The Garfield Show
Also known as	Garfield & Cie
Genre	Comedy Slapstick Adventure
Based on	Garfield by Jim Davis
Developed by	Philippe Vidal Robert Rea Steve Balissat
Directed by	Philippe Vidal
Voices of	Frank Welker Gregg Berger Wally Wingert Jason Marsden Audrey Wasilewski Julie Payne
Composers	Laurent Bertaud Jean-Christophe Prudhomme
Country of origin	France United States
Original languages	French English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	107 (247 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Jim Davis Robert Rea
Producers	Kim Campbell Marie-Pierre Moulinjeune Steve Balissat Mark Evanier (supervising)
Running time	24 minutes (two segments) 12 minutes (one segment) 44 minutes (special episodes only)
Production companies	Dargaud Media Paws, Inc.
Distributor	Mediatoon Distribution
Release
Original network	France 3 (France) Cartoon Network (U.S.; 2009–12) Boomerang (U.S.; 2015–16)
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
First shown in	France
Original release	2 November 2009 (2009-11-02)[note 1] – 24 October 2016 (2016-10-24)
Chronology
Preceded by	Garfield and Friends

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 22 December 2008 in France and on 2 November 2009 in the United States. It ran for five seasons, with its last episode airing in America on 24 October 2016; Evanier stated shortly afterward that it was on hiatus.^[3][4] On 6 August 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.

Episodes

Characters

Main characters

• Garfield
• Odie
• Jon Arbuckle
• Dr. Liz Wilson
• Squeak

Recurring

• Arlene - Garfield's girlfriend who has a minor role in the series other than the three specials.
• Eddie Gourmand - A famous overweight food critic. His opinions on restaurants have a major impact on their success. He often crosses paths with Garfield, as they both enjoy Vito's cooking.
• Dr. Whipple - A recurring antagonist who, while helping others, is usually out for his own gain. Garfield often foils his plans. He is a parody of Dr. Phil McGraw.
• Professor Thaddeus Bonkers - A mad scientist who is really intelligent and yet really foolish as his inventions/discoveries always lead to disaster. He dismisses such circumstances, claiming the world is "not ready for his genius".
• Doc "Doc Boy" Arbuckle - Jon's younger brother who owns a farm. Jon always teases him by calling him "Doc Boy" much to his irritation.
• Aunt Ivy - Jon and Doc Boy's bossy aunt that often harasses Jon whenever she comes to visit. She doesn't like anything and likewise it is hard to find anything that likes her.
• Vito Cappelletti - An Italian chef who owns his own restaurant. Vito is a very ambiguous character either highly appreciating Garfield for saving his business often or determined to prevent Garfield from stealing his lasagnas or pizzas.
• Harry - A stray cat that lives in Garfield's neighborhood. Harry is another ambiguous character that sometimes acts as a friend of Garfield and sometimes antagonizes him.
• Drusilla and Minerva - Two annoying twins that like to dress up any animal they come across, which Garfield usually falls victim to. They are hinted to be either Jon's cousins or nieces; even they do not seem to know and claim that he is "some relative" of theirs.
• Herman Post - The mailman that works in Garfield's neighborhood. Garfield often plays pranks on him for "delivering nothing but bills", much to his dismay. He continues to get a higher salary for doing his job as other mailmen are too scared of Garfield to permanently replace him.
• Al the Dog Catcher - A clumsy dog catcher who is often fired for his incompetence only to be rehired as seemingly no one else can do the job any better.
• Bruno - A sadistic hairy alley cat that bullies Garfield.
• Pete the Dog Catcher - Another dog catcher that sometimes acts as Al's associate. Usually they are hired together to catch Garfield and Odie.
• The Evil Space Lasagnas - An alien race of living Lasagnas that try to conquer Earth.
• Hercules - A mean chihuahua "with a bad attitude" who is actually a troubled loner deep on the inside. He sometimes hangs out with Mademoiselle Fifi, the chihuahua belonging to Jon's boss.
• Mr. Barker - Jon's former boss who commissions Jon's comics. He is a nice, yet often demanding, person.
• Anthony Allwork - A lawyer & businessman who acts as an antagonist. He usually tries to come up with schemes to make himself richer. He has a soft spot for his son Jack.
• Esmeralda Brubaker - A museum curator who prioritizes science over any person's individual life. She'll stop at nothing to get what she wants and usually finds a way to do so legally.
• Neferkitty - The leader of an ancient tribe of cats that once tried to take over the world and were banished to another dimension. Garfield tricks her into entering the human world alone where she is forcibly adopted by Liz's annoying niece Heather who renames her "Fuzzbutton" much to her chagrin. Since then, she swore vengeance on Garfield and Odie.

Cast

Main cast members
				N/A	N/A
Frank Welker	Gregg Berger	Wally Wingert	Jason Marsden	Julie Payne	Audrey Wasilewski
Garfield, Eddie Gourmand, additional voices	Odie, Squeak, Harry, Herman Post, additional voices	Jon Arbuckle, Al the Dog Catcher, additional voices	Nermal, Vito, Liz's Father, Pete the Dog Catcher, Professor Bonkers, Humphrey, additional voices	Dr. Liz Wilson, Liz's Mother, Mom Arbuckle, additional voices	Arlene, Gloria, Newscaster, additional voices

Additional Voices

• Joe Alaskey^[6]
• Bob Bergen^[6]
• Corey Burton^[6]
• Frank Buxton^[6]
• Grey DeLisle - Jack Allwork, Nathan (seasons 2–4), Nathan's mother (seasons 2–4)
• Melissa Disney - Nathan (season 1)
• Bill Farmer^[6]
• Frank Ferrante - Lyman
• June Foray - Mrs. Cauldron
• Stan Freberg - Dr. Whipple, Fluffykins, Mole, Spencer Spendington, Hippo
• Brooks Gardner^[6]
• Hank Garrett
• Mark Hamill^[6] - Master Control
• Laraine Newman - Aunt Ivy, News Anchorwoman, Winona, Angelica, Bella Bellissima, Tyham, Aunt Esther, Queen Tania, Abigail
• Maurice LaMarche - Samuel W. Underburger
• Phil LaMarr^[6]
• David Lander - Doc Boy Arbuckle
• Misty Lee - Angie, Scheherazade
• Tress MacNeille - Esmeralda Brubaker, Hostess, Squirrel #1
• Rose Marie^[6] - Varicella
• Diane Michelle^[6]
• Candi Milo - Lester, Chester, Reporter, Squirrel #2
• Chuck McCann - Mayor Graffton
• Marvin Kaplan - Hiram “Hi” Pressure
• Jack Riley - Anthony Allwork, Ghost Cat
• Neil Ross - King Glorm, Tyler Edge, Brandon Scoop
• Jewel Shepard
• Susan Silo - Neferkitty, Metalla
• Laura Summer - Drusilla & Minerva, Lucerita & Tabitha
• Fred Tatasciore - Biff, Dirk Dinkum
• Scott Whyte^[6]
• April Winchell - Ms. Gourmand

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 22 December 2008.

English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on 5 May 2009.

English-Language episodes started airing on Boomerang (Middle East and Africa) and on Boomerang (Central and Eastern Europe) on 7 November 2009.

It aired on YTV in Canada from 13 September 2009 to 30 December 2011.

In the United States, it aired on Cartoon Network from 2 November 2009 to 30 May 2014. It also aired on Boomerang from 4 February 2013 to 30 December 2016.^[8]

Home media

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]