PBS Distribution Announces ‘Garfield & Friends: Season 3’ Release Date

Courtesy: PBS Distribution

PBS Distribution will release the third season of Garfield & Friends to DVD next month.

The 18-episode collection is scheduled for release Oct. 27.  It will retail for MSRP of $14.99.  Season Three features a variety of great shorts both from Garfield and from his U.S. Acres pals.  “For Cats Only” is one of the many great shorts featuring Garfield.  This episode finds Garfield hosting a special program that tells the history of cats on Earth.  According to the story, cats came from another planet, and that they control humans, not the other way around.

In what is yet another of the season’s most memorable moments, the series shows once how far ahead of its time it was in “How The West Was Lost.”  This episode features returning character Cactus Jake, who was voiced throughout the series by Pat Buttram (Robin Hood, The Aristocats, The Fox and the Hound), out of a job after his ranch is automated.  Jake tries a variety of fields, but to no success.  Thanks to Garfield, Jake ends up getting his job back after Garfield sabotages some of the ranch’s robots to prove mechanization is not the answer to the workplace.

In yet another great moment, the series pokes fun at how mainstream commercial radio works in “D.J. Jon” after Jon becomes a disc jockey at his local radio station.  His new (and short-lived) stardom leads Jon to inadvertently neglect Odie and Garfield, so Garfield takes it on himself to  get out of the industry’s grip, to hilarious results.

U.S. ACRES

The U.S. Acres shorts featured in Season Three offer their own enjoyment.  One of the most notable of this season’s shorts comes in what is clearly a tribute of sorts to The Andy Griffith Show in “The Legal Eagle.”  This short finds Roy Rooster taking it on himself to enforce the farm’s laws.  There’s just one problem:  The laws that Roy is enforcing are out of date, but Roy doesn’t know, so everyone ends up getting locked up, including Roy himself.  There was an episode of The Andy Griffith Show in which Don Knotts’ character Barney Fife got into some trouble for doing much the same, locking up lots of Mayberry’s residents for the tiniest infraction.

Another memorable U.S. Acres short from Season Three comes in the form of “Quack to the Future.”  The short’s title is a take-off of the Back to the Future franchise title.  The short’s story finds Orson hurting Wade’s feelings after he shouted at Wade following an accident.  It is not until after the fact that Orson realizes he overreacted to what happened.  He wishes he could go back in time and undo what he did, leading to another important lesson from the series; that of friendship and being aware of the power of words.

In another of U.S. Acres’ lighter moments, audiences get an adaptation of the classic story Alice in Wonderland when Orson dreams he has gone to Wonderland.  Lanolin plays the part of the Queen of Hearts and is just as loudmouthed as ever.  The dream sequence happened when Orson took a nap after searching for a missing croquet ball.

More information on this and other titled from PBS Distribution is available at:

Website: http://www.pbsdistribution.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PBSDistribution.org

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Garfield’s New DVD A Fun Way To Celebrate The Flabby Feline’s Birthday

Courtesy: Paws, Inc./Dargaud Media/Vivendi Entertainment

Today is a big day in the world of pop culture.  That’s because one of the country’s favorite pop icons celebrates his birthday today.  The icon in question is everybody’s favorite flabby feline, Garfield.  The creation of cartoonist Jim Davis, Garfield celebrates his thirty-fifth birthday today.  As a belated birthday present to Garfield’s fans, Paws, Inc., Vivendi Entertainment, and Dargaud Media will release the latest collection of episodes from The Garfield Show next Tuesday, June 25^th. 

The Garfield Show: Pizza Dreams sees six more episodes loaded with laughs come to viewers.  It also includes a handful of bonus Garfield shorts much in the vein of the “Quickies” shorts from Garfield & Friends.  The set opens with Jon trying once again to put Garfield on a diet on the orders of his veterinarian girlfriend, Liz.  Long-time fans of the Garfield franchises will love the subtle reference to Garfield & Friends when Garfield makes the comment, “Somebody get me an attorney named Murray!”  This same line was used in one episode of Garfield & Friends.  Fans might also notice quite the similarity to another classic Garfield & Friends episode in which Garfield pretends to mail himself off to Abu Dhabi as a prank on Jon and Odie.  This isn’t the first time that The Garfield Show has ever thrown back to Garfield & Friends.  And it likely won’t be the last time, either.  But that the writers behind this show have managed once again to make a relatively new story while paying homage to the show’s predecessor makes this an enjoyable addition to this compilation of episodes.

The Garfield Show pays homage to its predecessor throughout a number of episodes.  That’s shown yet again with this latest collection of episodes.  Though, it does have its share of original episodes, too.  One of the best of this compilation’s best original episodes sees Garfield seeking out a world famous chef that makes “the best lasagna in the world.”  Garfield proves in “Master Chef”, that he will go to any length—including dressing up as a baby—in order to get his paws on the highly desired pasta dish.  In the end, he learns a valuable lesson and secret about the lasagna that will have viewers of all ages laughing out loud.

For all of the laughs that Garfield offers throughout this new compilation, it also offers some very valuable shorts that parents will appreciate.  The shorts included in this set are like those in at least one previous set of episodes.  They are short fifteen to thirty second vignettes that promote important topics for young viewers in a way that will inform and entertain.  This time, the included shorts promote healthy eating, exercise, proper pet care, and other topics.  As short as they shorts are, they make discussing the topics in question easier for parents.  Even more worthy of praise is the fact that here audiences have the laziest of creatures promoting healthy eating and exercise to young viewers.  In its own way, this is hilarious.  But it also shows that those behind the show understand and appreciate the importance of preventing childhood obesity.  It makes this topic and the others broached that much easier for parents to jump into with far less anxiety.  It is for this reason and for the included enjoyable episodes that Garfield fans of any age will want to pick up this new single disc collection.  It will be available in stores and online next Tuesday, June 25^th and can be ordered online direct from the official Garfield website at http://www.cafepress.com/garfield.853607724. Fans can also go to the official Garfield website at http://www.garfield.com to get the latest news on Garfield, to play games, and much more.  Fans can also keep up with all of the latest Garfield news on the official Garfield Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Garfield.

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The Garfield Show Shows More Promise On New DVD

Courtesy: Vivendi/Gaiam/Paws, Inc./Dargaud Media

The latest DVD release from The Garfield Show hits stores today.  The Garfield Show: Spring Fun Collection—the show’s seventh new DVD compilation–offers audiences six more adventures from the hit CG based show.  It also includes a handful of PSAs for kids that teach everything from the importance of exercise to proper pet care, and even accepting people’s differences.  The PSAs and the episodes all work together to make this latest release another enjoyable set of episodes for any Garfield fan of any age.

The Garfield Show: Spring Fun Collection opens with the episode, “The Big Sneeze.”  Long-time Garfield fans might recognize this episode as it is a subtle throwback to the Garfield & Friends episode, “Nothing to Sneeze At.”  Whereas that episode was centered on Jon’s less than fashionable wardrobe as the source of Garfield’s allergies, “The Big Sneeze” turns the tables.  This time out, it’s Jon who has sneezing problems.  What’s really causing them is left to audiences to discover. The answer to the mystery will have audiences laughing as will the episode’s subtle jokes.  The show’s writers take on the old joke about everything on the internet being true with a comment from Jon as he researches his symptoms.  In the same vein, the writers also take on a classic cartoon bit in the episode, “Stealing Home” which in itself is also a massive throwback to the original Garfield & Friends episode, “Pest of a Guest.”  The classic bit in question sees Garfield turning a trash dumpster into a “home” as a means to get a pesky cat out of his own house.  The use of a trash dumpster is just one variation of the classic cartoon bit.  But having the small confined space made up as if it’s something else goes as far back as certain classic Looney Tunes shorts.  That the writers would take the time to honor animation’s golden era is enough to make any viewer smile. 

The homage to animation’s early days is just one part of what makes “Stealing Home” so fun.  Adding in the reference to the classic “movie” Kung Fu Creatures on The Rampage is a double whammy for audiences.  Not only will old school audiences appreciate the reference to the original show here, but movie lovers will appreciate the somewhat biting commentary about Hollywood’s current fad of re-issuing classic movies to theaters in 3-D, too.  As one can already see, so much is going on in this episode alone.  But somehow, the show’s writers managed to assemble it all together in a script that audiences of all ages will appreciate.  It’s one more part of the whole that audiences will appreciate as they watch it any time they want when they pick up this new release.

The writers behind the episodes are to be commended for honoring Garfield’s roots in this collection of episodes.  They are to be just as commended for making new episodes, too in the form of “Farm Fresh Feline”, “The Bluebird of Happiness”, “The Mole Express” and “Parrot Blues.”  These episodes are more original and will entertain audiences just as much as the set’s throwback episodes.  The “Garfield Shorts” included in the set aren’t necessarily shorts.  They’re not the “quickies” from Garfield & Friends.  But parents will appreciate that they are PSAs intended to entertain and educate young audiences.  They are the icing on the cake that is this single disc compilation.  It’s available now in stores and online.  It can be ordered online at the Paws, Inc. online store at http://garfield.com/shopping/dvd_collection/collection.html?cat=5.

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