Garfield

It turns out that Garfield isn't a bad comic strip that got heavily merchandized. It was originally conceived as a marketing exercise.

The film is an example of the kind of product that Garfield creator Jim Davis likes to attach his product's name to: Predictable, unfunny, and eminently forgettable. The movie won't take the nation by storm --- in fact, it will probably vanish very quickly --- but it will make a tidy sum in theaters and on DVD
...
From the beginning, Davis put as much energy into the marketing of the strip as he did into creating it. (It's telling that he's been inducted into the Licensing Merchandiser's Hall of Fame but not the hall of fame hosted by the International Museum of Cartoon Art.)
...
Davis admitted to spending only 13 or 14 hours a week writing and drawing the strip, compared to 60 hours a week doing promotion and licensing.

It never occurred to me, but once said, it's obvious.

---

Update:

It’s Not Just You: Garfield Is Not Meant to Be Funny

Unlike New Yorker cartoons, in which, you are actually missing the joke, Garfield is in fact not even designed to be funny