Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with reruns airing until October 7, 1995.[2][3] Seven seasons of the series were produced.
| Garfield and Friends | |
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Jim Davis |
| Based on | Garfield U.S. Acres by Jim Davis |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | |
| Starring |
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| Narrated by | |
| Opening theme | see Theme Song |
| Ending theme |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes |
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| Executive producer(s) |
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| Running time | 22–48 minutes |
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| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i SDTV |
| Audio format |
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| Original release | September 17, 1988 – December 10, 1994 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Garfield Show |
In addition to the segments featuring Garfield, the series also included segments featuring the characters from U.S. Acres, a comic strip Davis was drawing concurrently with Garfield when Garfield and Friends premiered on television.[4] Like the comic strip these were based on, the animated segments were re-titled Orson's Farm for viewers outside of the United States (taking the name of their main character, Orson Pig). Although Davis stopped producing new strips of U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm seven months after Garfield and Friends debuted, the characters continued to appear on television for the rest of the show's run.
A total of 121 episodes were made, each consisting of two Garfield segments and one U.S. Acres segment, totaling 242 Garfield segments and 121 U.S. Acres segments. All episodes have been released in the U.S. on five DVD sets by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The first season aired in a half-hour format. Starting with the second season, it switched to an hour-length format, showing two episodes each week. During the last season, while the series was still an hour long, the second half-hour of the show featured either an episode from the previous season or one of the Garfield TV specials. On May 25, 2016, 9 Story Media Group acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Garfield and Friends and its specials.[5]
Characters
Garfield
Regular characters
- Garfield (Voiced by Lorenzo Music): A fat, lazy, sarcastic orange tabby, who wants nothing more out of life than to eat and sleep. He has a penchant for consuming lasagna, enjoys tormenting Odie and trying to mail Nermal, his rival tabby, to Abu Dhabi. He makes a small handful of appearances on U.S. Acres, in "Mystery Guest", "Fast Food", "Quack to the Future", and "The Thing In the Box", although he is more often seen in the form of various pieces of Garfield-themed merchandise the "U.S. Acres" characters appear to own. Deep down, Garfield loves Jon and Odie. Garfield does not speak aloud, but his thoughts are heard by everyone. This is revealed in one episode to be via the use of a special microphone which amplifies the thoughts of animals apart from Odie.
- Jon Arbuckle (Voiced by Thom Huge): Garfield and Odie's owner, a bachelor cartoonist who has poor luck with women and a somewhat nerdy demeanor. He is often annoyed by some of Garfield's antics, and also has an unrequited love for Dr. Liz. Whenever Garfield gets in trouble, Jon will punish him by taking away his lasagna, not letting him watch television, or taking him to the vet. He also tries to convince Garfield to do the right thing whenever the cat gets into trouble. Jon occasionally forces Garfield to lose weight and catch mice, which is always unsuccessful due to Garfield not wanting to eat mice and his friendship with one such mouse named Floyd.
- Odie (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A yellow Beagle who is Garfield's best friend. He used to belong to Jon's former roommate Lyman (a character from the earliest comic strips who is absent from the show). A running gag has Garfield kicking him off of a kitchen table. Though he does not seem very intelligent, Odie is actually much more cunning and smart than he lets on. Odie is the only animal character who does not communicate with any form of dialogue, solely communicating with body language and his enthusiastic barking and other dog sound effects, although Garfield is able to understand what he says.
- Nermal (Voiced by Desirée Goyette): A cute grey Tabby cat kitten who Garfield is jealous of. Nermal is the self-proclaimed "World's Cutest Kitty Cat". Nermal seems kind and playful, although he frequently tends to annoy Garfield by bragging about how much cuter he is. Garfield often attempts (usually unsuccessfully) to mail him to Abu Dhabi as a result. Though officially considered a male, Nermal's feminine preoccupation with being cute, and the fact that a woman provides a childlike voice which is also very soft for Nermal, thus allowing the character to be mistaken for a female cat to the point that, in the first two seasons, the Spanish version features Nermal as a female kitten named "Thelma".
- Binky the Clown (Voiced by Thom Huge): A loud, obnoxious annoying clown who appeared a few times in the strip before becoming a regular on the show. Within the series, Binky has his own TV show that Garfield and Odie try to avoid watching. Binky sometimes has his own segment on the series called "Screaming with Binky" that lasts the length of a Quickie and runs at the midway point of an hour episode—Most of these segments were removed in syndication. "Screaming with Binky" segments were only aired in seasons 2 and 3 (1989–1991) of the show, and some were re-aired for a month after eight weeks of season 4 and 5 episodes (Nov. 1991–Sep. 1993). His catchphrase is, "Hey, kids!" with the vowels prolonged; to Garfield, he yells "Hey, cat!" with a prolonged E. Binky is a recurring character for the first three seasons, then appeared sporadically afterward. He "returns" in the season 7 episode "The Feline Philosopher", which became his last episode in the show.
- Herman Post (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A mailman who loves delivering the mail, despite being the victim of Garfield's booby traps. As with Binky, he rarely appears after season 3.
- Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Wilson (Voiced by Julie Payne): Garfield and Odie's sarcastic veterinarian and Jon's main love interest. She occasionally dates him, but these outings always become disasters often due to Garfield's actions. She only appears for the show's first two seasons, except for one appearance in the season 4 episode Frankenstein Feline.
- Floyd (Voice by Gregg Berger): Garfield's mouse friend who takes place of his mouse friend Squeak from the comic. He originally appears as an antagonist in the season 1 episode "Good Mousekeeping", when he and his fellow mice stay at Jon's house after discovering that Garfield does not eat mice; they are eventually driven out of the house. He becomes friends with Garfield in his second appearance, the season 1 episode "Identity Crisis". He appears in every season of the show only in one or few episodes each. He has a friend named Tyrone in the season 3 episode "Rodent Rampage" and a wife named April in the season 6 episode "The Floyd Story".
Minor characters
- Pooky: Garfield's teddy bear and sleeping companion of whom Jon is jealous. Found in a drawer, he is Garfield's only toy. Garfield adopts his alter ego "The Caped Avenger" after temporarily losing Pooky.
- Cactus Jake (Voiced by Pat Buttram): The foreman of the Polecat Flats dude ranch; behaves in the manner of an old-fashioned cowboy and often refuses to have anything to do with modern technology. He also has a massive extended family. His appearances include "Polecat Flats", "Cactus Jake Rides Again", "Cactus Makes Perfect", "How the West Was Lost", "Urban Arbuckle", "The Cactus Saga" and "The Legend of Cactus Jupiter".
- Al G. Swindler (Voiced by Carl Ballantine): A car salesman with a large nose. As his name suggests, he is a businessman and con artist who constantly swindles the perennially gullible Jon, only to be eventually outwitted by Garfield. In the episode Lemon Aid his name was given as Al J. Swindler. He also always incorrectly pronounces Jon's last name; for example, "Mr. Arborday" or "Mr. Arbarnacle". His other episodes were "Skyway Robbery", "Wonderful World" and "Home Sweet Swindler".
- The Buddy Bears (Voiced by Gregg Berger (Billy), Thom Huge (Bobby) and Lorenzo Music (Bertie)): Their names are Billy, Bobby and Bertie (In "The Garfield Opera", they introduced themselves by their formal names William, Robert and Bertram). They are three talking bears who promote conformist propaganda in the form of song and dance ("Oh, we're the Buddy Bears we always get along... if you ever disagree, it means that you are wrong"; etc.). Their television show once replaced Binky's, and Roy Rooster of U.S. Acres has twice been stuck as the fall guy of their routines. The Buddy Bears are a satire of The Get Along Gang, The Care Bears, The Smurfs and other 1980s cartoons focused on "caring", emotions, pleasant human interactions, harmony and a general lack of plot or conflict. Garfield tends to get the last laugh with them, at one point bringing an argument between the three bears over pizza toppings. In one episode, there is a fourth female Buddy Bear, their sister Betty.[6]
- Penelope (Voiced by Victoria Jackson): Known as Lola in "Beach Blanket Bonzo" (Voice of Desirée Goyette) and Gwendelin in "The Idol of ID" (Voice of June Foray) (both are identical). Penelope is Garfield's girlfriend who takes the place of his love interest Arlene from the comics. Evanier recently explained that the reason Arlene only appeared once in the series was that Davis had a very specific idea of how the Arlene character should be and told the writers that if they could not be faithful to it, they should not use her.
- Lola: (voiced by Julie Bennett)
- Brick: Brick (or Bonzo from "Beach Blanket Bonzo") is the ex-boyfriend to most of Garfield's love interests. They usually dump him because of Garfield. He usually is sensitive about his girlfriends, so he usually pounds Garfield, but still does not win their hearts. He was first seen in Beach Blanket Bonzo as Lola's boyfriend (he appeared in a different color). He later appeared in The Idol of ID trying to convince Gwendelin to dump Garfield and go back to him. In "The Perils of Penelope", he appeared as Bonzo for the first time, as dating Penelope and after he chase Garfield to a truck he was last seen in the back of a truck to Mexico. He made cameos in The Garfield Rap playing the guitar in one scene, and "Cutie and the Beast" who was then unnamed.
- The Singing Ants (Voiced by Ed Bogas): Ants who sing while stealing food, appeared first as the stars of the musical episode "The Picnic Panic", where they steal all of Garfield's picnic lunch. They first appeared in "A Vacation from His Senses", where they are seemingly delusions of Jon, who thinks that he has gone crazy. Their final appearance is in "Another Ant Episode", where they have another starring role, this time taking over Garfield's house.
- Ludlow (Voiced by Don Messick): An adolescent crow who appeared in two episodes. His father always beats up Garfield when he thinks he has eaten his son. The episodes in which he appeared are "Sweet Tweet Treat" and "Catch As Cats Can't".
- Irving Burnside (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A next door neighbor to Jon in which Garfield invades (generally stealing his barbecue). Whenever this happens, he threatens to beat up Jon. He appeared on six episodes which are "Frankenstein Feline", "Bad Neighbor Policy", "Next Door Nuisance", "How to Drive Humans Crazy", "A Matter of Conscience" and "Fair Exchange".
- Rudy (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A dog who beats up Garfield every time he hosts a television program and says something bad about dogs. His name was first revealed in "Dogmother 2". He also appeared in "Reigning Cats and Dogs", "Annoying Things", and "It Must Be True". Rudy also once victimized Nermal for insults about dogs.
- Mice: The Mice appeared in two episodes. The episodes were "Good Mousekeeping" and "The pie-eyed piper." The mice do not include Floyd.
- Moe the Cat Burglar (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A burglar who appeared in three episodes: "Mistakes Will Happen", "Safe at Home" and "Top Ten". He made two attempts to steal from Jon's home.
- Madman Murray (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A second-hand junk salesman (proclaimed to be insane). Similar to Mr. Swindler, He tries to get Jon to buy some cheap junk. He appeared in "Guaranteed Trouble, "Rolling Romance," and "Madman Meets His Match." He makes a cameo in "Jumping Jon".
- J.D. (a.k.a. Jim Davis, voiced by himself): The cartoons' director who had six "appearances": "Mystic Manor" (as himself wearing a Garfield suit drawing a comic strip), "Flat Tired", "The Garfield Workout", "Star Struck", "Fill In Feline" and the U.S. Acres (Orson's Farm) episode "What's It All About Wade?"
- Dr. Garbanzo Bean (Voiced by Frank Welker): A mad scientist from "Robodie" and "Robodie II".
- The Feline Philosopher (Voiced by Eddie Lawrence): A feline philosopher that talked Garfield into stealing pie. This character was a parody of Lawrence's "Old Philosopher" routine. His appearances are "The Feline Philosopher" and "The Farmyard Feline Philosopher"; he made a cameo appearance in "The Man Who Hated Cats".
- Icabod: A cricket that was Garfield's conscience. He appeared in "A Matter of Conscience" and "Half Baked Alaska".
U.S. Acres (a.k.a. Orson's Farm)
Regular characters
- Orson (Voiced by Gregg Berger): A pig who is the main character of the series. His favorite pastime is reading books and imagining himself into many scenarios, à la Walter Mitty. Orson also has two missions set before him: get Roy to do the right thing and get Wade to be brave. A running gag is that Orson is a neat freak and constantly showers and keeps clean, one time making Wade comment, "Cleanest pig in the world." He is a good friend of the other denizens of the farm and a father figure to Booker and Sheldon. Orson's afraid of his brothers. Orson has a superhero identity well named Power Pig, and a Roman-themed alter-ego named Hogcules, as well as a James Bond-figure character named Double Oh Orson.
- Roy (Voiced by Thom Huge): A loud and sometimes self-centered rooster who prides himself on his practical jokes. He is constantly into a scheme which more often than not Orson or another character has to bail him out of. Despite his tendencies of selfishness, he is a good rooster when he wants to be and is more often than not the saving grace of his friends when it comes to antagonists such as Orson's brothers or the chicken predators. Despite some of his and Wade's differences and the fact that they argue sometimes, they became closer friends later on in the seasons. It was even implied that Roy and Wade knew each other for fourteen years or so. His most common practical jokes include dropping food on Orson or taking advantage of Wade's excessive fear.
- Wade (Voiced by Howard Morris): A cowardly duck who wears a rubber flotation tube, and has a bunch of phobias no matter how trivial. As a gag, the head on his flotation tube (which is identical to and smaller than Wade's head) copies nearly every movement and appearance change Wade's real head does. When he gets scared (which is almost all the time), he will blabber with no one understanding what he is saying. Though seemingly afraid of everything, Wade's greatest fear is the Weasel. Like most ducks, Wade has the ability to fly with his wings, but seldom does so due to his phobia of heights. Despite some of his and Roy's differences and that they argue sometimes, they became closer friends later on in the seasons.
- Bo (Voiced by Frank Welker): An affable sheep with a positive, laid-back attitude, whose mannerisms and vernacular are similar to a California beach bum. Though not especially bright, he is almost impossible to get mad and acts as a guide for Orson when dealing with his three older brothers.
- Lanolin (Voiced by Julie Payne): A loud-mouthed sheep who spends most of her time arguing with her twin brother Bo. The arguments are often triggered by her being disagreeable seemingly for its own sake. Out of all the main characters in this segment, she seems to be the nicest to Orson.
- Booker (Voiced by Frank Welker): A small, cute, but very assertive chick who is constantly in pursuit of unnamed worms. His name was inspired by Orson's love of books.
- Sheldon (Voiced by Frank Welker): Booker's twin brother, who, despite having hatched, still lives in his egg with his feet popped out of the shell so he can walk. He seems to have "all kinds of things" in his shell, including a pinball machine and a stove. In an early episode, Sheldon actually hatches, with another shell subsequently appearing. Booker and Sheldon's parents are unseen in the show; Orson noted that their mother abandoned them.
Minor characters
- Mort (Voiced by Frank Welker), Gort (Voiced by Thom Huge) and Wart (Voiced by Howie Morris): Orson's cruel older triplet brothers (unnamed until "Hogcules") who are jealous of Orson and usually appear either to bully Orson or trying to steal the fruit and vegetable crops from the farm. They seldom refer to Orson by his name, calling him "the runt". Despite being apparent triplets, they are different in size: Mort is the shortest and the ringleader (although Gort is sometimes the leader instead of Mort) who grunts in his dialogue, Gort is the smartest and has yellow eyes (although Mort sometimes has yellow eyes instead of Gort), and Wart is the tallest with buck teeth. Gort is seen alone in "Forget-Me-Not Newton" and "The Old Man of the Mountain" and Wart appeared on his own briefly in "Orson's Diner". None of them were seen in the sixth season, although they were mentioned in "How Now Stolen Cow?" Mort, Gort, and Wart are jealous of Orson.
- Frederick "Fred" Duck (Voiced by Frank Welker): Wade's highly annoying cousin who wears a parachute when flying because he is secretly afraid of heights. He appeared on six episodes. His first appearance was in "Shy Fly Guy". He later appeared in "The Impractical Joker", "Mystery Guest", "Orson at the Bat" and "The Ugly Duckling". He also had a cameo appearance in "Orson in Wonderland".
- Worms (voiced by Howard Morris): Booker often chases them unsuccessfully. They were unnamed on the show, although there was a worm named "Filbert" in the comic strip.
- The Weasel (Voiced by Gregg Berger): Unnamed, the weasel is constantly seen sneaking around trying to kidnap the chickens in a bag. Usually Roy (or on rare occasions Wade or Sheldon) is the one to thwart him. He first appeared on "Flop Goes the Weasel" and last appeared on "Deja Vu". His only appearance in the fifth season was a cameo appearance in "Badtime Story".
- The Fox (Voiced by Howard Morris): An unnamed fox who has more of a goofy personality than the weasel. He tries to kidnap Sheldon, despite saying he "doesn't look ripe". He appeared on "Shell Shocked Sheldon" and "Little Red Riding Egg"; he later made a cameo appearance in "Hare Force".
- The Wolf (Voiced by Gregg Berger): An unnamed wolf from the fifth season who, like the weasel, tried to steal chickens. He appeared in "The Wolf Who Cried Boy", "Sooner or Later", "Gross Encounters" and "A Mildly Mental Mix-Up".
- Chloe: Roy's niece from the sixth season and a bookish chick. Roy likes her more than he will admit. She appeared in "Uncle Roy to the Rescue" and made her final two appearances in the two-part episode "Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarfs".
- Edward R. Furrow (Voiced by Frank Welker): The farm's local psychiatrist badger who is named after Edward R. Murrow. His appearances include "A Mildly Mental Mix-Up", "Daydream Doctor" (Where he was colored yellow) and a cameo in "Newsworthy Wade".
- Aloysius (Voiced by Kevin Meaney): A pig who appears in the segment's seventh season; he was originally intended to be a main character.[7] He works as a studio accountant and as a television executive. He gives problems to Orson and his friends concerning their show (such as the "unwholesomeness" of nursery rhymes in "Kiddie Korner" and budget of the animators of the cartoon in "The Discount of Monte Cristo"). He has a dart board, which he uses to plan each season of TV. Orson and his gang find a way to pay him back near the end of each episode. His catchphrase is "That's not right!"
- Plato (Voiced by Frank Welker): A sophisticated rooster who came to the farm to do Roy's job. Roy became jealous of him, although when Plato proved too cowardly to save the chickens from the weasel, he was thrown out of the farm. Plato first appeared in "The Bunny Rabbits Is Coming!" and again in "Cock-a-Doodle Duel". He later had a cameo appearance in "The Ugly Duckling".
Additional actors
Additional voices were also provided by Gary Owens and Neil Ross.
There have been several celebrity guest stars who did voice acting on Garfield & Friends for both Garfield & US Acres portions, including Imogene Coca, Stan Freberg, George Foreman, Chick Hearn, James Earl Jones, Marvin Kaplan, Robin Leach, John Moschitta, Jr., Jack Riley, Rod Roddy, Will Ryan, Pat Buttram, Dick Beals, Paul Winchell, Don Knotts, Michael Bell, Arnold Stang and Greg Burson.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 13 | September 17, 1988 | December 10, 1988 | ||
| 2 | 26 | September 16, 1989 | December 16, 1989 | ||
| 3 | 18 | September 15, 1990 | November 17, 1990 | ||
| 4 | 16 | September 14, 1991 | November 9, 1991 | ||
| 5 | 16 | September 19, 1992 | November 7, 1992 | ||
| 6 | 16 | September 18, 1993 | November 6, 1993 | ||
| 7 | 16 | September 17, 1994 | December 10, 1994 | ||
| Crossover | April 21, 1990 | ||||
Production
When the show was originally broadcast on CBS, the episodes usually had three Quickies (30- to 45-second gags which were based on original Garfield and U.S. Acres strips, rather than original made-for-TV stories), with usually two "Garfield Quickies" (the first one being played before the intro theme) and one "U.S. Acres Quickie," the latter of which was never shown in syndication (except occasionally, mainly whenever a Quickie had something to do with the regular full episode it followed; e.g. the 'U.S. Acres Quickie' that follows the episode "Moo Cow Mutt").[8] Midway through the second season, "Screaming with Binky" quickie-style segments were added. These "Screaming with Binky" segments were typically used at the halfway point of hour-long blocks of Garfield and Friends (as Garfield ended each one with "We'll be right back.") to let the viewers know that unlike most Saturday morning cartoons at the time, it was not over in the usual half-hour. The DVD sets and Boomerang reruns restore the original rotation. After the third season, there was only one "Garfield Quickie" shown per episode.
During the first season, most U.S. Acres segments were made to teach a social lesson, which is ironically the type of thing the show was against in its later seasons.
Episode segments
Each episode featured most of the following segments:
- Garfield Quickie: This was a segment of the show that featured Garfield Sunday strips from the mid-to-late 1980s. Very rarely would a weekday strip be shown.
- Theme song: See below.
- First Garfield cartoon: This is a general Garfield episode taking on a more domestic nature mostly involving Jon and Odie.
- U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm Quickie: This Quickie usually aired before the main story and featured strips from the newspaper run for that series. These ran from seasons 1 to 3.
- U.S. Acres cartoon: This episode featured the U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm characters in various situations. From seasons 1 to 3, there was a song segment that was built on the episode's theme.
- Screaming with Binky: Segment that was the length of a Quickie and ran at the midway point of an hour episode. These segments featured narration by Garfield where the audience would usually find themselves in someplace where quiet is a must or a person is in a delicate situation, such as a golfer making a crucial putt. This would be followed by Binky the Clown appearing and yelling, for example, "Heeeeeeeeeeeey, fisherman!", most often causing a mistake of some sort. All but one of these segments were removed in syndication. On the DVD releases, Screaming with Binky usually follows the U.S. Acres episode, while four segments were excluded.
- Second Garfield Quickie: Just like the first quickie except it would be on before or after the second Garfield episode.
- Second Garfield cartoon: Another cartoon starring Garfield. Though stories may have a domestic nature, the viewers might see a parody teaching segment that featured a Garfield lecture of some sort or learning situation.
- End credits
A "Quickie" is a short joke that is used between segments. There is at least one Garfield or U.S. Acres Quickie per episode. Most of the Quickies are based on a Sunday comic strip, and some on a daily comic strip. There are also a couple of Quickies called Screaming with Binky. According to one U.S. Acres Quickie, they last 45 seconds[9] and most of these were cut out in syndication.
In syndication, the format was as follows:
- Theme song
- First Garfield cartoon
- U.S. Acres cartoon
- Second Garfield cartoon
- Garfield Quickie
- End credits
Reception
The quality of Garfield and Friends as compared with other 1980s animated television series is considered by animation historian Jerry Beck to "foreshadow the higher quality [animation] boom coming in the next decade".[10] Hal Erickson says that "Garfield and Friends rapidly became the hub around which the rest of CBS' morning lineup was built," and it "seemed to get better with each passing season."[11]
Cancellation
Garfield and Friends had already outlasted most animated series by the time it reached its seventh season in 1994. Although the series was still doing well in the ratings at the time, the show had become expensive to make and the Saturday morning cartoon format was in decline by this point. CBS proposed cutting the budget for another season. Since syndication of the series was doing well, producers ended the series in 1994 with its seventh season.[12]
Theme song
Each episode opened with Gary Owens introducing the show by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, Garfield and Friends!". The first five seasons featured Garfield tap dancing across a fence and turning on a record player. Starting with season six, it opened with a full concert hall.
The first theme song was a song-and-dance style number about friendship ("Friends are there to help you get started / To give you a push on your way"). The intro for the show's first two seasons saw Garfield battling Orson, Roy, Wade, Booker and Sheldon (who all appeared on screen together) for screen time. A series of brief clips would play showing Garfield and the U.S. Acres characters resorting to increasingly over-the-top ways to accomplish this, which included Orson shattering Garfield's body with a mallet and Garfield using a jack to move the U.S. Acres crew out of frame.
The second, more up-tempo theme song ("We're Ready to Party") first appeared in the third season (episode 9) and was used until the end of season six. This time, Garfield sang the song along with the rest of the cast and the intro now consisted of clips from previous episodes. This intro was also used for the syndicated rerun package, but all incidental music from the first two seasons' worth of episodes was left intact. It was not until the DVD releases that the intros from those seasons were seen in their entirety again.
In the seventh (and final) season, an upbeat rap-based theme song was used, sung by J.R. Johnston, and had a bass line similar to that of the Seinfeld theme.[13] This theme is not included on the DVDs (on the DVD set and in all international versions, the rap theme is replaced with "We're Ready to Party"), nor did it make its way onto the rerun package.
The close of each version of the theme brought out the show's title screen, where Booker would write "and friends" in pencil below Garfield's name. Garfield would then appear atop the title and offer a (sometimes topical) joke to open the show (e.g., "Welcome to my world... Did you bring food?", "No giant robots, or annoying little blue people!", "Hey Heathcliff! Eat your heart out", "I can't believe we get away with this every week.", "Smart kids watch this show, other kids change the channel", "So if someone wants you to change the channel kids, just say no!", "Hey you chewing the gum, I hope you brought enough for everybody", "Change channels and you'll never see your dog again!", "Hey, don't bother checking NBC, kids! They're not running cartoons anymore," and "It doesn't start till the fat lady screams.")
Home media
Region 1
In response to the financial success of Garfield: The Movie, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released all seven seasons of Garfield and Friends to Region 1 DVD in five volume box sets, with each set having 24-25 episodes on three discs. Each set features an image of Garfield with a U.S. Acres character.[14] These DVD sets show the original telecast versions, rather than the edited versions once seen in syndication and on cable networks. As of October 2013, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.
On May 25, 2016, 9 Story Media Group announced that they had acquired worldwide rights to Garfield and Friends and planned to remaster the series in HD and re-release it on DVD.[15] On January 15, 2019, 9 Story Media Group (distributed by Public Media Distribution through its SkipRope label) released a best-of set entitled 20 Garfield Stories on DVD in Region 1. They have subsequently begun re-releasing the series on DVD in Region 1 in complete season sets; season 1 was released on July 16, 2019,[16] season 2 was released on November 5, 2019,[17] and season 3 is set for release on October 27, 2020.[18]
| Season | Episodes | Years active | Release dates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| 1 | 13 | 1988 | Volume 1: July 27, 2004 Episodes: Entire season featured An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Ode to Odie" • "All About Odie" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "Nighty Nightmare" • "Fair Exchange" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "Garfield Goes Hawaiian" The Complete First Season: July 16, 2019 | |
| 2 | 26 | 1989 | Volume 1: July 27, 2004 Episodes: "Pest of a Guest" – "Attack of the Mutant Guppies" Volume 2: December 7, 2004 Episodes: "Robodie" – "Mummy Dearest" Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "It Must be True!" • "T.V. of Tomorrow" • "How to Be Funny" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Robodie" • "Arrivederci, Odie" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "Rip Van Kitty" • "Sludge Monster" • "The Lasagna Zone" • "Video Victim" • "Rainy Day Dreams" • "Invasion of the Big Robots" • "Mystic Manor" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "The Black Book" The Complete Second Season: November 5, 2019 | |
| 3 | 18 | 1990 | Volume 2: December 7, 2004 Episodes: "Skyway Robbery" – "Urban Arbuckle" Volume 3: April 19, 2005 Episodes: "Odielocks and the Three Cats" – "Dirty Business" Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "For Cats Only" • "Mistakes Will Happen" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Odielocks and the Three Cats" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "Flat Tired" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "Twice Told Tale" • "Wedding Bell Blues" • "D.J. Jon" The Complete Third Season: October 27, 2020 | |
| 4 | 16 | 1991 | Volume 3: April 19, 2005 Episodes: "Moo Cow Mutt" – "Rolling Romance" Volume 4: August 30, 2005 Episodes: "The Automated, Animated Adventure" / "It's a Wonderful Wade" / "Truckin' Odie" Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "A Tall Tale" • "The Multiple-Choice Cartoon" • "Learning Lessons" • "Annoying Things" • "The Automated Animated Adventure" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Moo Cow Mutt" • "Robodie 2" • "Truckin' Odie" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "Jukebox Jon" • "Rolling Romance" | |
| 5 | 16 | 1992 | Volume 4: August 30, 2005 Episodes: Entire season featured Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "The First Annual Garfield Watchers Test" • "The Cartoon Cat Conspiracy" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Odie the Amazing" • "Airborne Odie" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "Day of Doom" • "The Carnival Curse" • "The Creature that Lived in the Refrigerator, Behind the Mayonnaisse, Next to the Ketchup and to the Left of the Cole Slaw!" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "The Great Inventor" • "Jumping Jon" • "Dream Date" • "Super Sonic Seymour" | |
| 6 | 16 | 1993 | Volume 4: August 30, 2005 Episodes: "A Vacation From His Senses" – "Sweet Tweet Treat" Volume 5: December 6, 2005 Episodes: "The Floyd Story" – "Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue" Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "A Vacation From His Senses" • "How to Drive Humans Crazy" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "Canine Conspiracy" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "Fishy Feline" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "Jon the Barbarian" • "Jailbird Jon" 20 Garfield Stories: January 15, 2019 Episodes: "The Wright Stuff" • "Canine Conspiracy" • "Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarves" • "The Pie-Eyed Piper" • "How Now, Stolen Cow?" • "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" / "How to Drive Humans Crazy" • "Stairway to Stardom" / "The Life and Times of the Lasagna Kid" • "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere's Duck" • "Lost and Foundling" / "Films and Felines" • "Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue" | |
| 7 | 16 | 1994 | Volume 5: December 6, 2005 Episodes: Entire season featured Behind the Scenes: December 5, 2006 Episodes: "Canned Laughter" An Ode to Odie: March 20, 2007 Episodes: "The Fairy Dogmother" • "Dogmother 2" Dreams and Schemes: September 4, 2007 Episodes: "The Beast From Beyond" A Cat And His Nerd: May 13, 2008 Episodes: "Model Behavior" • "Sit on It" 20 Garfield Stories: January 15, 2019 Episodes: "The Legend of Johnny Ragweedseed" • "Top Ten" • "Puss in Hi-Tops" • "Kiddie Korner" • "Alley Katta & the 40 Thieves" / "Clash of the Titans" | |
Region 2
Fox Entertainment and Davis released one volume of Garfield and Friends on DVD in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2005. It was called Box of Fun and it was the same cover as the Vol. 1 box set. Unlike the USA sets, this is just a single disc with 8 episodes.
Region 4
Fox Entertainment also released the Volume One set to Region 4 DVD on December 13, 2004. The contents of this set are exactly the same as that of the Region 1 release with only minor changes to the set cover. The set was also made available as individual volumes. The complete "Volume 1" set is now discontinued. The remaining four volumes were never released.
| Release name | Release date | Eps No. |
|---|---|---|
| Garfield and Friends, Volume One | December 13, 2008 | 24 |
| Garfield and Friends, Volume One, Disc 1 | November 4, 2007 | 8 |
| Garfield and Friends, Volume One, Disc 2 | November 19, 2007 | 8 |
| Garfield and Friends, Volume One, Disc 3 | November 23, 2007 | 8 |
Also released were single-disc compilations based on a theme, such as Garfield and Friends: Behind the Scenes in 2006.
Syndication history
Garfield and Friends has been syndicated on television around the world, beginning in the late 1980s and remaining on air in present day. In Latin America, it played on Cartoon Network from 1993 to 2005, on Boomerang from 2005 to 2008, on Warner Channel from 1998 to 2002, and on Tooncast from 2008 to 2016. Currently, all four of these networks have lost the rights to the show. Televisa's Canal 5 also played the show for many years, from the mid-1990s to early 2000s.
In Australia, Garfield and Friends began syndication on Network Ten from 1992 to 1999. It also aired on cable television on Nickelodeon for several years. Most recently it played on FOX8 from 2004 to 2006. But it came back and it was played on Eleven (Australian TV channel) from 2011 to 2014.
The United Kingdom and the United States remain the highest syndicators of the show. In the UK, it appeared on CITV from 1989 through 2002 (10 minutes per episode), on Sky1 from 1998 to 2002 (also 10 minutes per episode), and on Boomerang from 2003 to 2006 with Season 1 and 2 only. It also appeared on The Children's Channel in reruns. It is unknown if it will ever return to the UK.
In Ireland, Garfield and Friends aired on RTÉ TWO Monday to Friday at 6pm (followed by Home and Away); it replaced RTÉ teen magazine programme Jo Maxi and was eventually replaced by The Simpsons.
In the United States, the series appeared in syndication on local stations, from 1992 to 2001. It also aired on TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network from 1995 to 1997, and Nickelodeon from 1997 to 2000. In 2001, it appeared on the Fox Family Channel (Later ABC Family) until 2003. Toon Disney aired it from 2003 to 2005. Boomerang carried it from 2006 to 2007, September to November 2019, and as of now, December 30, 2019 in HD remastered form. As of November 2018, Boomerang's subscription video on demand site offers over 50 episodes of the series.[19] Starz Encore started airing it on its family channel on January 3, 2018.
Garfield and Friends aired in Canada on the cable TV channel YTV from 1989 to 1996. The show was broadcast on Teletoon's 24-hour classic-animation network, Teletoon Retro, until the channel's shutdown on September 1, 2015.
Garfield and Friends was also broadcast in New Zealand in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It aired on TV3 as part of a wrapper programme for children called The Early Bird Show by airing on weekday mornings and then on Saturday mornings when the show was shifted to only airing on weekend mornings. Garfield and Friends aired on that show up until its cancellation in 1992.
The series was played on television in Singapore first airing on Channel 5 from 1990 to 1992 and later on Kids Central from 2004 to 2005.
Garfield and Friends aired in South Africa on M-Net as part of their children's block K-T.V. and was frequently shown numerous times. Garfield and Friends later aired on e.tv in the late 2000s.
Garfield and Friends has also been shown in the American territory Guam on the dual NBC/CBS-affiliated television station KUAM-TV.
Garfield and Friends was originally syndicated by The Program Exchange between 1993 and 2006. Only 73 episodes out of the 121 episodes were acquired by The Program Exchange. This was due to the producers selling syndication rights when the show was still on air and CBS wanting to keep the rights for certain episodes. Since the 73-episode syndication package performed well enough on stations already airing the show, acquiring the later episodes were deemed unnecessary.[12]
Remastered
On October 25, 2018, it was announced that the first 30 episodes of Garfield and Friends will be made available to stream on Boomerang, in remastered form, starting on November 1, 2018.[20]
The Garfield Show
A new CGI series premiered in 2009. Many crew members on Garfield and Friends also worked on this series, such as executive producer/creator Jim Davis and co-writer/voice director Mark Evanier.
Frank Welker replaced Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield due to Music's death in 2001, while Wally Wingert replaced Thom Huge as the voice of Jon Arbuckle due to Huge's retirement in the same year. Other familiar voice actors have also appeared, some of them reprising their roles (such as Gregg Berger as Odie and Herman Post).
The series does not include the U.S. Acres series and characters, as well as other main characters from Garfield and Friends (although characters similar to Booker and Sheldon appear in the episode "Down on the Farm"). In one episode, Binky the Clown is mentioned, to which Garfield then replies, "My contract says he's not allowed to be in this series."[21]
References
- Mendoza, N.F. (September 6, 1992). "Cel Mates : A look inside the world of the people who make cartoons". The Los Angeles Times. USA. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- "Garfield and Friends". The Cartoon Resource. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
- The Intelligencer - September 8, 1995
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 228–230. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- https://kidscreen.com/2016/05/25/9-story-acquires-global-rights-to-garfield/
- Evanier, Mark. "Today's Video Link". NewsFromMe.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008.
- Evainer, Mark. "Kevin Meaney, R.I.P." News From ME. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- "Garfield and Friends: Moo Cow Mutt/Big Bad Buddy Bird/Angel Puss". VRV. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- Garfield and Friends: Volume 2 DVD, Disc 3
- Beck, Jerry (June 23, 2018). "New Book Reviews". Cartoon Research. Cartoon Research Co. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 358–360. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- Evanier, Mark. "Artistic License Fees". NewsFromMe.com. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- "Garfield and Friends Season 7 Intro". YouTube. 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
- Archived December 6, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- 9 Story Media Group Acquires Worldwide Rights to Iconic Series Garfield and Friends
- Garfield & Friends, Season 1
- Garfield And Friends: Season 2
- Garfield And Friends, Season 3
- Whyte, Alexandra (2018-10-25). "Boomerang pounces on Garfield and Friends". Kidscreen.
- Whyte, Alexandra (2018-10-25). "Boomerang pounces on Garfield and Friends". Kidscreen.
- The Garfield Show season 2 episode 5, "Blasteroid"
External links
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