The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a fictional cartoon series within the animated series The Simpsons. It’s a bloodthirsty adaptation of Tom and Jerry, in which the sadistic mouse Itchy tortures and kills the cat Scratchy in various ways. In the series, it appears as part of Krusty the Clown’s television programme, with Bart and Lisa as enthusiastic followers. The plot of Itchy & Scratchy usually refers to the plot of the episode of The Simpsons. The Itchy & Scratchy show is also a main theme of the scenario in some Simpsons episodes.
Here’s the ASCII movie of Itchy & Scratchy (gets openend in a new browser window).
The first appearance of the cartoon in The Simpsons was in the 1990 episode “There’s No Disgrace Like Home”. Typically presented as 15 to 60-second cartoons, the show is filled with gratuitous violence.