The Man With No Neck
Looking at the new-run of Dr. Ted McCaulay in today’s For Better or For Worse, made me realize that Ted has no neck. His shirt collar goes straight up to his jawline. Then I looked back at all the pictures of Dr. Ted McCaulay over the last month and realized Ted doesn’t have a neck in any of those strips either. Somehow, Ted has lost his neck.
In today’s strip, Ted seems to have also lost his brain. When a man’s wife is out-of-town, is that the time when you go to a bar and shoot pool? No. That’s what you do when a wife is in town. It gets you out of the house. When a wife is out-of-town, that’s when you organize a poker game at your house or have the guys over to watch hockey. Of course if a man came up to me and told me he wanted to go to a bar with me when my wife was out-of-town and said, “A guy like you needs some freedom!” I would think he was trying to convince me to play for the other team.
I don’t really blame Lynn Johnston for not knowing this. Obviously she has not seen enough episodes of The Flintstones, to see the merry mix-ups that happen to Fred and Barney, when their wives go out-of-town. What I can blame Lynn Johnston for is the abrupt jump from Ted talking about freedom to John talking about a bird in a cage. She could be a little subtler about setting up her final panel pun. Let me see if I can give her some examples:
John: I dunno. I’d have to get a sitter.
Ted: So, get a sitter. You can afford it. Doctor.
John: It’s just extra money flying out the window. We could do it when Elly is in town and save money.
Ted: If Elly was in town, she would keep you and your money from flying out the window. You’ve had your wings clipped for so long, you’ve forgotten how to fly!!
OR
John: I dunno. I’d have to get a sitter. Elly wouldn’t like it.
Ted: So, get a sitter. Break those chains that bind you while the jailer is out of town.
John: I am not a prisoner, Ted.
Ted: Right. You’re more like a bird in a cage, and Elly is like your owner that left you enough birdseed to survive while she’s on her trip.
John: I’m not a bird in a cage, Ted.
Ted: Hah! And you don’t have week’s worth of premade dinners in your freezer, either. You’ve had your wings clipped for so long, you’ve forgotten how to fly!!
The strangest part of this story is why Lynn Johnston picks this time, of all times, to introduce the story of John and Ted going out. It's an odd thing to mix into the story of John alone with the kids. My first thought is that some disaster is going to happen while John is out with Ted, with loads of guilty feelings when John finally arrives home and learns what happened. No matter what happens, I know it will not reflect well on John.
In today’s strip, Ted seems to have also lost his brain. When a man’s wife is out-of-town, is that the time when you go to a bar and shoot pool? No. That’s what you do when a wife is in town. It gets you out of the house. When a wife is out-of-town, that’s when you organize a poker game at your house or have the guys over to watch hockey. Of course if a man came up to me and told me he wanted to go to a bar with me when my wife was out-of-town and said, “A guy like you needs some freedom!” I would think he was trying to convince me to play for the other team.
I don’t really blame Lynn Johnston for not knowing this. Obviously she has not seen enough episodes of The Flintstones, to see the merry mix-ups that happen to Fred and Barney, when their wives go out-of-town. What I can blame Lynn Johnston for is the abrupt jump from Ted talking about freedom to John talking about a bird in a cage. She could be a little subtler about setting up her final panel pun. Let me see if I can give her some examples:
John: I dunno. I’d have to get a sitter.
Ted: So, get a sitter. You can afford it. Doctor.
John: It’s just extra money flying out the window. We could do it when Elly is in town and save money.
Ted: If Elly was in town, she would keep you and your money from flying out the window. You’ve had your wings clipped for so long, you’ve forgotten how to fly!!
OR
John: I dunno. I’d have to get a sitter. Elly wouldn’t like it.
Ted: So, get a sitter. Break those chains that bind you while the jailer is out of town.
John: I am not a prisoner, Ted.
Ted: Right. You’re more like a bird in a cage, and Elly is like your owner that left you enough birdseed to survive while she’s on her trip.
John: I’m not a bird in a cage, Ted.
Ted: Hah! And you don’t have week’s worth of premade dinners in your freezer, either. You’ve had your wings clipped for so long, you’ve forgotten how to fly!!
The strangest part of this story is why Lynn Johnston picks this time, of all times, to introduce the story of John and Ted going out. It's an odd thing to mix into the story of John alone with the kids. My first thought is that some disaster is going to happen while John is out with Ted, with loads of guilty feelings when John finally arrives home and learns what happened. No matter what happens, I know it will not reflect well on John.
posted by howard at 10:33 PM
9 Comments:
howard,
Of course if a man came up to me and told me he wanted to go to a bar with me when my wife was out-of-town and said, “A guy like you needs some freedom!” I would think he was trying to convince me to play for the other team.
That's exactly what I thought when I read the strip. A guy like John needs freedom, and that freedom consists of going out to a bar with his one close male friend, which he can only do when his wife's out of town. I bet a guy like John needs a nice massage from someone like his doctor friend, someone who's good with his hands and who understands things Elly never will...
howard,
When a man’s wife is out-of-town, is that the time when you go to a bar and shoot pool? No. That’s what you do when a wife is in town. It gets you out of the house. When a wife is out-of-town, that’s when you organize a poker game at your house or have the guys over to watch hockey.
You're right not to blame Lynn for not knowing this; she simply doesn't seem to know how anyone who isn't exactly like her would behave. She's probably setting John up to look like a negligent fool without the slightest awareness of the homoeroticism implicit in today's strip. She never really realized that she made Mike and Weed look like lovers and she isn't aware that Ted looks like he's making a pass at John.
Somehow, Ted has lost his neck.
Eek, you're right. Sheesh, Lynn, we know you don't like the character, but removing his neck is hella harsh. ;)
The strangest part of this story is why Lynn Johnston picks this time, of all times, to introduce the story of John and Ted going out.
Ha! And I got to that immediately in FOOBAR.
Of course if a man came up to me and told me he wanted to go to a bar with me when my wife was out-of-town and said, “A guy like you needs some freedom!” I would think he was trying to convince me to play for the other team.
Almost forgot this part. So true! Another example of LJ not knowing how to write men.
April_Patterson,
She also sucks at writing for children and old people; she's great at writing about privileged middle-aged white ladies who won't admit how good they have it, though.
Good point, dc2--she really ought to stick with what she knows/understands.
I think this is all being set up for a reprint or two (which IIRC *weren't* part of this originally-short Elly-out-of-town story) where Ted and John are at a bar.
In one Ted is saying things like "when the cat's away, the mice will play" and John says "yeah, but a lot of mice turn into rats" (from a later trip? Elly's library business trip?). And there's another with Ted touting the freedom to live it up like a bachelor, and John saying he knows what the bachelor life is like, why do you think he's married?
Still a tone-deaf way to lead into them.
IMH, you're probably right--we know LJ is all, "continuity, schmontinuity," so from her perspective, why not? ;)
If Lynn does end up mixing the two stories, then she will lose focus. The purpose of the "Ted and John at the bar" story is that we see John is a faithful husband, who doesn't mess around. The point of the "Elly leaves town story" is to show John is the incompetent husband who leaves a mess for his wife to clean up and doesn't know where anything is.
Hum! I suddenly have this feeling that the "Ted and John at the bar" story is going to move into "John is not that nice" territory. That would tie together the 2 themes and would come perilously close to making a comment about the antics of the real-life John Patterson.
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