Greetings All, I did a pretty exhaustive search, but there was no dedicated thread on this beloved character, so I figured hat the heck. I have an aunt who was a Huge Garfield fan, so I actually started with the comic strips, which were collected in book volumes, I remember getting these form my schools book fair each year in elementary school. There were annual animated specials (all voiced by Lorenzo Music) in the early-mid 80's, then Garfield got his own Saturday Morning Show - Garfield and Friends in 1988 and lasted 7 seasons, an amazing 121 episodes!
I rewatched all of these with my kids a couple years back when they were on Netflix. They were still as hilarious as I remembered. All the DVD's are long OOP, but not that expensive if you search hard enough. I just got volume 1 of 5 (which is the entire 1st season, and some of the 2nd) for $10 used.
There was an amazing meta moment in one of the episodes however. I couldn't find the clip on Youtube...But in an early episode Garfield goes on a pet talent show, there is a talking parrot that does impersonations (voiced by Frank Welker). He does impersonations of Bill Cosby, Pee-Wee Herman, Jack Nicholson, and finally Garfield Himself, to which Garfield is not impressed. This blew my mind because Frank Welker would eventually fill in for Lorenzo Music in all Garfield related media after Lorenzo's passing. The man is a master at his craft and he learned form the best. Welker would also fill in for Don Messick voicing Scooby Doo after his passing as well.
Additionally, most people know this but, Lorenzo Music also voiced Ghostbuster Dr. Peter Venkman in the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters animated series, so it was oddly fitting that Bill Murray voiced Garfield in the two live action films from 2004 & 2006.
To Be Honest, I really haven't watched any of the newer Garfield shows or direct-to-home media films. But all the stuff from the 70/80 (The comics and the cartoon) are still classic favorites of mine. Do you enjoy Garfields wit and sarcasm? Sound off below if you do