunes released the first 15 volumes when it was added in April 5, 2020. Volumes 15 to 21 were released during September 4, 2020 to November 28, 2020. Volumes 22-23 were released during December 2020. Volume 24 was released in January 2021. Apple released volumes 25-41 from March 2021 to September 12, 2021. Volume 42 was released in September 24, 2021.

The first 4 seasons were released on Amazon Prime Video in late 2020. Season 5 started airing in September 21, 2021.

The first 2 seasons, along with 22 episodes of Season 3, were added to Hulu on Sep. 2019. The last 4 episodes of Season 3 were released in January 2020. Season 4 started airing on December 2020, and Season 5 premeired on June 1, 2021.

The series was released on DVD in 2017. The first 3 seasons were released on DVD in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The entire fourth season was released on DVD in September 11, 2021.

Seasons

 * Season 1 (2014-2016)
 * Season 2 (2017-2018)
 * Season 3 (2018)
 * Season 4 (2019-2020)
 * Season 5 (2020-present)

Characters

 * Tom
 * Ben
 * Hank
 * Ginger
 * Angela
 * Becca Sparkles
 * Jeremy
 * Roy Rakoon
 * CEO
 * Dr. Internet Doctor
 * MC
 * Darren
 * Ronnie
 * Rhonda
 * The Landlord
 * Mrs. Vanthrax
 * Xenon
 * Ricky de Luna
 * Santa
 * Bongo
 * McGillicuddy
 * Mel
 * Flo
 * Director
 * Wesley
 * Boomerang
 * Will Zee
 * Nigel

Trivia

 * Early on in the series, Talking Tom and Friends existed as a reality show within the fictional series. This is shown via the series' numerous fourth wall breaks, including the times where the characters would speak to the camera in the bathroom. This was entirely cut out by the end of Season 1, with fourth wall breaks becoming much rarer.
 * However, the fourth wall breaks from later seasons that were never shown on YouTube, were shown on the Netflix version. They are also seen in the DVD and digital releases.