''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 (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

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

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

and February 24, 1989, on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

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 Garfiel ...

'') by

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

and Lee Mendelson (well known for their ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') 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 ext ...

'' specials) featuring jokes from the strips of June 21 and August 2, 1978 and July 21, 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. Th ...

'' series (with

Lorenzo Music Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He ...

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

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

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

''Garfield's Judgment Day''. *A rehearsal for the theme song of '' Garfield's Babes and Bullets''. *A chat Davis has with Dik Browne ('' Hägar the Horrible'', ''

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 children currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate ...

''), Mike Peters (''

Mother Goose and Grimm ''Mother Goose and Grimm'' (a.k.a. ''Mother Goose & Grimm'') is an internationally syndicated comic strip by cartoonist Mike Peters of the '' Dayton Daily News''. It was first syndicated starting October 1, 1984, and is distributed by King Fea ...

'') 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. ...

(''

For Better or For Worse ''For Better or For Worse'' is a Canadian comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran originally from 1979 to 2008 chronicling the lives of the Patterson family and their friends, in the town of Milborough, a fictional suburb of Toronto, Ontario. Now ...

''). 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 carri ...

References

External links

''Happy Birthday, Garfield''
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

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