The second episode of the fifth season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "Where else can you get this much comedy for your viewing dollar?"
Taste Makes Waist
One fine afternoon, Jon is serving food for Garfield, when Sylvia's Diet Food program tells him that she is selling some diet food meals which taste like real food. Tempted, the guys buy a week trial pack of food, but when they return home, they realize they've been had as the food portions are way too small and the food itself doesn't even taste that good.
Jon asks for a refund, but Sylvia refuses. Jon is determined to get a refund, but is thrown out by the bodyguards. Garfield, seeing that Sylvia desires junk food, decides to go back stage and get the refund for Jon. While Odie and Jon watch another commercial for Sylvia's diet food, Garfield uses the smell of fast food to make Sylvia confess on live television that this is a scam. Jon is surprised that Garfield managed to pull it off while Sylvia thanks Garfield, promising she'll give Jon and all the other people who ordered her diet food their money back while feasting on junk food with the cat.
"Taste Makes Waist" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: As Garfield notes at the end of the episode, "It's okay to eat healthy — just as long as you eat something."
- You could also interpret that advertisers on TV aren't always honest, so you need to watch out for con artists who try to sell you overpriced and worthless things.
- Balloon Belly: Jon has one in this episode as a consequence of overeating off-screen. It's likely that he overate because of the influence Garfield has on him.
- It's possible Sylvia will develop one by getting fat after this episode ends, given how much food Garfield's bought her.
- Big Bad: Sylvia, but she makes a Heel–Face Turn when she agrees to refund Jon and everyone else she scammed to show gratuity to Garfield for buying her so much junk food.
- Big Eater: Sylvia, who happens to eat just as much and unhealthy as Garfield does.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sylvia, who pretends to be helping people diet but is really just scamming them out of their money.
- Chekhov's Gun: Junk food, in general. After Jon purchases a package of her "health" food, Sylvia demands her assistant go buy her a cheeseburger with fries. Garfield then figured that Sylvia must love junk food as much as he does and uses that to lure her.
- Coincidental Broadcast: This happens to Jon. He asks, "How come my TV always knows what I'm thinking?"
- Diet Episode: Jon goes on a diet in this episode seeing that he has a visibly ballooned belly having put on weight.
- Dull Surprise: Jon isn't too surprised to observe that Garfield pulled off exposing Sylvia as a fraud.Jon: (unsurprised) I don't know how he does it. (to Odie) Do you know how he does it? I don't know how he does it.
- Dumb Blonde: Sylvia, for blowing her cover calling her own food awful LIVE ON TV.
- Hypocrite: Sylvia, who on TV tells people to eat only healthy food, but in real life she's a junk food addict who stuffs her face with cheeseburgers, pizza, Chinese food, etc. And being a hypocrite is her best quality. Her worst quality is being a gluttonous con artist who scams people of their money.
- Pun: The episode's title is a nod to "Haste makes waste".
- Rhyming Title: Taste Makes Waist.
- Violin Scam: Sylvia is a con artist; she sells expensive take-home meals that are allegedly delicious and healthy but are ridiculously cheap and taste awful. Jon had the turkey, but he moved a cranberry and there it was.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Sylvia's is assumed to be a jumbo cheeseburger with chili fries.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Garfield is disgusted after eating his lasagna from Sylvia's and asks "Who in the world could be stupid enough to like this food?" At that moment, Odie eats all of his food and happily asks for more.
- Your Television Hates You: After feeding Garfield, Jon slumps in front of the television:Jon: Boy, I'm hungry, but I need to go on a diet.
TV Announcer: Do you need to go on a diet?!
Jon: How come my TV always knows what I'm thinking?
The Wolf Who Cried Boy
A wolf has been lurking around the farm so Orson tells everyone to ring a bell he made if they see the wolf as a signal to tell everyone to come running over to stop it. But Roy gets the idea to perform a practical joke similar to The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
"The Wolf Who Cried Boy" provides examples of:
- Aesop Amnesia: Lampshaded; after Roy's friends save him from the Wolf, Roy promises never to lie again. Sheldon asks him "Can we believe you on that?", to which Roy tells him "Probably not."
- Analogy Backfire: Orson is warning Booker and Sheldon of the dangers of Crying Wolf with the story, "The Wolf Who Cried Boy", but as the story concludes as Roy is sounding off the alarm again that everyone has grown to ignore, he realizes that even liars will tell the truth sometimes.
- Crying Wolf: Roy repeatedly fools the others with false alarms, so naturally when a real wolf shows up, the others think that his attempt to warn them is another practical joke. Luckily, after reading the story of "The Wolf Who Cried Boy", Orson realizes that Roy just might be telling the truth this time and hurries off to help him.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Orson sings the Season 3-6 Garfield and Friends theme song while taking a bath. He then says he loves that song.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Wolf replaces the Weasel as the predator who steals chickens in this episode.
- Swapped Roles: Orson tells Booker and Sheldon the story of The Wolf Who Cried Boy, where a wolf keeps crying "Boy" when there was no boy, only to get hunted by a boy when the other wolves refuse to believe him.
Day of Doom
One Monday, Jon makes Garfield go for a walk with him (otherwise he will have to stay with Nermal) and they find a wishing well, so Garfield wishes that Mondays would disappear. His wish comes true, but he soon learns that his actions have had negative consequences.
"Day of Doom" provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Day of Doom.
- Always a Bigger Fish: When Garfield ultimately returns to the wishing well and wishes for Mondays to exist again, the well refuses to do so, and promptly starts eliminating other things like Thursdays and the entire month of August. Fortunately, another wishing well — the first one's mother (turns out wishing wells are actually aliens that just look like wells) — comes along to make the first one behave and then undoes all the damage her son did.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Turns out Monday is the day that everything important in Garfield's life happens. Such as when Jon gets paid at work.
- Continuity Nod: When Garfield comes to the movie theater to see if there are any new movies playing, the movie playing is Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage IV.
- Reality Warper: The wishing well-looking aliens have the ability to alter reality at will, and one of them just uses his powers to grant Garfield's wish (and then some, out of spite and as a demonstration of his power). Fortunately, another wishing well uses her own powers to return everything to normal at the end.
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: As a result of the movie theaters not changing their movies because Garfield wished for no more Mondays, the only movie playing is Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage IV, which Garfield notes that he's seen six times.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: By wishing away one out of only seven days of the week, Garfield (or if you want to blame, the wishing well instead) removed the time let alone purpose needed for people to do crucially important things like get their paychecks, take away the trash, change the movies at the theaters, have the children return to school, etc..
- Why We Need Garbagemen: One of the many negative side-effects of Garfield wishing that there were no more Mondays is that the trash never gets picked up (since Monday is when that happens in his neighborhood), leaving the sidewalks clogged with full trash cans.
- Wishing Well: Garfield makes a wish in a well for no more Mondays. At the end, it turns out that the well is actually part of a race of aliens that happen to look like wishing wells.
