# Does anybody actually like The Family Circus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990 "2001-08-13T04:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/1 "2001-08-13T04:08:02Z")
Well? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/2 "2001-08-13T04:08:56Z")
When I was a kid I used to like the ones where they showed the path Billy took when he wandered all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/3 "2001-08-13T04:24:38Z")
From what I understand, it’s a relatively expensive comic, as well. Our paper has shaken up a few of the comics, putting various strips to a vote. I like it, or rather, there are others which I dislike much more- many comics today are overtly political, which probably ought to stay in the editorial section for what it’s worth. I still miss Calvin & Hobbes, and the Far Side; maybe Calvin could have transmogrified Billy into something more interesting. I seem to know a couple people who The Family Circus really bothers a great deal, I think maybe they have “issues” though. heh ---
**Author:** ![absoul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@absoul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absoul)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/4 "2001-08-13T04:45:14Z")
Grandpa’s dead Billy… he won’t be able to touch you in your special places anymore. ::shot of Mom holding a crying young Billy in his bed. Grandpa’s ghost is in bed with Billy holding a bottle of scotch:: ---
**Author:** ![Kittie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Kittie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kittie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/5 "2001-08-13T04:57:06Z")
No one I’ve ever met. Honestly. Even my grandparents think it’s terrible…anyway, whats to like?? ~Kittie ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/6 "2001-08-13T04:57:39Z")
The only people who enjoy Family Circus are those who are threatened by the cutting-edge humor of Garfield. Frankly, I try my best to skip my eyes right over Family Circus and read Zippy the Pinhead. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/7 "2001-08-13T04:59:24Z")
I don’t like it, nor do I know anyone that does. Maybe it used to be good, back when it started. It always makes me sad, hearing from all the great cartoonists how hard it is to get published, and how you have to send the comic to 10 syndicates just to make it, and yet Family Circus… **just won’t die!** ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/8 "2001-08-13T05:21:13Z")
Sure I loved it. When I was 6, and just learned how to read. Soon after, I realized that every strip is just a recycle of an older one. Then I turned 7. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/9 "2001-08-13T05:55:50Z")
[Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://www.zompist.com/dfcindex.html). You will thank me. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/10 "2001-08-13T05:58:33Z")
Not that _TFC_ was ever that good but the keg has been pumping foam for a while now. Bil Keane doesn’t even do the whole strip anymore. In an ironic twist he hasn’t turned the reins over to real life son Bill as shown in the strip but son Jeff does the artwork (and I use the term loosely) from sketches and ideas sent by dad. Since I live in Phoenix there is little chance of the local daily rag sacking homeboy Keane from his choice spot on the front page of the sunday funnies. ---
**Author:** ![Lucifer12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b38774/32.png) [@Lucifer12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucifer12)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/11 "2001-08-13T12:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JonScribe \* > \*\*The only people who enjoy Family Circus are those who are threatened by the cutting-edge humor of Garfield. > > Frankly, I try my best to skip my eyes right over Family Circus and read Zippy the Pinhead. \*\* That’s ironic as all hell, because Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy, is a huge Bill Keane fan and collaborated with Keane on a brief (and bizzare) Family Circus/Zippy crossover. (“I am Jeffy, you are Jeffy - we are all Jeffy!”) I kid you not. It was the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen in the comics, and gave me new respect for stodgy ol’ Family Circus. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/12 "2001-08-13T12:53:27Z")
If the one known as Jeffy is turned over to us, you will remain slaves. If he is not, then you will all be crucified. I am Jeffy! I am Jeffy! No, I am Jeffy! [sub]I love you, Jefficus.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/13 "2001-08-13T12:59:50Z")
My grandmother really likes the Family Circus. But then again, she’s about a half-step away from being a mental Teletubby (spends a lot of time wandering randomy about saying things like “oooh oy,” etc). Personally I used to like the Billy-track cartoons when I was a kid, but sometime around 13 I started to loathe it. It all started going downhill after Bloom County ended… ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/14 "2001-08-13T13:03:56Z")
I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/15 "2001-08-13T13:09:49Z")
Hey, I spend a lot of time wandering randomly about saying things like “oooh oy,” too! Some Doper—I forget who—once suggested setting up a crosshair on each circular Family Circus and seeing how long it takes to finish off the whole family. Brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/16 "2001-08-13T13:12:03Z")
[http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-blaircircus.html](http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-blaircircus.html) ---
**Author:** ![Briminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/17 "2001-08-13T13:15:59Z")
Family Circus Fred Basset One Big Happy Ziggy 4 comic strips that I hate, but for some reason I have to read them every day. Maybe one day something bad will happen to all of them. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/18 "2001-08-13T13:16:04Z")
The folks I know who seem to like Family Circus, or at least who will go out of their way to occasionally clip them and paste it on their computer monitors or cubicle walls, are middle aged, lower middle class church-going women with children. They’re the same ones who collect Beanie Babies, have cow kitsch all over their house, and fill my e-mail box with glurge. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/19 "2001-08-13T13:30:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elmwood \* > \*\*The folks I know who seem to like Family Circus, or at least who will go out of their way to occasionally clip them and paste it on their computer monitors or cubicle walls, are middle aged, lower middle class church-going women with children. They’re the same ones who collect Beanie Babies, have cow kitsch all over their house, and fill my e-mail box with glurge. \*\* How **dare** you talk about my mother like that! :eek: _The Family Circus_ is a “comfort” comic, much like _Ziggy_. Readers of the newspaper, particularly older ones, look forward to spending time with Jeffy, Billy et al each day the way I look forward to spending time with Phoebe, Rachel, Ross et al each Thursday night. Sure, the strip hasn’t been funny in several decades, but that’s not the point. The point is that, for whatever reason, many people have grown to love the touching and life-affirming interplay between the characters ( 🤮 ). For these readers to open the funnies and find them devoid of _TFC_ would be like Homer Simpson walking into his favorite tavern and finding Moe gone. ---
**Author:** ![Lucifer12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b38774/32.png) [@Lucifer12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucifer12)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990/20 "2001-08-13T13:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucifer12 \* > > That’s ironic as all hell, because Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy, is a huge Bill Keane fan and collaborated with Keane on a brief (and bizzare) Family Circus/Zippy crossover. > (“I am Jeffy, you are Jeffy - we are all Jeffy!”) > \*\* Check it out: [http://www.angelfire.com/art/pcs/zippycircus.JPG](http://www.angelfire.com/art/pcs/zippycircus.JPG) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-actually-like-the-family-circus/75990.md?page=2)