Garfield, the unemployed cat who hates the beginning of the work week for some reason, is returning to television. Viacom has scored the rights to the beloved comic strip character and is prepping a new animated series about him for Nickelodeon, meaning we will soon be seeing more of Garf, his owner Jim and his beleaguered dog-brother Odie.
I’ve never been a big fan of Garfield and, frankly, don’t understand his staying power. That cat has been popular since his debut in newspapers back in 1978. He has remained a household name through multiple TV shows, countless books and a couple of truly awful live-action films. Don’t get me wrong, he’s made me chuckle a few times and I relate to his love of Italian cuisine but it’s shocking to see Garfield still capturing peoples’ hearts in this day and age. For one, the strip isn’t nearly as funny as it once was and, secondly, who reads newspapers these days?
But Viacom and Nickelodeon sure think they’ve struck gold with the deal. Here’s what Nick president Brian Robbins said:
“This acquisition marks another step in our evolution toward being kids’ first stop for the best new content and characters so we’re incredibly happy to have Garfield join our growing roster of globally loved franchises and to introduce this cool cat to a new generation of fans.”
“Cool cat”? What makes him cool exactly? The fact that he sleeps a lot and talks shit about everyone around him? Okay, I guess that is pretty cool actually. Stick it to the man, Garfield.
Viacom also received the global merchandising rights to Garfield with this deal so you can bet we’ll be seeing a lot more shirts, backpacks and other various Garfield products in the future. I just hope they sell at least one shirt of Nermal.
