Three in a Row
Goodness. This is three in a row. Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse was reprinted on 6/27/2008.
As it turns out, I was at Boy Scout camp with my son during that week, so I did not comment on this strip the first time around. Here we go:
John plays bad cop (good parent) and Elly plays good cop (bad parent), as she struggles over the idea that Michael may be in his room suffering because he was sent to bed without supper. I remember this same situation in my house some years ago. My son went to bed without supper and wept and wailed and caterwauled and eventually wore himself out so much with his crying that he fell asleep and didn’t get up until the next day. In comparison, Michael Patterson is a saintly, little boy. We don’t see him screaming and crying. We don’t see him trying to sneak out of his room. We don’t see him trying to convince little Lizzie to come into his room to play.
Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse would have had more of an air of desperation on Elly’s part, if she were shown having to deal with Michael. As it is, I am reminded of a similar situation in the Simpsons’ TV show, where Bart’s parents cave in like Elly wants to do, and Bart’s response was “Suckers!”
I am beginning to think that I fit that particular designation for reading a strip which has moved to reprinting already recently-reprinted strips.
As it turns out, I was at Boy Scout camp with my son during that week, so I did not comment on this strip the first time around. Here we go:
John plays bad cop (good parent) and Elly plays good cop (bad parent), as she struggles over the idea that Michael may be in his room suffering because he was sent to bed without supper. I remember this same situation in my house some years ago. My son went to bed without supper and wept and wailed and caterwauled and eventually wore himself out so much with his crying that he fell asleep and didn’t get up until the next day. In comparison, Michael Patterson is a saintly, little boy. We don’t see him screaming and crying. We don’t see him trying to sneak out of his room. We don’t see him trying to convince little Lizzie to come into his room to play.
Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse would have had more of an air of desperation on Elly’s part, if she were shown having to deal with Michael. As it is, I am reminded of a similar situation in the Simpsons’ TV show, where Bart’s parents cave in like Elly wants to do, and Bart’s response was “Suckers!”
I am beginning to think that I fit that particular designation for reading a strip which has moved to reprinting already recently-reprinted strips.
posted by howard at 11:00 PM
5 Comments:
As it turns out, I was at Boy Scout camp with my son during that week, so I did not comment on this strip the first time around. Since we already know that your blog attracts traffic from the Corbeil area, I'm a bit worried that it was your absence last summer which has caused the re-re-runs. :)
I think I found Lynn's justification for all this. In her latest Q and Eh?, she says that the new-runs are supposedly happening in the present day. Granted, this present day has rotary phones and no microwaves but it IS supposed to be 200X instead of 198X. Lynn can smirk and tell us that since this is happening for the first time to the new-run Pattersons, it's okay to re-re-run things. Anyways, that's what I told the Yahoovians; let's see if they buy it.
forworse,
Since we already know that your blog attracts traffic from the Corbeil area, I'm a bit worried that it was your absence last summer which has caused the re-re-runs. :)I have an out. The first one of these re-re-runs I was in-town. If, next week, Lynn continues the trend and reprints the 6-28-2008 strip, then I will suspect you are correct. If it’s true, then there are no more out-of-touch vacations for me. The risk would be too great.
DreadedCandiru2,
In her latest Q and Eh?, she says that the new-runs are supposedly happening in the present day. I hate to correct you but the actual phrase is “It's taking place in the modern day.” Now, depending on how you define “modern” that could be with rotary phones and no microwaves.
Lynn can smirk and tell us that since this is happening for the first time to the new-run Pattersons, it's okay to re-re-run things. I expect you are right. New-run Pattersons are like a parallel universe from the Pattersons whose story ended last August. The hybrid reprints are stories the Pattersons from 1979 – 2008 told about their history. The new-runs are modern events in the life of these modern Pattersons whose story is just being told, so anything can be reprinted to be included in the story, so long as it originally appeared before September, 2008. That could work within a certain kind of logic.
What wouldn’t work however, is the basic premise that Lynn is reprinting her material from Year One on the idea that most people haven’t seen it before.
Of course, it is only a matter of time before Lynn reprints something she already reprinted after September, 2008. It's not like she actually keeps track of these things.
howard,
Of course, it is only a matter of time before Lynn reprints something she already reprinted after September, 2008. It's not like she actually keeps track of these things.
No, it isn't; as a matter of fact, I expect that to happen just as soon as she needs to remind us how hard it is having to deal with a needy toddler.
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