Garfield and Friends

Garfield and Friends
Format	Animated Series
Genre	Comedy
Creator	Jim Davis
Writer	Mark Evanier Sharman DiVono
Starring	Lorenzo Music Gregg Berger Thom Huge Desiree Goyette Howard Morris Frank Welker Julie Payne Pat Buttram
Composer(s)	Gary Owens
Country	United States
Language	English
Production
Executive Producer	Jim Davis Lee Mendelson Phil Roman
Runtime	22 minutes (approx.)
Company	Film Roman Paws, Inc.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
First shown	1988
First aired	September 17, 1988
Last aired	December 10, 1994

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.

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, totalling 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 lasanga, 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 Neurmal, 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.

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.

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 1992 to 2005, on Boomerang from 2005 to the present, and on Warner Channel from 1998 to the present. 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 Netflix, allowing for the first four seasons to be streamed; and Amazon Prime, which is currently streaming all seasons.

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