This time of year when the days are long and the sun is hot, I always get nostalgic for those things I used to enjoy during the summer when I was a kid.  Things at the top of that list include getting an ice cream from the ice cream truck when it came by every afternoon, laying on the cool concrete of our front porch and talking baseball with other kids, and the never-ending water gun battles that would rage throughout the neighborhood all summer long.  But I would be remiss if I didn't also include watching television as one of those summer activities.

Sometimes when the days were hot, we'd all take a break and go inside for an hour of television and cool off.  But mainly my TV watching was reserved for night time after we had squeezed all of the fun we could out of the day.  Laying in my room with the ceiling fan blowing down that cool air was very refreshing after a long day out in the sun.  And while there were the usual shows that I liked to watch year round, the things I really remember are the special presentations.

While Halloween and Christmas have always had more television specials, summer still brought the goods with it's own specials.  And my favorite of them all was the yearly presentation of Garfield in Paradise.

Garfield in Paradise is a 1986 animated television special that takes our favorite lasagna-loving cat on a tropical misadventure.  Jon Arbuckle books a budget vacation to Paradise World, a low-rent version of Hawaii. He, Garfield, and Odie arrive to find a rundown motel, no beach in sight, and an empty pool. The trio rents a classic 1957 Chevy Bel Air, which mysteriously drives itself into a jungle and lands them in a village of English-speaking natives who worship 1950s pop culture.

They meet the tribal chief, voiced by the legendary Wolfman Jack, who explains that a James Dean-style hero named The Cruiser once saved the village by driving his car into a volcano. The villagers believe Jon’s rental car is the same one and prepare for another sacrifice when the volcano threatens to erupt again. Of course, this leads to a wild finale involving Odie, a hammer, and a heroic drive into the volcano to save the day.

While the Garfield Christmas always was, and still is, my favorite of all the Garfield specials, Garfield in Paradise is solidly in 2nd place.  Even over the Halloween Adventure and the Thanksgiving specials.

I watched this when it came on every summer from the time it debuted in 1986 up until they quit showing it in the late '90s.  Or at least it feels like they quit airing it around that time.  Then I went several years without seeing it, but sometime in the 2010's I found it on YouTube and picked up the tradition again.  I was thrilled to be able to share it with my own kids who seemed to like it just as much as I always did. I still re-watch it every summer now even though my kids are grown and no longer have any interest in it.

It just reminds me of a simpler time when the biggest thing I had to worry about was if anyone was hiding behind the tree in our front yard ready to blast me with a water gun when I walked by, and if the ice cream truck was going to be out of Strawberry Shortcake bars or not.  

Maybe you've seen it, maybe you've not.  But either way, give it a look with your 2025 eyes and for 23 minutes just be a kid again.  It'll probably be the best 23 minutes of your week.  Maybe even your whole summer.