tiffanie_says_stay_in_your_lane Review of The Garfield Show

The Garfield Show (2008–2016)

I do laugh sometimes, but this show is more or less background noise for me

[5/10 · 14 November 2022]

I really wanted to like this show, seeing as how I'm a huge fan of Garfield, but the animation and storylines just don't do it for me. The characters don't look all that bad, but I've definitely seen better CGI. Garfield is a thousand times cuter in the movie Garfield Gets Real than he is in this program. Oh yeah, by the way, what is up with the size of his feet??? Why are they so gigantic??? I think that looks incredibly dumb. A lot of the episodes are also stupid, even for a kid's show. I can count on my hand the episodes that made me laugh hard. Otherwise, I usually stop watching a majority of them halfway because they're just too dull and/or over the top silly, to the point of being more idiotic than humorous. In one episode an alien lands on earth to recharge his spaceship, comes to Garfield's house, cancels out gravity, so objects start floating around. In another episode, a little boy living in the neighborhood who's a wannabe mad scientist shrinks Garfield. In a third episode, a humongous squid makes its way into the city sewer and sucks Odie in, so Garfield has to save him. Really? What is the targeted age group for this show, preschool? If it is, I could see a child getting bored watching this. Kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. I understand The Garfield Show isn't supposed to be educational, but the writers could put in more of an effort to think of creative situations for the characters. There is a funny episode that has a slight problem. Garfield encounters a mouse who's supposed to be a little girl. She's extremely inquisitive - asking questions at a rapid fire speed (I don't know if this was intentional by the writers, but it's like she has high functioning autism and ADHD, because not only did she talk a mile a minute, but she would jump from one topic to another). She gets kidnapped by one of the alley cats, and he gets so annoyed by all of her questions that he tells her to shut up, more than once. I was surprised to hear that kind of language. I've never heard a character say that in a kid's show, and I've watched A LOT of cartoons over the years. My suggestion: if you have children, and you're introducing them to Garfield for the first time, watch Garfield and Friends. The plotlines of the episodes are way better. Plus I wouldn't want kids to think this show represents what Garfield originally looked like.