U.S. Acres Episode Review: What Harm Can It Do? [SPOILERS]

On this day 25 years ago, at this time, one of my favorite television series of all time, Garfield and Friends, debuted on television in America. While many people like that show for the main star himself, Garfield, my favorite part of the series was U.S. Acres. U.S. Acres was a comic strip Jim Davis started in 1986. The story centers around a baby pig named Orson (changed to an adult pig in the television adaptation). After he finds out he is a runt and can't live with his other brothers, he is sent on a truck. Somehow during the journey, he ends up falling off the truck and landing near a barn. There, he meets a whole cast of amusing and interesting animals, from an egg with feet to a duck who's afraid of everything. What you might not know is that Jim Davis was going to make this comic strip into a television show, but networks didn't want to air it. Why? Garfield, his most famous creation, wasn't in it. They ended up making U.S. Acres a third of the show. Many people did not like this decision, and only a handful of people, including me, like the U.S. Acres animated adaptation. Today, I'll review the first episode aired of U.S. Acres, which is one of my favorites, Wanted: Wade. My review begins after the jump.

The first thing viewers of CBS saw of U.S. Acres was this...the characters weren't even in the Garfield and Friends promos!

That's the biggest bug I've ever seen...

The episode begins with a 35-second clip, in which Wade Duck is called by Bo to see a bug. Wade then comes running because the bug scared him, knocking over Orson. Orson yells at Wade because he is a "sissy" and should not be afraid of a bug, until he sees the bug himself. I guess we could all agree with him... Apparently, it was based off this comic strip:

The animated version is quite different...

(insert soft piano music here)

Then, we finally get to the actual episode. I used the original version of the title card because the one on the DVD says "Orson's Farm" on it instead of U.S. Acres.

What a beautiful view! (Note: I edited this together to the best of my ability...)

Roy mentions CDs for the first time in a cartoon series.

Then, we cut to a view of the farm, as we go inside Roy's roost, where we see Roy sleeping. He then smashes an alarm clock as it hits 6:00AM. (Good, because I can at least can put time stamps of the major events in this episode in my review. I will be referring to this as [time here]AM USAT for the rest of this review) He then puts in a CD called "101 Rooster Crows" into the stereo, and then tells the viewers that he's glad they made a rooster crows CD.

The book Orson read was also in a comic, but I can't find it at the moment.

6:00:30AMUSAT: "Another day, another 600 things to dread. Up early, Orson?" asks Wade. Orson is addicted to his new book about a wanted criminal, a fugitive from justice. As Roy said in a later episode, when Orson reads these kinds of books, the rest of the world seems to go away. He's about to describe about how the police hunted him down when the crows start playing. Orson tells Wade that Roy can knock off the crowing, so he leaves.

Hey Orson! Is this your paper here underneath the sofa?

The "WARNING" header on the tag reminds me of the FBI Anti-Piracy warning on VHS tapes from the 80's.

6:00:53AM USAT: Wade Duck is by Orson's sofa. Wade then asks Orson what the mysterious thing hanging out from underneath the sofa is. He proceeds to pull the tag off. Then he wonders what it is, so he reads it. Turns out it was a law label. You know, those things they put on sofas, mattresses, pillows and the like to tell you what's inside it? But this tag is one that tells the owner not to remove it under penalty of law. Wade assumes that this means it's illegal to pull the tag off. He has leaves to rake, and he thinks that will take his mind off of it. But he still won't keep his mind off it, so he tells the viewer he'll sew it back, only to get hit by a rake. The poor thing gets dizzy, and at around 6:01:32AM USAT, he conjures up this little tune, which is my favorite U.S. Acres song of all time:

6:02:50AM USAT: We are now in a courtroom. Wade Duck is told by Judge Orson that he is charged with tearing the tag off of a PILLOW? Hold on a second-earlier in the episode, and during the song clip I just showed you guys, he ripped the tag off of a SOFA, not a pillow. Unless you are referring to how cushions=pillows, it's still wrong...he tore it from a sofa. I emailed Mark Evainer about this, and he told me it was a mistake. Due to this, he'll try to get me the original script for this episode. Anyway, Orson says he sentences Wade to 9,999 years in prison for acting too happy because of what he did ripping the tag off of a sofa. Wade doesn't think this is a life sentence, but it probably is...or is this a dream? We'll find out later...

Is it me, or does Wade look ADORABLE in his prison outfit?

Here, we meet the first new non-comic U.S. Acres characters to appear on the show, who are unnamed. I'll call the dog Benny and the rat Raffi. Anyway, Benny, who keeps making hand gestures for no reason, says he robbed fifty banks and sixty gas stations, while Raffi says he robbed 70 banks and 90 gas stations, and he also stole the Klopman diamond-which means that the Garfield segments of Garfield and Friends did not introduce this joke first. It was U.S. Acres which introduced this running gag to the show and to us viewers. When Wade says his crime (still using the incorrect term "pillow" instead of "sofa"), the characters think he's a killer and grab for the bars.

The police came! Will Wade go to jail, or will Roy go to jail?

We find out that the previous scene was all just a dream (Awww!), but Wade still wants to sew the tag on before it's too late. After that scene, we cut to one where Orson tries telling Roy the police came, but he keeps being a jerk and repeats everything Orson says, because he has earmuffs on. "I'm too nervous, they wouldn't put me in jail over a tag!" yells Wade. "It's not like they would be looking for..." Before he could finish, he sees a police car. This could mean he could be going to prison in a few minutes. He starts yelling, and runs into Roy's house. Here's what happens next...

What are we going to do? Also, note that it looks like Wade really has to poop in picture 2, because his butthole is shown.

Wade crashes into the stereo, breaking it. Orson is quite glad that he did so, but Wade asks him to get him an attorney named Murray, because of what he did (when describing it, he says PILLOW for the THIRD TIME IN A ROW! I know this is a mistake, but still...Mistakes Will Happen!) and Roy laughs at Wade. After this, we hear a voice say that they have the farm surrounded. Roy, Wade and Orson run off. It turns out that Booker and Sheldon were somehow able to get squad cars to do the prank, and the episode ends with Booker asking Sheldon if he liked the prank. Sheldon seemed to be a bit angry at him. Booker then asks "What harm can it do?". Cut to Roy, Wade and Orson running.

Well, that's episode 1 of U.S. Acres. I plan on doing a review of one episode of the series (in random order) each week. Next week's episode will be "The Worm Turns", the actual pilot of the series. Why is it the actual pilot? You'll find out next week!