Family Circus/ Bill Keane what is the point?

[Drewbot]

I found this website, and it basically points out the atrociously bad work being done on a strip called 'Family Circus'.

There are recent strips showing the son referencing an old Barry Manilow song, and replacing the words "Write myself a letter" with "Text myself a letter" or something like that. Point is- someone getting the Barry Manilow song reference is not going to get the texting reference.

http://loobis.com/familycircus/index.php?/archives/54-Text.html#comments

If a reporter or a TV writer was doing something this bad, they'd be out of a job, is there really any rating system for comic strips in the paper? Can market forces dictate what strips stay and go? Who writes to their paper editor about how poorly done a certain comic strip is? Maybe I'm just whining...

 

[Fnord]

Drewbot, you are over-analysing humour. So what if "most people" don't get the joke? Bill Keane's job is to make "Family Circus" and that's exactly what he does.

Of course market forces dictate which strips come and go. This is why the Los Angeles Times still reprints "Peanuts" on the front page of its Sunday comics. It's also why most of the best comics are webcomics.

And if you want to winge about it, best do so the the publisher of the relevant newspaper. As you can see, JREF does not host "Family Circle".

Better yet, create your own comic; one that is so much more popular than "Family Circus" that the newspapers have no choice but to replace Bill Keane's work with yours.

Good Luck!

 

[Wowbagger]

Hey, I heard that song a couple of times! I got the joke!

(It wasn't a very funny joke, but I did get it.)

 

[tsg]

It's terrible. Has been for a very long time. Who's reading it?



Not me.

 

[HarryKeogh]

I protest the fact that a thread about Family Circus is in the Arts subforum and not the "sucks crap" subforum.

 

[latent aaaack]

Sally Forth totally tears The Family Circus a new ***hole every week by comparison. I'm sorry but it's true.

 

[Piscivore]

Forget "Family Circus"; "B.C." is the biggest travesty taking up valuable real estate.

That said, I don't even get a printed newspaper. I read mostly webcomics.

 

[Fnord]

It's terrible. Has been for a very long time. Who's reading it? Not me.

I do. It's like watching every episode of "Saturday Night Live," in that you want to be there when they actually do something funny.

-OR-

"Family Circus" may not always be funny, but it's like being greeted by a cheerful neighbor every Sunday. You don't really know what he's always smiling about, but you'd miss him if he were gone.

Personally, I prefer "Wapsi Square"!

 

[fuelair]

Drewbot, you are over-analysing humour. So what if "most people" don't get the joke? Bill Keane's job is to make "Family Circus" and that's exactly what he does.

Of course market forces dictate which strips come and go. This is why the Los Angeles Times still reprints "Peanuts" on the front page of its Sunday comics. It's also why most of the best comics are webcomics.

And if you want to winge about it, best do so the the publisher of the relevant newspaper. As you can see, JREF does not host "Family Circle".

Better yet, create your own comic; one that is so much more popular than "Family Circus" that the newspapers have no choice but to replace Bill Keane's work with yours.

Good Luck!

To add to the very correct above:
Family Circus works fine for it's audience. That's why it is still published. I personally wouldn't miss it if it vanished, but I'm it's audience ONLY in age. And, I must say this is not the first place I would have brought it up in either - publisher makes much more sense. Don't expect results any time soon though! (Realism whopping!!!)

 

[fuelair]

Sally Forth totally tears The Family Circus a new ***hole every week by comparison. I'm sorry but it's true.

Never be sorry when it's really the truth!!!

 

[fuelair]

I do. It's like watching every episode of "Saturday Night Live," in that you want to be there when they actually do something funny.

-OR-

"Family Circus" may not always be funny, but it's like being greeted by a cheerful neighbor every Sunday. You don't really know what he's always smiling about, but you'd miss him if he were gone.

Personally, I prefer "Wapsi Square"!

You're doing really well on this - spot on diagnosis here right after the OR!!!

 

[JFrankA]

As newspaper comics go, I personally love "Non-Sequitor".

 

[AK-Dave]

I prefer the Dysfunctional Family Circus and the Nietzsche Family Circus to the original.

As for current newspaper comics, I think I like Tundra the best. But I may be biased.

-David

 

[alfaniner]

It's terrible. Has been for a very long time. Who's reading it?

Ida Know.

 

[SoBitter]

I prefer the Dysfunctional Family Circus

Loved the DFC. I used to be a big fan of Spinnwebe.

My favorite Family Circus commentary: (From the movie GO)

Claire: What do you have against the Family Circus?
Todd: Okay, you sit down to read your paper, and you're enjoying your entire two-page comic spread, right? And then there's the Family (edit)ing Circus, bottom right hand corner, just waiting to suck. And it's the last thing you read, so it spoils everything you read before it.
Claire: You could just not read it.
Todd: I hate it, yet I'm uncontrollably drawn to it.

 

[HistoryGal]

There are recent strips showing the son referencing an old Barry Manilow song, and replacing the words "Write myself a letter" with "Text myself a letter" or something like that. Point is- someone getting the Barry Manilow song reference is not going to get the texting reference.

I got both references - so what's the big deal? I also know that, while Barry Manilow covered the song in 1982, it was written in 1935 by Fred Ahlert and Joe Young, and that it had been previously recorded by Nat Kong Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bill Haley.

What puzzles me is your attitude which assumes that if one knows A, one can't possibly know B. Hard as it may be to believe, there aren't impenetrable brick walls between one decade and another....

HG

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I got both references - so what's the big deal? I also know that, while Barry Manilow covered the song in 1982, it was written in 1935 by Fred Ahlert and Joe Young, and that it had been previously recorded by Nat Kong Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bill Haley.

What puzzles me is your attitude which assumes that if one knows A, one can't possibly know B. Hard as it may be to believe, there aren't impenetrable brick walls between one decade and another....

HG

Can we build just one, though? Disco should be quarantined.

 

[ravdin]

I always liked the Nietzsche Family Circus, which makes a lot more sense than the original.

 

[Brown]

Better yet, create your own comic; one that is so much more popular than "Family Circus" that the newspapers have no choice but to replace Bill Keane's work with yours.

For a while, I actually did this. I cut the comic from the local paper, applied white-out to the caption, and added my own. My brother did this, too. (We also did this with "Peanuts," "Blondie," "Marmaduke" and the now-defunct "Gummi Bears" strips.)

Voila! The comic became funny! In fact, it sometimes became hilariously funny. Of course, it also became unsuitable for a family newspaper, but you can't have everything.

So the best way to enjoy "The Family Circus" is to ask, "What caption would make this funny?"

By the way, it's Bil (one "L") Keane.

 

[tsg]

By the way, it's Bil (one "L") Keane.

I always thought there should be an "e" where the "l" got left off.