# Dilbert The Complete Series How did it fail?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801 "2010-03-09T03:17:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richie\_Incognito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@Richie\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richie_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/21 "2010-03-10T03:37:43Z")
Nobody watched UPN. Dilbert was on UPN. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/22 "2010-03-10T17:08:26Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Perhaps, but Garfield wasn’t a 30 minute show was it? Wasn’t it just two smaller segments of a 30 minute show? It was two seven (ish) minute long Garfield cartoons, a seven (ish) minute long U.S.Acres cartoon (it was about farm animals…what it had to do with Garfield I’ve never figured out…is there a comci strip that Jim Davis makes/made called U.S.Acres?) and then the episode would finish with like a 30 - 60 second Garfield short, most of which were actually just animated versions of his Sunday strips. But the Garfield movies/specials were generally 30-60 minutes and those were all pretty good, too. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/23 "2010-03-10T17:16:28Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > It was two seven (ish) minute long Garfield cartoons, a seven (ish) minute long U.S.Acres cartoon (it was about farm animals…what it had to do with Garfield I’ve never figured out…is there a comci strip that Jim Davis makes/made called U.S.Acres?)… There is, but it started after the Garfield cartoon had been released. What is the connection to Garfield? Nothing, except that they were both developed by Jim Davis. That’s why the show was titled “Garfield _and Friends_.” Besides, it’s hardly uncommon for unrelated cartoon segments to be packaged into a single show. Hanna-Barbera did it for decades. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/24 "2010-03-10T17:19:21Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > …is there a comci strip that Jim Davis makes/made called U.S.Acres? Apparently there was: > **[U.S. Acres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Acres)** > > U.S. Acres (also known as Orson's Farm outside the United States and Orson's Place in Canada) is an American comic strip that ran in newspapers from 1986 to 1989, created by Jim Davis, author of the comic strip Garfield. The strip was centered on a group of barnyard animals, with the main character being Orson, a small pig who had been taken from his mother shortly after being born. > U.S. Acres was launched on March 3, 1986, in a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Feature Syndicate. Mo... ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/25 "2010-03-10T17:24:29Z")
My mistake. I thought that the cartoon segments preceded the comic strip. According to Wikipedia, I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/26 "2010-03-10T18:49:37Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > [Quick Stop interview with Maurice LaMarche](http://www.asitecalledfred.com/2006/08/14/quick-stop-interview-maurice-lamarche/2/) Thank you for that. It was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/27 "2010-03-10T19:05:46Z")
> [@Richie\_Incognito](#): > > Nobody watched UPN. Dilbert was on UPN. Yeah, I think that about covers it. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/28 "2010-03-10T19:30:42Z")
I loved that show, I was very sad it was gone. I also remember that it was moved around a lot which made it difficult to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/29 "2010-03-11T04:43:41Z")
That may well be the reason I was under the impression that it died in three weeks. How long is a “season” anyway? ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/30 "2010-03-11T04:54:54Z")
A full season for a scripted show on a broadcast network, even UPN, is a minimum of 13 episodes. 26 episodes is a high number of episodes for a TV season. > [@Lips\_Obsession](#): > > Also, I don’t think UPN had 100% clearance, plus they were just an “upstart” network, so that didn’t help either… Where I lived, UPN was a secondary affiliate of the nearest Fox affiliate, which itself was only available on cable since it was so far away. They usually aired UPN stuff after midnight. Dilbert was on Saturday nights after Mad TV. Not a great timeslot. But they had ST: Voyager five nights a week, which was great when I was a kid and couldn’t tell how silly it was. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/31 "2010-03-11T05:05:56Z")
> [@Qwakkeddup](#): > > How long is a “season” anyway? Varies…in this case, 13 and 17 episodes, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801/32 "2010-03-11T05:07:56Z")
My main complaint was that Dilbert was too much of a straight man, and too “cheerful.” A lot of the humor in the strip is from his depression at his fate, his willingness to go along with things, and his incorporation into the weird world he inhabits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-the-complete-series-how-did-it-fail/531801.md?page=1)