Ok you can hook up GFCI's so that the first one will protect the rest in the circuit. This is extremely common as it saves you money by not having to buy all GFCI's. If an electrician used a GFCI for every outlet in a circuit, I would call him a shady electrican. But on to the problem....
You said the tv in the house is on the same circuit but remains on. So is the garage wired from just this one circuit? Which breaker are you flipping? Is it the main? If its gone out in the past and flipping the breaker does nothing then it is unfortunatley probably something more major. Nothing should be shorted because that is what trips a breaker, excessive current, and you already said its not tripped cause you tried reseting it. So what you likely have is an open, a wire disconnected or burnt apart somewhere. Do you havea multi-meter? One would be extremly usefull right now. There pretty cheap. You could use it to test if you have voltage at the outlets in the garage then work you way back.
You said the tv in the house is on the same circuit but remains on. So is the garage wired from just this one circuit? Which breaker are you flipping? Is it the main? If its gone out in the past and flipping the breaker does nothing then it is unfortunatley probably something more major. Nothing should be shorted because that is what trips a breaker, excessive current, and you already said its not tripped cause you tried reseting it. So what you likely have is an open, a wire disconnected or burnt apart somewhere. Do you havea multi-meter? One would be extremly usefull right now. There pretty cheap. You could use it to test if you have voltage at the outlets in the garage then work you way back.