| The Garfield Show | |
|---|---|
Screenshot from TV show. |
|
| Also known as | Garfield et Cie (French Title) |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Format | Animated series |
| Created by | Jim Davis |
| Developed by | Philippe Vidal Robert Rea Steve Balissat |
| Directed by | Philippe Vidal |
| Voices of | (English) Frank Welker Gregg Berger Wally Wingert Jason Marsden Audrey Wasilewski Julie Payne (French) Gerard Surugue Bruno Choel Philippe Bozzo Marc Saez Veronique Soufflet Gilbert Levy |
| Composer(s) | Laurent Bertaud Jean-Christophe Prudhomme |
| Country of origin | France |
| Language(s) | English French |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 104 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jim Davis Robert Rea |
| Producer(s) | Kim Campbell Marie-Pierre Moulinjeune Mark Evanier |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dargaud Media Paws, Inc. Dreamwall Animation |
| Distributor | Mediatoon International Distribution 20th Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | France 3 |
| Original run | December 22, 2008 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Garfield and Friends |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Garfield Show (French title Garfield et Cie) is a 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. It premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009 at 3:00pm. It also one of Cartoon Network's highest viewed shows (despite the show rarely being promoted). It also airs on YTV in Canada, but taken off the air on July 11th, 2011, due to the debut of Redakai: Conquer the Kairu, and returned on September 6th, 2011 when the Summer is over.
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 Garfield and Friends series. Returning from Garfield and Friends are the voice actors Julie Payne (Liz) and Gregg Berger (Odie). Frank Welker replaces the late Lorenzo Music (because of his death in 2001) as the voice of Garfield, whereas Thom Huge as the voice of Jon Arbuckle is replaced by Wally Wingert. Also returning is David Lander, reprising his role as Doc Boy from the earlier Garfield prime-time special A Garfield Christmas Special (1987). The show is produced by Dargaud Media and Paws Inc. and is animated by Dreamwall Animation.[1] The show is directed by Philippe Vidal and the music is done by Laurent Bertaud and Jean-Christophe Prudhomme.
Contents |
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 (often significantly darker, scarier and/or more bizarre than those found in the comic strip or previous animated adaptations), 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 Garfield and Friends). The 1950s era television set in the living room still has a rabbit-ears antenna, but it now has a converter box so the family can now watch television in HDTV (in fact, several allusions to 21st century technology are made in the series). The premise of the show, which is comedic slapstick, lies mainly in the events of each single episode. Usually Garfield has to solve problems that he himself causes, but always tries to skive off, and actually solves them in the end.
In the second season, Garfield began breaking the fourth wall more often, such as asking for the script for the episode, talking to the audience and even mentioning cartoon traditions, such as instant healing.
| Characters | Voice Actors (English) | Replacing Actors |
|---|---|---|
| Garfield | Frank Welker | Lorenzo Music (After his death in 2001) |
| Odie | Gregg Berger | None |
| Jon Arbuckle | Wally Wingert | Thom Huge (Not returning from Garfield and Friends) |
Common Sense Media gave the show 3 stars out of 5, saying "Infamous cat's antics are fun, if not exactly message laden." The series has a current rating of 8.7 on tv.com. IMBD currently has a 3.8 rating for the series.
A party video game titled The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna, was released in July 2010 for the Wii. It includes over 12 minigames and supports the Wii Balance Board and Wii Motion Plus.
In Indonesia, The Garfield Show scheduled aired on MNCTV. In China, The Garfield Show （加菲猫的幸福生活） is shown daily at CCTV-Kids. In the USA, the series is aired on Cartoon Network