A Look at Garfield Merchandise and Commercials

Continuing my look at Garfield’s 40th birthday and there is only one more thing to really discuss. And that is all the merchandise and commercials the cat has been in. Garfield was a merchandising machine. In fact there’s a while company devoted to it called Paws. In 40 years Garfield has become a major part of pop culture.


He has appeared in everything from Happy Meal’s

to amusement parks (where he has roller coasters named after him)


and yes even being a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (several times).                       .
 






In fact Garfield is such a pop culture phenomenon that one of the biggest phenomenons o the 1980’s was this :

Yep, no joke.  This plush Garfield “stuck on you” was accidentally made for car’s and people adored them. So much that the company couldn’t keep up with the demand!! These were all over place and the image has been homaged to death.

Though to be honest, I am not sure how safe it is to have a something blocking a portion of your back window. Still, it’s GARFIELD!!!!  These were so popular in fact that there were reports of people vandalizing cars just to get their hands on the plush toy. Check this ad out:

We’ll get back to these ads in a bit.
Garfield has permeated pop culture so much there are references to him all over other media. Here are some quick examples : 

THE SIMPSONS

Special TV-Garfield TV Specials

So as I talked about before, June will be Garfield’s 40th anniversary. Since I talked about the comic strip last time, what to discuss this time? How about all the TV specials? Truth is I have hardly discussed them, and to be even more honest I barely remember them! Mostly because, I was not a fan of them (holiday one’s aside). They just never grabbed me, and in fact I remember the books these specials were adapted into more than the shows themselves. I think I had most of them. They were mostly in the 80’s and I never understood why they stopped. Though I supposed you could argue the Saturday Morning Cartoon had something to do with that. Still that’s eleven specials over ten years, pretty good! Man, I miss the days when the networks would put an animated special on just because.

Now since others smarter and wiser than I have done thorough retrospectives on these, this not going to be a thorough overview. Just quickly go over the premise and what I thought of it. They’re all on YouTube so feel free to hunt them down and check them out!








Plot:When Garfield and Odie are caught by a dog catcher, Garfield escapes. But Odie doesn’t. Does Garfield decide to go back for him? Of course he does and just in time to find out Odie is to be put down (you read that right).

Comments:This is the first special aired, and you can tell because the voices aren’t the same. Well ok it is Lorenzo Music doing Garfield, but Jon is a different actor. Also the designs are clearly early 80’s Garfield. Right away we have Lou Rawls who did songs for all of these. Also doing some voices an singing is Desirée Goyette. Man do we need talk about her! But first, what did I think of this? It feels like a Garfield strip animated into a TV show so it’s good. It hits all the notes a Garfield story should, and has a plot which is not overwhelming like some others will be. But the big thing with this is the scene where Odie is dragged away to be euthanized. This is THE SADDEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. Not helped with Desiree’s haunting vocals singing over the scene. Goyette should be much more well respected than she is, not only does she sing in every one of these specials but she’s done some great voice over work. Not only did she do the voice of Nermal but her voice made the character click and become popular. So does Garfield save Odie? Of course! Thankfully the cell opens at the right moment allowing Garfield to escape and rescue Odie at the same time.

Just a quick unrelated nitpick, It’s a common thing in animation but I hate it when people call the pound on pets who are lawfully owned. That just drives me crazy. And why was Odie being put down so fast?

Grade-B, Good start except for the padding (yeah Rawls is awesome and a legend but what do those songs really ad? I wish he had just done the openings)

My Favorite Garfield Comic Strips

Just when I thought there were no anniversaries to celebrate this year, I remembered a big fast orange lazy one!

I love Garfield, but one area I haven’t really discussed is the comics. Of course that’s where he started back in June of 1978, and where I first got exposed to him. Yeah the TV specials are all fine and good but its the comics where we get the real Garfield. And yes I know not all love him. Some don’t think he’s funny, some think Garfield is way to commercialized, and we’re supposed to hate the strips now because creator Jim Davis no longer personally draws them. But, whatever. These strips have been giving me joy for as long as I can remember. Ok maybe they’re not as clever as they used to be but there’s still forty years of great material out there. And as I explained in another article, I NEVER had Peanuts in my house growing up and by the time I was finally exposed to it I just didn’t appreciate it. For me, it’s all about Garfield.

Here is the first strip ever from 1978 :

Here are my favorites that made me laugh. These aren’t starting all the way back when Garfield started because I was only three when the strip first appeared. And the first few years weren’t great, it took them awhile to get the look and personality down. I’ll discuss that more another time. And these seem small on the page but if you click on the image you can see the strip in full detail.








Let’s go all the way back to 1984 with a classic. This is a great strip because rather than just be what the strip often does, setup a joke and then punchline, there’s a little plot here. And we see Odie may not be as dumb we all thought!!

Top 10 Favorite Animated Christmas Specials-#2

Welcome as I continue counting down my top 10 favorite animated Christmas specials. I wont lie, the last three slots were very hard to sort. It’s a bold statement saying one special is better than all of them! I mean, where the heck is Frosty? How could I leave of The Flintstones? What about Mr.Magoo???? But I chose this to be my second favorite because it’s a character that I have adored for as long as I can remember. I am talking about, who else?….
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This special has kind of disappeared from network TV, I’m sorry to say. It was re-run for a long time in the 80’s and 90’s but I haven’t seen it on TV in a long time. Thank goodness for DVD (or VHS in my case). So, what is it about this special that makes it so awesome?

First of all, there’s Garfield. Yeah I know that’s a no brainer but what some people forget is that Garfield loves Christmas. So while he gets a little sentimental here it’s still very much in character. It starts out like it’s going to be a big kind of special with Garfield getting wild gifts..until we find out that’s just a dream. The real story and is much simpler. It turns out Jon is taking Garfield and Odie to the farm for Christmas.

One question I see a lot is “Why do people like Christmas?” Well his special is a perfect example of why. If you can’t get into the religious reasons anyway. The special is a family getting together for Christmas Eve, and simply enjoying each others company. Perfect. Some of the little things are perfect. Like the mother making to much food for dinner, the family singing by the piano, decorating the tree, and even Garfield snuggling up with grandma as she looks out the window and waxes nostalgia. She talks about how Christmas wasn’t always easy, but it was always special. That’s what Christmas is all about to me anyway.

The family is just perfect. Having spend time on a farm I can say that these characters all ring true. The mother is sweet, the father is gruff, and the brother is a lovable dope. And of course, the grandmother is just cool! Pat Carroll is a great voice actress and she really makes this character memorable and believable at the same time. Carroll is just awesome, of course she can a good villain too (what was that Disney movie she did? Something about a little mermaid I think).

Special TV-Cartoon All-Star's to The Rescue

So I decided it was finally time to talk about this, even though I am hardly the first to do so. Why? I’ll answer that as we go. I present one of the coolest ideas that any kid of the 80’s remembers :

 

This came along twenty-five years ago, April 21, 1990, and aired on all four networks! That was a major thing at the time! And if you were a kid, as I was, it was pure epicness! All of our favorite cartoon characters together? Oh hell yes! We couldn’t wait to watch this! But did it live up to the hype? Ummm..let’s talk about it

SPECIAL Face-Off - Peanuts vs Garfield

I have decided to settle once and for all who were the better characters. Were they the Peanuts gang, or Garfield and co who have been going strong for 35 years! This is a grudge match of epic proportions!

As you may guess I am using the format of my sitcom face-off's, with some tweaks of course. I have confessed my love for Garfield before but promise this will be fair.

Peanuts was created by Charles Shulz in 1950. Garfield was created by Jim Davis and premiered in comics in 1972. Both have been enormous successes with a long lasting and enduring appeal. But which is truly better?

        

Top 5 Favorite Animated Cats

I am going to admit something to everyone. I am a cat lover. It’s true, I love the little fuzzballs. Actually I wasn’t so much until I had one. If you’ve owned a pet, you understand. So, I have a special affinity for cats on TV and movies. Cartoons also, and I've noticed that cats don't get the respect dogs do. Sure, Snoopy and Scooby are great but what about the great cats that have been around? So, just for fun today I thought I’d take a look at my top 5 favorite animated cats. The only rule for this list is that the character has to be a house cat, not lions or tigers for example.

#5. Oliver

Oliver & Company is one of the more forgettable Disney movies. I loved the characters though. We had Dodger played by Billy Joel, and Georgette played by Bette Midler. However, for my money my favorite character was the title one, the kitty named Oliver. He is a tough little kitty, and shows lots of spunk and personality. We first see him surviving the streets of New York alone, and then when Dodger scams him he proceeds to follow him home! Probably why Dodger decided to befriend him and bring the little guy into their group.

Top 5 Thanksgiving Special’s I Watch Every Year

This is a two part article, the second being about my favorite Thanksgiving sitcom episodes. Here, I want to talk about specials. Unlike Christmas and Halloween, there really aren’t that many Thanksgiving specials around. I guess when you think about it, Thanksgiving isn’t that exciting a holiday. There are no costumes or scary decoration. There are no presents, no stress and aggravation trying to find the perfect gift. No legendary characters to make dozens of stories about. I mean, how many times can you tell the story of the 1^st Thanksgiving? However, over the years there are a few specials which have made it onto TV and I wanted to share them with you. It would not be Thanksgiving without these shows.

#5. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Top 5 Halloween Specials

Well it’s that time of year again, Halloween is coming Monday night. I love Halloween; it’s just a fun time. Garfield said it best when he said it was his kind of holiday. No stupid relatives, just candy, candy, candy! Just throw a costume on and get some candy, simple as that.

Of course being an adult I don’t trick or treat anymore. However, there are ways to enjoy the holiday and one of those ways is by watching some favorite Halloween specials on television. So, I thought in honor of the holiday I would list my top 5 favorite Halloween specials of all time. I am just talking specials; I will talk about sitcom episodes another time.

#5. Saturday Night Live.

Call me crazy, but I love watching this every year on Halloween. This show did a great job of doing real Halloween themed sketches. They weren’t scary, of course, but they were funny and most are so much fun to watch year after year. My favorite might have to be Chris Farley’s motivational speaker sketch, where he talks to a trio of teenagers who have been causing trouble. Of course he is all over the place and winds up smashing the coffee table. When first aired this special was hosted by Wayne and Garth, and unfortunately their commercial intros have all vanished as the special has been reproduced many times. Their opening and closing is still there at least.