Obsolete, but Absorbent
I remember some years back, there was a very funny show called The Dana Carvey Show. Dana used to have his show officially titled based on the presenting sponsor of the show, and he would devote one segment of his show to promote the product, kind of like old TV shows used to do. Of course, when I say, “promote the product” what I really mean is that Dana would do something close to the exact opposite of that. I remember in particular that at one point it was called the Mountain Dew Dana Carvey Show, and the joke Dana did was that Mountain Dew poured into a glass looked a lot like urine, only Dana did not call it that exactly. Nevertheless, it was no surprise to me that Mountain Dew stopped sponsoring the show. Needless to say, with Dana angering sponsors every week, the show did not last long. I wondered what would possess Dana Carvey to do such a thing. Were the laughs gotten worth the cancellation?
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse, I was immediately reminded of the old Dana Carvey Show. The joke for today is that newspapers are not obsolete because they can be used to absorb animal waste. It’s almost akin to the standard joke where the man says that he found so-and-so’s awful book to be useful, because he used it to line the bird cage. Surely this is not the joke Lynn Johnston intends. Her business and her livelihood for the last 30 years have depended on newspapers and the idea that having her comic strip in them would attract people to buy them. This strip is kind of like biting the hand that feeds you. Is Lynn Johnston venting her frustration with the newspapers that continue to cancel the current incarnation of her comic strip? Is she really so ignorant that she does not how she is insulting the very people who publish her? Or is she just so anxious to do yet another joke about dogs and their bodily waste excretions, she has stopped thinking about any other ramifications of the joke?
At least, I can't say that this has been a piss-poor week. If anything, it has been a piss-rich week. We knew Lynn Johnston would do doggy body functions when Farley arrived, and Lynn has not disappointed.
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse, I was immediately reminded of the old Dana Carvey Show. The joke for today is that newspapers are not obsolete because they can be used to absorb animal waste. It’s almost akin to the standard joke where the man says that he found so-and-so’s awful book to be useful, because he used it to line the bird cage. Surely this is not the joke Lynn Johnston intends. Her business and her livelihood for the last 30 years have depended on newspapers and the idea that having her comic strip in them would attract people to buy them. This strip is kind of like biting the hand that feeds you. Is Lynn Johnston venting her frustration with the newspapers that continue to cancel the current incarnation of her comic strip? Is she really so ignorant that she does not how she is insulting the very people who publish her? Or is she just so anxious to do yet another joke about dogs and their bodily waste excretions, she has stopped thinking about any other ramifications of the joke?
At least, I can't say that this has been a piss-poor week. If anything, it has been a piss-rich week. We knew Lynn Johnston would do doggy body functions when Farley arrived, and Lynn has not disappointed.
posted by howard at 9:55 PM
10 Comments:
Lynn's reasoning behind this is that you can't train a puppy to go pee on a TV screen or computer monitor therefore the print media still have a valid place in our lives. The thought that she's just insulted the people she's trying to defend cannot penetrate her weird fantasy bubble. This is why not having a staff is a bad idea; there's nobody around to point out absurdities like this.
You can watch The Dana Carvey Show on Hulu. It's amazing how many of the cast and writers went on to become famous. Both Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert were in it. From what I understand, it wasn't killed due to angering the sponsors, but because of the ratings. In the first show, Carvey did a sketch about President Clinton breastfeeding puppies that outraged a lot of people, and the ratings never recovered.
I don't think Lynn is trying to attack her own medium here. I think she is trying desperately to make her strip "timeless" and isn't thinking much about what other message she might be conveying (newspapers are still good for peeing/pooping on, if nothing else). In 1980, nobody talked much about newspapers being obsolete because the Internet wasn't around yet. I think she's mainly focused on showing that she's still with it and relevant, and is tone deaf to any other messages she sends (like bad parenting is hilarious and newspapers are worthless).
DreadedCandiru2,
Lynn's reasoning behind this is that you can't train a puppy to go pee on a TV screen or computer monitor therefore the print media still have a valid place in our lives.
Ha! I think you’ve given me an advertising slogan for newspapers:
Puppies can’t pee
On TV.
Keep newspapers alive!
qnjones,
From what I understand, it wasn't killed due to angering the sponsors, but because of the ratings.
You know how much those Nielson rating families like Mountain Dew. I still think there’s a connection. :)
In 1980, nobody talked much about newspapers being obsolete because the Internet wasn't around yet.
I am showing my age now. In 1980, newspapers would have been considered obsolete not because of the internet, but because the TV news had gotten good enough so that it could report news faster and in a more timely fashion. I remember those old arguments very well. Newspapers started advertising themselves for their more in-depth coverage than TV news, especially after CNN got started in 1980.
I think she's mainly focused on showing that she's still with it and relevant, and is tone deaf to any other messages she sends (like bad parenting is hilarious and newspapers are worthless).
This is my guess too. Certainly Lynn has made a living off showing the hilarity of bad parenting for 30 years now.
Yes, in 1980, there was some talk about newspapers losing share to TV news, and around that time, some smaller papers closed or merged around that time. For example, here in Des Moines, we had two newspapers until 1982, when they merged.
However, newspapers still had healthy enough circulation that there wasn't really talk of the whole industry dying. That has only really come up in the last 10 years or so.
qnjones,
For example, here in Des Moines, we had two newspapers until 1982, when they merged.
I remember living in Dallas, when they had both the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald. It was sad when the Dallas Times Herald went under.
However, newspapers still had healthy enough circulation that there wasn't really talk of the whole industry dying.
I remember it differently. The standard comparison at the time was that there would be no more Woodward and Bernstein type of reporting, and that newspapers were going to turn into papers that only printed news off the wire services, just like the local TV news delivered and so...they were going to be obsolete.
What this boils down to is that the idea of newspapers becoming obsolete has existed for so long now, that even Lynn Johnston is aware of it. Whether Lynn thought this back in 1980 or just a few months ago, ultimately the result is the same...a comic strip that points out the laugh riot that newspapers are always valuable because they are absorbent.
Here's something that I just found out: Stephen King thinks Lynn is obsolete. To be specific, he can't make heads or tails of either the hybrid or new-runs.
dreadedcandiru2,
Thanks for the Stephen King notes:
No thanks for Lynn Johnston's For Better or for Worse, which used to be a winning combination of humor and pathos. Now the Patterson family has been dumped down some weird wormhole in time and I have no idea what's going on or who anyone is.
Once I got over my shock that Stephen King is or was a For Better or For Worse fan and that he has kept up with the current new-runs, I was elated to see that his opinion almost matches mine. On the plus side, I don't think Lynn Johnston is entirely sure what's going on either and I know even Lynn is confused who the characters are (Crows vs. Cranes, Christoper vs. Richard Nichols, etc.)
Today's "My Cage" handles the issue of newspaper obsolescence much more effectively. ;)
It looks EXACTLY like liquid sunshine. :)
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