It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and has been released on LaserDisc and DVD.

Jon Arbuckle becomes concerned about Garfield and his behavior after he and Odie mess up his house at the beginning of the special.

After Garfield antagonizes the gang's leader, he flees into an abandoned Italian restaurant, where he is reunited with his estranged mother.

The next day, Garfield meets the rest of his extended family, including his sickly half-brother Raoul, his cousin Sly, who is the security guard on watch for the Claws, and his tough maternal grandfather.

Reassured by his mother that they all envy his normal life at Jon's house, Garfield tearfully says goodbye to his family and misses them.

At the end of the special, Garfield wakes up at Jon's house the next day and wonders if his entire experience with his family was real or not.

Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, best known for the Peanuts specials, produced Garfield on the Town.

[10] Louisiana's The Town Talk's 1985 review called Garfield "outrageous" and said there was "popular demand" for the special.

[4] In 2004, DVD Talk critic Randy Miller judged the Garfield as Himself specials to be "quite enjoyable," highlighting "a long-lost family reunion.