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Garfield and Friends is an animated series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with reruns airing until October 7, 1995.[1]

The series consists of two regular segments, Garfield and U.S. Acres, a lesser-known comic strip also created by Davis. The latter was retitled Orson's Farm for foreign syndication, as that was the name of the comic strip outside of the United States.

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. In the second season, it switched to an hour-length format, showing two episodes each week. However, in the show's last season, the second half-hour of the show featured either an episode from the previous season or one of Garfield's TV specials.

Plot[]

Garfield[]

Garfield stars Garfield, a lazy feline whose only desires in life are lasagna, catnaps and kicking his hapless canine companion, Odie, off the table. The segment also starred Garfield's hopelessly-single owner, Jon Arbuckle and his other pet, a dog named Odie. Each Garfield segment features the titular character's adventures and run-ins with the cast of semi-regulars (including Nermal, an irksome kitty; Binky the Clown and the mice which inhabited Jon's house); most were satires on American life and pop culture.

U.S. Acres[]

Set on a farm, U.S. Acres, features the adventures of Orson Pig, Wade Duck, Roy Rooster, Bo and Lanolin the sheep, Booker the chick and Sheldon, an unhatched egg.

Characters[]

Garfield[]

Garfield - A fat, lazy 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 likes trying to mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi. He made a small handful of appearances on U.S. Acres (once wearing nothing but a black mask over his eyes as his "disguise"), but was more often seen in the form of various pieces of Garfield merchandise the characters appeared to own. Deep down, Garfield loves Jon and Odie. Garfield does not speak, but rather the audience hears his thoughts.

Jon Arbuckle - Garfield'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 him to the vet. Jon also has a mission set before him: get Garfield to do the right thing. Jon occasionally forces Garfield to hunt and catch mice, which is always unsuccessful due to Garfield not wanting to eat mice and his friendship with Floyd.

Odie - A beagle who is Garfield's best friend. He used to belong to Jon's former roommate Lyman (who never appeared on the show, but was a character who appeared in the earliest comic strips). Is often kicked off the kitchen table by Garfield. Looks incredibly stupid and gullible, but is actually much more cunning and smart than he lets on. Odie is the only animal character who doesn't 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 - A cute grey tabby kitten who's the self-proclaimed "World's Cutest Kitty Cat". Nermal seems kind and playful, but likes to annoy Garfield and brag 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 of ambiguous gender for Nermal, allowed the character to be mistaken for a female cat, to the point that in the first two seasons of the show, the Spanish version featured Nermal as a female kitten named "Thelma".

U.S. Acres[]

Orson - A pig who although at times, needs improvement in his friendship skills, is still the defacto leader of the farm. His favorite pastime is reading books and imagining himself into many scenarios. 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's a good friend to Roy, Wade, Bo, and Lanolin and a father figure to Booker and Sheldon. Orson is afraid of his three older brothers. Orson also has a superhero identity named Power Pig.

Roy - A loud and sometimes self-centered rooster who prides himself on his practical jokes. He's constantly into a scheme which more often than not Orson or another character has to bail him out of. Despite his selfishness, he is a good person when he wants to be. Despite some of his and Wade's differences, they became closer friends as the series progressed. It was even implied that Roy and Wade knew each other for fourteen years or so.

Wade - A cowardly duck who wears a rubber flotation tube, and has a bunch of phobias. As a gag, the head on his flotation tube (which is identical to 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'll blabber with no one understanding what he's saying. Though seemingly afraid of everything, Wade's greatest fear is the Weasel. Despite some of his and Wade's differences, they became closer friends as the series progressed. It was even implied that Roy and Wade knew each other for fourteen years or so.

Bo - An affable sheep with a positive, laid-back attitude, whose mannerisms and vernacular are like a California beach bum. He has an even-keeled demeanor and acts as a guide for Orson when dealing with his three older brothers.

Lanolin - 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 no reason. Out of all the main characters in this segment, she seems to be the nicest to Orson.

Booker - A small, cute, but very assertive chick who is constantly in pursuit of unnamed worms. Got his name from Orson's love of books.

Sheldon - 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.

Cast[]

  • Lorenzo Music - Garfield
  • Thom Huge - Jon Arbuckle, Binky The Clown
  • Gregg Berger - Odie, Orson, Herman Post, Irving Burnside, Rudy, Moe the Cat Burglar, Madman Murray, The Weasel, The Wolf
  • Desiree Goyette - Nermal
  • Thom Huge - Roy, Gort
  • Howard Morris - Wade, Wart, Worms, The Fox
  • Frank Welker - Bo, Booker, Sheldon, Mort, Fred Duck, Edward R. Furrow, Plato
  • Julie Payne - Lanolin, Dr. Liz Wilson
  • Pat Buttram - Cactus Jake
  • Carl Ballantine - Al G. Swindler
  • Victoria Jackson - Penelope
  • Don Messick - Ludlow
  • Kevin Meaney - Aloysius

History[]

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), 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. 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, only one "Garfield Quickie" is 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.

The seventh season (1994–1995) was the last one because CBS wanted to cut the budget (and in fact, CBS's Saturday morning cartoon lineup would be mostly replaced by CBS News Saturday Morning two years later, which eventually evolved into the Saturday edition of The Early Show). The production company nixed this proposal, so they mutually agreed to cease production, even though Garfield and Friends had still been doing very well in the ratings.

Syndication[]

Only 73 of the 121 episodes were syndicated by The Program Exchange between 1993 and 2007, and aired on local stations such as WCIU-TV in Chicago from 2001 to 2004. This is 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 on other stations, additional episodes were deemed unnecessary.[2]

In the United States, the series appeared in syndication from 1992 to 1995, on TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network from 1995 to 1997, and Nickelodeon from 1997 to 2000. In 2001, it appeared on Fox Family Channel. Toon Disney aired it from 2003 to 2006 and Boomerang carried it from 2006 to 2007. Currently, it is airing on Starz Encore Family.

In the UK, it appeared on CITV from 1989 through 2002, on Sky1 from 1998 to 2002, and on Boomerang from 2003 to 2006 with Season 1 and 2 only. It also appeared on The Children's Channel in reruns.

In Latin America, it aired on Cartoon Network from 1995/1996 to 2004, on Boomerang from 2005 to 2007/2008, and on Tooncast from 2008 to the early 2010s. Televisa's Canal 5 also played the show for many years, from the mid-1990s to early 2000s (decade).

In Australia, Garfield and Friends began syndication on Network Ten from 1989 to 1999. Most recently it played on FOX8 and ABC1 from 2004 to 2006.

The show was also syndicated in Chile from 1989 to 2003 on Canal 13 and from 1998 to present on Warner Channel. In Estonia, the show appeared on TV 3 from 2000 to 2002, and in Finland on YLE TV2 between the years 1992-1994 and 1998-1999.

The cartoon had also appeared in Hungary, oddly with two other sychronizations. Hungarian Television's channel M2 (what now repeats the whole series) broadcast the first season in 1994-'95, and then, RTL Klub shown a re-synchronized first season (Garfield's voice was the same, József Kerekes) and that continued through the 121 episodes.

Currently, Garfield and Friends is hosted on Starz, allowing for the first three seasons to be streamed; and Boomerang, which is currently streaming Season 1.

Garfield and Friends aired in Canada on the cable TV channel YTV from 1989 to 1996. On September 5, 2011, Teletoon's 24-hour classic-animation network, Teletoon Retro (which launched in 2007) began rerunning all episodes of the series.

Episode List[]

# Garfield segment 1 U.S. Acres segment Garfield segment 2 Original air date Prod.
code
Season 1 (1988)
1 Peace and Quiet Wanted: Wade Garfield Goes Hawaiian September 17, 1988 104
2 Box O' Fun Unidentified Flying Orson School Daze September 24, 1988 105
3 Nighty Nightmare Banana Nose Ode to Odie October 1, 1988 102
4 Fraidy Cat Shell Shocked Sheldon Nothing to Sneeze At October 8, 1988 103
5 Garfield's Moving Experience Wade: You're Afraid Good Mousekeeping October 15, 1988 101
6 Identity Crisis The Bad Sport Up a Tree October 22, 1988 106
7 Weighty Problem The Worm Turns Good Cat, Bad Cat October 29, 1988 107
8 Cabin Fever Return of Power Pig Fair Exchange November 5, 1988 108
9 The Binky Show Keeping Cool Don't Move! November 12, 1988 109
10 Magic Mutt Short Story Monday Misery November 19, 1988 110
11 Best of Breed National Tapioca Pudding Day All About Odie November 26, 1988 111
12 Caped Avenger Shy Fly Guy Green Thumbs Down December 3, 1988 112
13 Forget Me Not I Like Having You Around! Sales Resistance December 10, 1988 113
Season 2 (1989)
14 Pest of a Guest The Impractical Joker Fat and Furry September 16, 1989 201
15 Rip Van Kitty Grabbity The Big Catnap September 16, 1989 202
16 The Great Getaway Scrambled Eggs Hansel and Garfield September 23, 1989 203
17 The Sludge Monster Fortune Kooky Heatwave Holiday September 23, 1989 204
18 One Good Fern Deserves Another Goody-Go-Round The Black Book September 30, 1989 205
19 The Legend of the Lake Double Oh Orson Health Feud September 30, 1989 206
20 Binky Gets Cancelled! Show Stoppers Cutie and the Beast October 7, 1989 207
21 The Lasagna Zone Sleepytime Pig Yojumbo October 7, 1989 208
22 Pros and Cons Rooster Revenge Lights! Camera! Garfield! October 14, 1989 209
23 Polecat Flats Hogcules Brain Boy October 14, 1989 210
24 Maine Course No Laughing Matter Attack of the Mutant Guppies October 21, 1989 211
25 Robodie First Aid Wade Video Victim October 21, 1989 212
26 The Curse of the Klopman Mud Sweet Mud Rainy Day Dreams October 28, 1989 213
27 Basket Brawl Origin of Power Pig Cactus Jake Rides Again October 28, 1989 214
28 Binky Goes Bad! Barn of Fear Mini-Mall Matters November 4, 1989 215
29 Attention-Getting Garfield Swine Trek It Must be True! November 4, 1989 216
30 Arrivaderci, Odie! Gort Goes Good Feeling Feline November 11, 1989 217
31 The Bear Facts Nothing to be Afraid of The Big Talker November 11, 1989 218
32 Cactus Makes Perfect Hogcules II Crime and Nourishment November 18, 1989 219
33 T.V. of Tomorrow Little Red Riding Egg Well-Fed Feline November 18, 1989 220
34 Invasion of the Big Robots Shelf Esteem Housebreak Hotel November 25, 1989 221
35 First Class Feline Hamelot How to be Funny! November 25, 1989 222
36 Mystic Manor Flop Goes the Weasel The Legend of Long Jon December 2, 1989 223
37 China Cat Cock-a-Doodle Dandy Beach Blanket Bonzo December 2, 1989 224
38 Lemon-Aid Hog Noon Video Airlines December 16, 1989 225
39 The Mail Animal Peanut-Brained Rooster Mummy Dearest December 16, 1989 226
Season 3 (1990)
40 Skyway Robbery The Bunny Rabbits is Coming! Close Encounters of the Garfield Kind September 15, 1990 301
41 Astrocat Cock-A-Doodle Duel Cinderella Cat September 15, 1990 302
42 Ship Shape Barn of Fear II Break a Leg September 22, 1990 303
43 Twice Told Tale Orson Goes On Vacation Wedding Bell Blues September 22, 1990 304
44 Clean Sweep Secrets of the Animated Cartoon How the West was Lost September 29, 1990 305
45 Binky Gets Cancelled Again! Orson's Diner Flat Tired September 29, 1990 306
46 Return of the Buddy Bears Much Ado About Lanolin Reigning Cats and Dogs October 6, 1990 307
47 Fit for a King Ben Hog Dessert in the Desert October 6, 1990 308
48 Hounds of the Arbuckles Read Alert Urban Arbuckle October 13, 1990 309
49 Odielocks and the Three Cats Quack to the Future Beddy Buy October 13, 1990 310
50 Count Lasagna Mystery Guest Rodent Rampage October 20, 1990 311
51 The Feline Felon The Legal Eagle The Cactus Saga October 20, 1990 312
52 D.J. Jon Cornfinger Five Minute Warning October 27, 1990 313
53 Wonderful World The Orson Awards The Garfield Workout October 27, 1990 314
54 All Things Fat and Small Robin Hog Hare Replacement November 3, 1990 315
55 Stick to It Orson in Wonderland For Cats Only November 10, 1990 316
56 Mistakes will Happen The Well Dweller The Wise Man November 17, 1990 317
57 Star Struck Election Daze Dirty Business November 17, 1990 318
Season 4 (1991)
58 Moo Cow Mutt Big Bad Buddy Bird Angel Puss September 14, 1991 403
59 Trial and Error An Egg-Citing Story Supermarket Mania September 14, 1991 404
60 The Legend of Cactus Jupiter Birthday Boy Roy Jukebox Jon September 21, 1991 401
61 Squeak Previews Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Wade A Tall Tale September 21, 1991 402
62 Frankenstein Feline Weatherman Wade Fill-in Feline September 28, 1991 405
63 Polar Pussycat Over the Rainbow Remote Possibilities September 28, 1991 406
64 Night of the Living Laundromat Fast Food Cash and Carry October 5, 1991 407
65 Speed Trap Flights of Fantasy Castaway Cat October 5, 1991 408
66 Mind over Matter Orson at the Bat The Multiple Choice Cartoon October 12, 1991 409
67 Galactic Gamesman Garfield Sly Spy Guy The Thing That Stayed...Forever! October 12, 1991 410
68 Bouncing Baby Blues The Ugly Duckling Learning Lessons October 19, 1991 411
69 Robodie II For Butter or Worse Annoying Things October 19, 1991 412
70 Guaranteed Trouble Fan Clubbing A Jarring Experience October 26, 1991 413
71 The Idol of Id Bedtime Story Blues Mama Manicotti November 2, 1991 414
72 The Pizza Patrol The Son Also Rises Rolling Romance November 9, 1991 415
73 The Automated, Animated Adventure It's A Wonderful Wade Truckin' Odie November 9, 1991 416
Season 5 (1992)
74 Home Away from Home Rainy Day Robot Odie the Amazing September 19, 1992 502
75 Taste Makes Waist The Wolf Who Cried Boy Day of Doom September 19, 1992 506
76 Home Sweet Swindler Forget-Me-Not Newton The Great Inventor September 26, 1992 501
77 Country Cousin The Name Game The Carnival Curse September 26, 1992 504
78 The First Annual Garfield Watchers Test Stark Raven Mad The Record Breaker October 3, 1992 503
79 Renewed Terror Badtime Story Tooth or Dare October 3, 1992 505
80 The Kitty Council The Bo Show Bad Neighbor Policy October 10, 1992 507
81 Canvas Back Cat Make Believe Moon The Creature that Lived in the Refrigerator, Behind the Mayonnaise, Next to the Ketchup and to the Left of the Coleslaw October 10, 1992 508
82 Dummy of Danger Sooner or Later Jumping Jon October 17, 1992 511
83 Cute for Loot The Caverns of Cocoa Dream Date October 17, 1992 509
84 The Worst Pizza in the History of Mankind Jack II: The Rest of the Story The Garfield Opera October 24, 1992 512
85 Airborne Odie Once Upon a Time Warp Bride and Broom October 24, 1992 510
86 The Cartoon Cat Conspiracy Who Done It? The Picnic Panic October 31, 1992 513
87 Sound Judgment Gross Encounters The Perils of Penelope October 31, 1992 514
88 Ghost of a Chance Roy Gets Sacked Revenge of the Living Lunch November 7, 1992 515
89 Supersonic Seymour A Mildly Mental Mix-Up The Garfield Rap November 7, 1992 516
Season 6 (1993)
90 A Vacation From His Senses The Incredibly Stupid Swamp Monster Dread Giveaway September 18, 1993 601
91 The Wright Stuff Orson Express Safe at Home September 18, 1993 606
92 Jon the Barbarian Uncle Roy to the Rescue The Kitten and the Council September 25, 1993 602
93 Next-Door Nuisance What's It All About, Wade? Bigfeetz September 25, 1993 605
94 Canine Conspiracy Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarfs (Part 1) The Genuine Article October 2, 1993 603
95 The Best Policy Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarfs (Part 2) Fishy Feline October 2, 1993 604
96 The Pie-Eyed Piper Fine-Feathered Funny Man Sweet Tweet Treat October 9, 1993 607
97 The Floyd Story How Now, Stolen Cow? The Second Penelope Episode October 9, 1993 608
98 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse Payday Mayday How to Drive Humans Crazy October 16, 1993 609
99 Date of Disaster A Little Time-Off The Longest Doze October 16, 1993 610
100 Stairway to Stardom Return of the Incredibly Stupid Swamp Monster The Life and Times of the Lasagna Kid October 23, 1993 611
101 Magic, Monsters and Manicotti The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere's Duck Unreal Estate October 23, 1993 612
102 Lost and Foundling Winter Wonderland Films and Felines October 30, 1993 613
103 The Garfield Musical Mind Over Melvin Madman Meets His Match October 30, 1993 615
104 Knights and Daze Holiday Happening Jailbird Jon November 6, 1993 614
105 The Third Penelope Episode Hare Force Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue November 6, 1993 616
Season 7 (1994)
106 The Legend Of Johnny Ragweedseed Grape Expectations (Part 1) Catch As Cats Can't September 17, 1994 702
107 A Matter Of Conscience Grape Expectations (Part 2) Top Ten September 17, 1994 703
108 Change Of Mind Temp Trouble The Perfect Match September 24, 1994 701
109 My Fair Feline Double Trouble Talk Half-Baked Alaska September 24, 1994 704
110 Puss In High-Tops Egg Over Easy (Part 1) The Beast From Beyond October 1, 1994 705
111 Model Behavior Egg Over Easy (Part 2) Another Ant Episode October 1, 1994 706
112 The Guy of Her Dreams The Discount of Monte Cristo The Fairy Dogmother October 8, 1994 707
113 The Stand-Up Mouse Daydream Doctor Happy Garfield Day October 8, 1994 708
114 Sit on It Kiddy Korner Brainwave Broadcast October 15, 1994 709
115 Suburban Jungle The Thing in the Box The Feline Philosopher October 22, 1994 710
116 Thoroughly Mixed-Up Mouse The Old Man of the Mountain Food Fighter October 29, 1994 711
117 The Jelly Roger The Farmyard Feline Philosopher Dogmother 2 November 5, 1994 712
118 Alley Katta and the 40 Thieves If It's Tuesday This Must Be Alpha Centauri Clash of the Titans November 19, 1994 713
119 Canned Laughter Deja Vu The Man Who Hated Cats November 26, 1994 714
120 The Horror Hostess (Part 1) Newsworthy Wade The Horror Hostess (Part 2) December 3, 1994 716
121 Arbuckle the Invincible The Monster Who Couldn't Scare Anybody The Ocean Blue December 10, 1994 715

References[]

  1. "Garfield and Friends". The Cartoon Resource. http://cartoonresource.tripod.com/garfield.html. Retrieved on June 24, 2014. 
  2. Evanier, Mark. "Artistic License Fees". NewsFromMe.com. http://www.newsfromme.com/2014/01/13/artistic-license-fees/. Retrieved on June 24, 2014. 
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