Popular Culture rears its ugly head

Ewarwoowar, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular culture, is on about children's TV today - nostalgics should head over there. I didn't watch much, but must admit to enjoying Press Gang on many levels.

That's by the by: what I meant to mention was that Ewarwoowar directs our attention to Garfield Minus Garfield. I always hated Garfield - one-joke nonsense. Someone has a lazy, greedy cat. Garfield Minus Garfield, however, is wonderful. Without the recurrently lame punchline, there's a minimalist, Zen-like and even poignant quality to his owner's life which is entirely lacking in the original. Is this one of the rare cases (perhaps Cheers/Frasier) where the 'remix' or pastiche transcends the original? I definitely think this qualifies as art.