History YMMV / TheGarfieldShow

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Dirk Dinkum's VillainSong from the "Lion Queen" special. It is COMPLETELY unprompted with no real setup.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: While the death of Lorenzo Music required Garfield to have a new voice actor, some fans felt that Creator/FrankWelker's performance didn't capture the same spirit as Music's. To quote [[WebVideo/TVTrash The Rowdy Reviewer]]:
--> "No one can replace the late, great Lorenzo Music. He ''was'' Garfield. But legendary voice talent Frank Welker? I must say that [...] I'm less than impressed. With him, it's all lethargy and no sarcasm, while Music always had the best mix of both."

--> '''Courtier''': In the sarcophagus, an hour will be your lifetime.

* NightmareFuel: Garfield's nightmare in High Scale, especially after the scale comes to life and Frank Welker drops into his Dr. Claw/Soundwave voice.

** Jon’s enraged moments can be this thanks to [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct his voice actor Creator/WallyWingert well done prefomance but his rage in “King Nermal” takes the cake as he sounds generally furious with his pets throughout the episode.]]

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The series had three different games based on it -- ''The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna'', ''Garfield Kart'', and ''Garfield Kart: Furious Racing'' (allegedly a sequel to the latter, but it's more of an UpdatedRerelease than anything). The first one suffers from a weak plot, stilted voice acting, and FakeDifficulty by way of poor utilization of the Wii's motion controls; the latter two are just buggy ''Mario Kart'' rip-offs (with the latter being even ''more'' broken than the former).

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** Dirk Dinkum's VillainSong from the "Lion Queen" Multipart episode. It is COMPLETELY unprompted with no real setup.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: While the voice acting is usually just decent for the most part, Jon's voice actor in the episode "King Nermal" absolutely ''nails'' it. The scene where Jon sends Garfield and Odie out to punish them for messing with Nermal is especially chilling.

** In May of 2023, the character Dirk Dinkum and his song "Go Away" became memetic on [[https://twitter.com/n64cartridges/status/1653849632479272960 twitter]].

** In may of 2023, the character Dirk Dinkum and his song "Go away" become memetic on [[https://twitter.com/n64cartridges/status/1653849632479272960 twitter]]

* JerkassWoobie: Hercules is a mean Chihuahua with a spiked collar who is one of the bully dogs in the neighborhood. Turns out he's just lonely and wants a friend, which is why he stole Pookie in one episode.

* HilariousInHindsight: One episode had Garfield encounter a version of himself that can turn into an EldritchAbomination, long before the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/creepy-garfield Creepy Garfield/Gorefield]] meme started to take off.

* ToughActToFollow: ''The Garfield Show'' had to fill the shoes of the ever-beloved ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', and it very much struggled to do that. While it's generally considered to be a good show on its own, especially by those who grows up with it, fans and critics alike tend to find ''The Garfield Show'' to be sluggish and having more poorly written episodes when compared to ''Garfield and Friends''.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The show's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgxgBDvNBY theme]], which is incredibly energetic and jazzy.

* ToughActToFollow: ''The Garfield Show'' had to fill the shoes of the ever-beloved ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', and it very much struggled to do that. While it's generally considered to be a decent show on its own, fans and critics alike tend to find ''The Garfield Show'' to be sluggish and poorly written when compared to ''Garfield and Friends''.

** Garfield saying "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Bji0W98-Q I know where you live]]" gained a memetic takeoff due to the dark humor of Garfield essentially threatening the viewer into not telling anyone he [[ItMakesSenseInContext took care of some baby bluebirds]].

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zofqU_4ajL4 unfinished shot]] in "Land of Hold"[[labelnote:explanation]] A shot from the episode went viral for somehow being ''entirely unfinished'' in the episode's initial U.S. broadcast. Cue debates over whether or not the shot being unfinished [[PoesLaw was intentional]], due to the show being [[NoFourthWall incredibly meta in its humor]] and the error being seen as [[RefugeInAudacity too blatant to accidentally slip past everyone involved]]. The unfinished shot was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwAApV8lLaE fixed in international versions]], revealing that the unfinished version was indeed an error (according to the person who animated the shot, this was due to an editor accidentally using the work-in-progress version instead of the TV-ready version).

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The show's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgxgBDvNBY theme]], is incredibly energetic and jazzy.
* DesignatedVillain: Jon is made to look like this in episodes where he's trying to curb Garfield's [[FatBastard terrible behavior]].
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: In "King Nermal", when Jon sends Garfield and Odie out to punish them for messing with Nermal, he sounds enraged to the point of being chilling.

** The episode "Land of Hold" became [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zofqU_4ajL4 notorious]] for featuring an entire shot of unfinished animation that was never fixed for broadcast, something that was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwAApV8lLaE noticeably fixed]] in international versions.

** The line "I know where you live." gained a memetic takeoff due to the hilariously dark fact that Garfield is essentially threatening the viewer into not telling anyone he [[ItMakesSenseInContext took care of some baby bluebirds]].

** An editing error weaseled its way into the episode "Land of Hold", where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyDwWL-_2B8 an entire segment of seemingly unfinished animation]] was put in instead of the finished version (complete with labels, possibly indicating the use of a screen recorder). However, people were quick to assume that the animation was indeed unfinished and that the animator was at fault as a result.
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The series had three different games based off of it -- ''The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna'', ''Garfield Kart'', and ''Garfield Kart: Furious Racing'' (allegedly a sequel to the latter, but it's more of an UpdatedRerelease than anything). The first one suffers from a weak plot, stilted voice acting, and FakeDifficulty by way of poor utilization of the Wii's motion controls; the latter two are just buggy ''Mario Kart'' rip-offs (with the latter being even ''more'' broken than the former).

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: As mentioned before, Jon's voice actor nailed his performance on "King Nermal", often considered the worst episode of the show.
* ToughActToFollow: To the widely-beloved ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. While ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' was a huge ratings success and earned acclaimed reviews from critics and ''Garfield'' fans alike, ''The Garfield Show'' was not a ratings success; critics and even fans of the ''Garfield'' comic strip found this cartoon to be poorly-written and sluggish in terms of quality, so they gave up watching.
* UnexpectedCharacter: Did ANYONE honestly expect a character as obscure as Lyman to ever appear again?
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: This may take you by surprise, but Creator/FrankWelker performing Garfield didn't sit well with some fans. To quote [[WebVideo/TVTrash The Rowdy Reviewer]]:
-->'''The Rowdy Reviewer:''' "...no one can replace the late, great Lorenzo Music. He ''was'' Garfield. But legendary voice talent Frank Welker? I must say that....I'm less than impressed. With him, it's all lethargy and no sarcasm, while Music always had the best mix of both."
* TheWoobie: Usually Odie. Garfield himself had some moments such as the episode "The Land of Hold".

* IdiotPlot:
** In "Out on a Limb" they keep going back up the tree, after finally getting down from it, to escape the dog instead of just running away from it.
** "Orange and Black" has Garfield causing a mass panic in the neighborhood because he decided to dress up as an extremely dangerous wildcat ''that has just been recently said by the news to have escaped the local zoo''. Predictably, Garfield gets captured by the zookeepers.
** "Family Picture" involves Jon choosing to take a picture for Liz while outside his house, which leads to the inevitable interruptions (i.e., a neighbor asking to borrow sugar, Nermal, a bee, etc.) It's not until aliens take the camera than Jon decides to get his picture taken by a professional. Garfield even lampshades this.
--->'''Garfield:''' You know, if you'd have done this in the first place, it would have saved us a lot of grief.

* TheScrappy:
** Aunt Ivy is an InUniverse case which Garfield Lampshades a plenty. One episode revolves around Jon desperately trying to pawn her off onto his brother (who wants her even less).
** Similarly Squeak's cousin Max. The instant he appears Garfield even Lampshades he's an even more annoying addition to the show than Nermal.
** Nermal gets a lot a hate as well. Even fans who liked him in ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' thought this version of him was unlikable because he became [[TookALevelInJerkass meaner and more obnoxious]].

** The line "I know where you live." gained a memetic takeoff due to the hilariously dark fact that Garfield is essentially threatening the viewer into not telling anyone he [[ItMakesSenseInContext took care if some baby bluebirds]].

** The line "I know where you live." gained a memetic takeoff due to the hilariously dark fact that Garfield is essentially threatening the viewer into not telling anyone he [[ItMakesSenseInContext took care if some baby bluebirds].

* HilariousInHindsight:
** One episode involved two snowmen that came to life, one of which named [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Olaf]].
** Another had Garfield encounter a version of himself that can turn into an EldritchAbomination, long before the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/creepy-garfield Creepy Garfield/Gorefield]] meme started to take off.
** Recurring character Harry has one orange eye and one green eye -- just like [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons another cat]] who would become highly popular long after the series' end.

** Given how often the show is accused of lacking the same wit and personality that ''Garfield and Friends'' had, it may come to a surprise to many that several of the original show's creative team like Mark Evanier and Jim Davis himself actually wrote a large helping of ''The Garfield Show''.