French-American animated television series
The Garfield Show is a CGI animated television series produced by Paws, Inc. and Dargaud Media. It is based on the American Garfield comic strip[1] created by Jim Davis. The animated series focuses on a new series of adventures for the characters of Garfield, Odie, and their owner Jon Arbuckle, alongside staple characters from the strip and a number of unique additions for the program.[2] Both Davis and producer Mark Evanier, who previously wrote episodes for the 1988 animated series Garfield and Friends, co-wrote stories for the program, with the cast including Frank Welker, Wally Wingert, Julie Payne, Jason Marsden and Gregg Berger. Welker and Berger had previously voiced various characters in Garfield and Friends.
The animated series premiered on December 22, 2008 in France and on November 2, 2009 in the United States. It ran for five seasons, with its last episode airing in America on October 24, 2016; Evanier stated shortly afterward that it was on hiatus.[3][4] On August 6, 2019, an untitled Nickelodeon series based on the Garfield comic strip was announced,[5] seemingly ending any chances of The Garfield Show coming back.
Plot
More adventures with Garfield and his pals, old and new, in this CGI animated series.
The show features loose continuity and is set in a different universe to the previous Garfield cartoon series Garfield and Friends, which is occasionally referenced. Unlike the previous show, Liz is now considered a main character and has an official relationship with Jon to reflect their current status in the comic strip. The Garfield Show also reestablishes Arlene as Garfield's potential love interest, as in the comic strip, replacing Penelope from the previous show (despite being touted as a main character, her actual role in the series is relatively minor). In addition, unlike the previous series and animated specials, where Garfield thought instead of spoke his dialogue, Garfield is now a fully-fledged talking character. Nevertheless, only other animals are usually able to understand him; Jon and other humans sometimes can (e.g.: in "A Game of Cat and Mouse").
The Garfield Show also features many new characters that are part of the regular cast, such as Vito, an Italian chef whose cooking Garfield enjoys, and Harry, a cat who acts as both a friend and an antagonist to Garfield. Squeak, Garfield's mouse friend that lives in Jon's house, appeared in the comic strip; he replaces Floyd from the previous show. Unlike Garfield and Friends, the U.S. Acres cast does not appear.
Development
The Garfield Show is a CGI series that started development in 2007 to coincide with the strip's 30th anniversary the following year premiering in France the following year.[7]
Following the previous animated series of Garfield that debuted in 1988, many of the crew members would return to work on The Garfield Show.
Broadcast
The series premiered in France on France 3 on December 22, 2008.
English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on May 5, 2009.
English-Language episodes started airing on Boomerang (Middle East and Africa) and on Boomerang (Central and Eastern Europe) on November 7, 2009.
It aired on YTV in Canada from September 13, 2009 to December 30, 2011.
In the United States, it aired on Cartoon Network from November 2, 2009 to May 30, 2014. It also aired on Boomerang from February 4, 2013 to December 30, 2016.[8]
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."[9]
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".[10]
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."[11]
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."[12]
The series has a 6.0 user score on Metacritic indicating mixed reviews.[13]
Video game
The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna, a party video game, was released in July 2010 for the Wii. It includes over 12 minigames and supports the Wii Balance Board and Wii Motion Plus. The game was critically panned for its short length, lack of interactivity and monotonous gameplay.[14]
