Garfield & Friends

The Garfield Show (Fr. Garfield et Cie) is a French/American CGI animated television series that premiered in France on France 3 on December 22, 2008. English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on May 5, 2009. Following a Halloween sneak preview, it premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009 at 3:00pm.

Premise

The Garfield Show centers mainly on Garfield's usual antics and frolics, usually in function of his laziness and gluttony. It focuses on his quirky misadventures (more bizarre ones than from previous incarnations), while always highlighting the fat cat's love for lasagna. Garfield lives with his owner, Jon Arbuckle, and his owner's dog, Odie, in a detached two story house (as opposed to the one story house in the comics and other animated appearances). Often Garfield has to solve problems that he himself causes, yet always tries to skive off, and actually solves them in the end. The only absent comic strip characters are [[1]] (aside from a depiction in The Caped Avenger Rides Again!), Grandma Arbuckle, and Binky the Clown. 

Much like the original series, [(character)|Garfield] began breaking the fourth wall more often as the series progressed, such as asking for the script for the episode, talking to the audience, behind-the-scenes drama, and mentioning cartoon traditions, such as instant healing. One difference from the original series, is that the series also started gaining continuity plots and story arcs. Morals and songs were occasionally added to the stories as well.

Voice Cast

• Frank Welker as Garfield
• Wally Wingert as Jon Arbuckle
• Gregg Berger as Odie/Squeak/Harry
• Julie Payne as Liz Wilson
• Jason Marsden as Nermal/Vito Cappelletti
• Laura Summer as Drusilla and Minerva
• Audrey Wasilewski as Arlene

Production

Based on the American comic strip Garfield, the series is executive produced by Garfield creator Jim Davis and co-written and voice directed by Mark Evanier, who also wrote most of the episodes for the previous series. Returning from Garfield & Friends are the voice actors Julie Payne and Gregg Berger as Odie and Liz. Frank Welker and Wally Wingert reprise their roles from the CGI films as Garfield and Jon, due to Lorenzo Music's death back in 2001, and Thom Huge's retirement that same year. Audrey Wasilewski and Jason Marsden also return from the CGI films as Nermal and Arlene. Also returning is David Lander, reprising his role as Doc Boy Arbuckle from A Garfield Christmas. The show is produced by Dargaud Media and Paws Inc. The show is directed by Philippe Vidal and the music is done by Laurent Bertaud and Jean-Christophe Prudhomme.

Being primarily a French production, the show had its premiere in France in December of 2008, almost a year before it managed to get a deal with Cartoon Network for airing in the United States. As such, since Cartoon Network tends to be a season behind with their showing of the episodes, French viewers got to see new episodes of the series long before English-speaking viewers did.

The first three seasons were first run on Cartoon Network from 2009 to 2012, with reruns later airing on Boomerang. Boomerang premiered the fourth and fifth seasons from 2015 to 2016. A sixth season was under discussion; [2] according to Jim Davis, Garfield Originals is set to be the sixth season.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Garfield Show episodes

Season	Episodes	Start Date	End Date
1	52	02/11/2009	23/12/2009
2	52	13/12/2010	06/12/2011
3	52	04/09/2012	05/10/2012
4	54	06/10/2015	02/09/2016
5	4	24/10/2016	24/10/2016

Reception

Despite receiving more episodes than usual for an animated series, The Garfield Show has received mixed to negative reviews. Common Sense Media gave the show 3 stars out of 5, saying "Infamous cat's antics are fun, if not exactly message laden."

Kevin Carr of 7M pictures gave the show 2 stars out of 5 stating that the animation felt unpolished compared to the direct-to-video movies and that the show was full of "throwaway stories" because it "aims for a more kid-friendly presentation of the fat feline." He concluded his review stating he preferred "old-school cell animation as the week-to-week series CGI looks too much like cheap video game emulations, but I’m not the target market of these things".

Justin Felix of DVD talk gave the show 2.5 out of 5 stating that "The Garfield Show isn't some great work of art, but it efficiently delivers cartoon animal fun that little kids would probably enjoy. The animation is a tad rudimentary and clunky at times, but it's good enough to pass muster for cartoon fare of this type."

Mike Gencarelli of Media Mikes gave the show 3.5 out of 5 stating "it doesn’t compare to the classic Jim Davis cartoon but it is all we have right now."

The series has a 3.8 score on Metacritic touting unfavorable reviews. On IMDB, the show has a rating of 5,5 out of 10.

Trivia

• This is the second Garfield television series, and the first to feature computer graphics.
• Pre-recorded dialogue, such as laughing and screaming, are often used for characters (particularly main ones).
• The theme song is occasionally heard in episodes (mostly during chase scenes).
• Seasons 1, 2 and 4 are available on Netflix. The first two seasons were available up until July 1st, 2017, both returning on March 15, 2018. Season four premiered on Febuary 1, 2019. 
• The series was featured twice on the 2012 version of Cartoon Planet, both times on holiday-oriented episodes. "Caroling Capers" was shown on the December 16, 2013 episode, and "Turkey Trouble" on December 19, 2013.
• A photo of Garfield in his 70s design can be seen several times in the show.
• Several references to the original series are made in this series. Among them are:
  • The movie Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage, originally mentioned in "Video Airlines".
  • The Klopman Diamond which was a running gag in the original show is mentioned several times.
  • Name That Fish from "The Binky Show".
  • In one episode, a verse of "Friends Are There" appears on a mug.
  • Binky the Clown is mentioned twice in the series, both alluding to his absence from the series.
    • In Blasteroid, Garfield states that he is not allowed on the show. This was also mentioned on the show's official website.
    • In Cupid Cat, Garfield asks the audience if they remember Binky.

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