This Thing is Taking So Darned Long
In tomorrow’s strip, Liz complains about her trial taking so long, which is a pretty clever snipe at Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse fans who are probably getting tired of the interminable Liz and Anthony romance. My problem with the Liz and Anthony romance is not so much that it is taking so long, but that Lynn Johnston is steadfastly refusing to show us the interesting parts. I used to watch a television show called The Bachelor and its companion show The Bachelorette, which was a reality TV show where 25 girls would fight over one guy, until eventually picked one. The problem was that in order for the final choice to be a surprise, the show’s producers intentionally did not show the relationship developing between the Bachelor and his final choice. This gave the viewer the biggest surprise, but on the other hand, it robbed the viewer who wanted to see the romance developing, the opportunity to see the romance developing.
In For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston has chosen to show Liz and Anthony together only by themselves. The minute anyone else enters the scene the story is suddenly chopped, and greatly to the story’s detriment. I have frankly had my fill of Anthony and Liz sighing to each other about what could have / should have been. It’s been going on since 2001. 6 straight years of sighs. Showing Liz dealing with little Francie at lunchtime would have given this story a kick in the pants. Show Liz and Anthony at the courtroom with Elly would give this story a kick in the pants. Instead we have Liz looking at Anthony lifting up his daughter and her admiringly thinking how much Anthony has changed. This was so stupid, it was easy to snark on April’s Real Blog.
First I had Michael point out that the last time Deanna kissed him in the strip, was when he picked up Merrie and swung her around. As far as what we have seen in the strip, this is true.
Then I had Constable Paul Wright talk about the criteria, based on the strip, for Elizabeth to admire Anthony.
Howard was stuck at a trial, to which we return, God knows when. So, I decided to have Kortney Krelbutz pop up and snark her most recent appearance in Elly’s monthly letter and make fun of the word “acknowledge.” I am starting to wonder if we will ever see Howard again, or if the report of the end of trial will be all we will get.
I couldn’t do anything with the dialogue of today’s strip to fit into the in-school suspension, where Jeremy is, so I decided to start him on the road to Goth
In For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston has chosen to show Liz and Anthony together only by themselves. The minute anyone else enters the scene the story is suddenly chopped, and greatly to the story’s detriment. I have frankly had my fill of Anthony and Liz sighing to each other about what could have / should have been. It’s been going on since 2001. 6 straight years of sighs. Showing Liz dealing with little Francie at lunchtime would have given this story a kick in the pants. Show Liz and Anthony at the courtroom with Elly would give this story a kick in the pants. Instead we have Liz looking at Anthony lifting up his daughter and her admiringly thinking how much Anthony has changed. This was so stupid, it was easy to snark on April’s Real Blog.
First I had Michael point out that the last time Deanna kissed him in the strip, was when he picked up Merrie and swung her around. As far as what we have seen in the strip, this is true.
Then I had Constable Paul Wright talk about the criteria, based on the strip, for Elizabeth to admire Anthony.
Howard was stuck at a trial, to which we return, God knows when. So, I decided to have Kortney Krelbutz pop up and snark her most recent appearance in Elly’s monthly letter and make fun of the word “acknowledge.” I am starting to wonder if we will ever see Howard again, or if the report of the end of trial will be all we will get.
I couldn’t do anything with the dialogue of today’s strip to fit into the in-school suspension, where Jeremy is, so I decided to start him on the road to Goth
posted by howard at 11:05 PM
7 Comments:
For this year, Liz just has to fall in love with Françoise, and have some thought, or unthought facial expression, that she would like to be Françoise’s mom.
::shudder::
Noooooooooooooo!!!!!! :(
Oh, quit your crying. Liz is a "Get It Done" person, so she probably has already fallen in love with Françoise. We were not allowed to see it. Just because Liz is a "Get It Done" person, doesn't mean Lynn Johnston is a "Show It Done" person.
I think you're absolutely right. The long time fans who may have stayed away from For Better or For Worse recently, may try to return to reading it, if they think it is the final year, and a Liz and Paul romance would not be what the oldtime fans would expect.
Lynn may run the strip in realtime, but the romances have always been like the time of the other comic strips. The Mike and Deanna romance started in the 1979 and it took 11 years before they finally got married. It took Daisy Mae decades to land Li'l Abner, or to get Brenda Starr, or Prince Valiant, or Dick Tracy, or fill-in-the name married, and the Liz and Anthony romance has been running for over a decade now. When the website pops up the Liz and Anthony romance after they are married, we will see strip after strip of their relationship, only we won't know most of it was during the 3 years Anthony was cheating mentally on Therese. Lynn probably thought about writing a romance, but said, "Ah why bother? I'll just have Elly tell how it happened later on in flashback."
I guess it does help to remind me that Liz and Anthony are twits who deserve each other. Go, Susan and Paul! Chipper and Suds!
Remind myself.
Anthony has been a twit for awhile. Liz has been magically twit-formed in the last 6 months.
Perhaps I should say, she is reaching new lows in twitdom (or is that new highs?)
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