''Happy Birthday, Garfield'' is an hour-long television special dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

'' comic strip, hosted by its creator Jim Davis. It uses both live-action and animation. The special was first broadcast May 17, 1988 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and February 24, 1989 on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

. When it comes to home video, it has only been released on VHS in the United Kingdom.

Synopsis

The program featured the people behind the strips and animated adaptations, which include *A very brief animated short made in 1980 from ''The Fantastic Funnies'' (two years before ''

Here Comes Garfield ''Here Comes Garfield'' is a 1982 animated television special based on the comic strip ''Garfield'' by Jim Davis. It was the first half-hour ''Garfield'' TV special. It is directed by Phil Roman and features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield ...

'') by

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the Peanuts animated specials, ''Peanuts'' animated specials ...

and

Lee Mendelson Leland Maurice Mendelson (March 24, 1933 – December 25, 2019) was an American animation producer and the executive producer of the many ''Peanuts'' animated specials. Biography Mendelson was born in San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo gra ...

(well known for their ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

'' specials) featuring jokes from the strips of June 21 and August 2, 1978 and July 7, 1979. *A recording session for the upcoming ''

Garfield and Friends ''Garfield and Friends'' is an American animated television series based on the comic strip ''Garfield'' by Jim Davis. The show aired on CBS as part of its Saturday morning children's lineup from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994. The show ...

'' series (with

Lorenzo Music Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, producer and writer. Music began his career in the late 1960s as a writer and a regular performer on the controversial CBS variety show ''The Smothers Brothers ...

Gregg Berger Gregory Alan Berger (born December 10, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from ''Final Fantasy X'' and the ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' games, Grimlock from '' The Transformers'', Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter from '' ...

and Thom Huge), apart from some footage from it and from '' Garfield: His 9 Lives''. *Spanish- and German-dubbed clips of ''Here Comes Garfield'' and ''

Garfield Goes Hollywood ''Garfield Goes Hollywood'' is a 1987 American animated television special based on the ''Garfield'' comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast May 8, 1987 on CBS and was nominated f ...

'' respectively were shown. *A sneak peek for the unproduced

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

''Garfield's Judgment Day''. *A rehearsal for the theme song of ''

Garfield's Babes and Bullets ''Garfield's Babes and Bullets'' is a 1989 animated television special directed by Phil Roman, based on a short story of the same name by Ron Tuthill in the book '' Garfield: His 9 Lives''. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield, the h ...

''. *A chat Davis has with

Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Biography Browne attended Cooper Union and got his start at the ''New York ...

(''

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973 and was an immediate success. Since Browne's reti ...

'', ''

Hi and Lois ''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose offspring currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.R ...

''), Mike Peters (''

Mother Goose and Grimm ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...

'') and

Lynn Johnston Lynn Johnston (born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip '' For Better or For Worse''. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award. Ea ...

('' For Better or For Worse''). The last part of the program features the celebrations held for the strip's anniversary, most notably the one where fellow cartoonists drew their characters as their "presents", followed by man-in-the-street interviews about Garfield, before the camera shows him and Odie (both played by human actors) living the "good life" in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

(even Garfield takes his time to kick Odie). Finally, Davis acknowledges the audience before flying off on a Garfield-shaped

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

References

External links

''Happy Birthday, Garfield''
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

* Garfield television specials 1980s American television specials 1980s American animated films 1988 television specials 1988 in American television 1980s animated television specials CBS television specials CBS original programming Film Roman television specials Works with live action and animation {{US-tv-episode-stub