# So, has For Better Or For Worse completely abandoned the "reboot" idea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231 "2010-01-16T20:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/41 "2010-01-18T16:23:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I decided it would be better to teleport a box of Belgian chocolates to Natalie Portman and a box of Exlax-laced candies to Sarah Palin. I’ll keep the exploding ones for an emergency. Can’t you keep the Exlax-laced ones and send the exploding ones on instead? Pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/42 "2010-01-18T16:36:00Z")
> [@Vlad\_Igor](#): > > FWIW, I believe the Pattersons lived in Thunder Bay, occasionally mentioned when the kids went west to the family-related farm in Manitoba. They live in the fictional town of Millborough, which is in southern Ontario and has always come across to me as a suburb of Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/43 "2010-01-18T16:41:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Is there a popular cartoonist in the entire history of the medium who was more of a psychoanalytical slideshow than Lynn Johnston? The entire strip is an ongoing look into her head, and a lot of it is kind of ugly. Her near-Paleolithic adherence to traditional gender roles - I suspect there’s some Daddy issues there - xenophobia, resentment about not having a third child, her painfully liberal-of-convenience Canadian politics, and of course her attitude towards her husband/ex husband just flows through the strip while she steadfastly denies it’s there. Equally of interest is the _intense_ simultaneous love and hatred for the strip on the part of its fans. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/44 "2010-01-18T17:39:38Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > If Lynn Johnston’s world-view is so opposite to your own, then why the hell did you ever read it? You should have been reveling in other strips more to your liking. I sure don’t read strips that represent a view counter to my own. Don’t you get it? We DID like the strip. It was really good for a long time. Then it went off the rails. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/45 "2010-01-18T19:27:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Ellie’s husband. Oh. I guess it’s my fault for not having FBOFW on my daily comix to-do list these days. Is Dr. Patterson tending to be a complete tit since the reboot? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/46 "2010-01-18T19:32:42Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I decided it would be better to teleport a box of Belgian chocolates to Natalie Portman \<_SNIP_\> Y’know, she’s _still_ not gonna take her clothes off for any more movies… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/47 "2010-01-18T19:59:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Oh. I guess it’s my fault for not having FBOFW on my daily comix to-do list these days. Is Dr. Patterson tending to be a complete tit since the reboot? She’s made him into a total ass. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/48 "2010-01-18T20:15:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > She’s made him into a total ass. …which does make one wonder how she thinks that makes _her_ alter-ego look, staying married to such an ass all those years… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/49 "2010-01-18T21:41:43Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Can’t you keep the Exlax-laced ones and send the exploding ones on instead? Pretty please? Sorry. Not allowed to murder Sarah Palin. Orders from He Who Shall Not Be Named. I don’t have all the details yet but it’s something about the apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/50 "2010-01-18T22:32:39Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > …which does make one wonder how she thinks that makes _her_ alter-ego look, staying married to such an ass all those years… Perhaps more precisely, let’s be honest; NOBODY looks good ripping their spouse. Complaining about your spouse in public, no matter how deserved it is or isn’t, always makes a person look mean and ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/51 "2010-01-19T01:29:19Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I do believe Lynn saw her strip, with Liz’ storyline, heading into something she (Lynn) was unable to handle. It was like, whoa, Liz is dating a First Nation man (non-white, non-high-school sweetheart)! With a dangerous profession (cop)! Living up there in the middle of nowhere (no mall nearby)! She (Lynn) HAD to pull back, she had to get Liz back home and her fate sealed by marrying Blandthony, because that was all Lynn could depict. Her research into the ways of the Others extended only so far; OK, Liz had her bit of freedom, travel, adventure - now back to the ‘normal’ world. She literally killed Liz, her soul anyway, made her into a mindless thick-lipped robot, because that was her fate by the time the strip came to an end. Not quite. I think Paul was born to die, so to speak. Lynn wasn’t afraid of where it was going; she never intended it to go further. See, Liz met Paul several months after a big plot point with Anthony. Liz was being stalked by a co-worker (in Milborough, where she was still spending summers). One day when no one else was in the store, he cornered her and tried to kiss her, rip her shirt off, something. She was overpowered, is the point, and he didn’t stop even after she slugged him. Anthony walked in at that moment, headlocked the guy, ordered him to apologize and then to leave\*. Afterwards, Anthony drove Liz home, and immediately started [pouring his heart out](http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexpanel.php?q=i+have+no+home&Submit=Search) about his unhappy marriage. The last thing he says in the strip is “Wait for me! Promise me you’ll wait!” We don’t see Liz’s answer; she just muses about life and love being complicated. This didn’t go over too well with a lot of readers. Many thought Lynn had gone too far with the Howard character. It might have been okay if he was just a jerkass who made inappropriate comments, and Anthony only ordered him to apologize for his remarks. But because Howard was full-on stalking Liz, because what happened was upsetting enough for her to scream for help, and because it was severe enough to justify filing a police report, this was not seen as the best time for Anthony to declare himself. Then there was the matter of his asking her to wait, presumably for his divorce, which to many readers marked Anthony as an emotional cheater. So Lynn might have had a followup planned, but I get a strong impression that instead, she had to spin out some time before Anthony could be brought back. So bring in a new guy, have him live up north where Liz is, and as a bonus, answer the question many have been asking, “Will Liz ever date a First Nations guy, or does she suffer from NIMBYism?” I don’t think he was ever meant to be more than a distraction. Timing would also suggest that Lynn chose to exit him by having him cheat (Liz’s **second** cheating SO, no less) as another catharsis, or slam on her soon-to-be-ex, or whatever. I actually thought it would have been interesting to have him shot in the line of duty. Not killed, because Lynn got enough grief when the dog died, but a grave enough injury to make Liz think long and hard about whether she really wanted to be a LEO’s wife. And she’d choose the accountant, of course. So you see, it’s not even so much the resolutions, like Liz leaving the north or marrying Anthony, as it’s the way they play out. If Howard hadn’t been violent, if Anthony hadn’t effectively left Therese before she left him, if Paul and Liz just hadn’t worked out, it could be bearable. It’s all the whining, really. Everything that happens to Liz is a reason for her to wail and stare bug-eyed into space. By the last month of the strip, she had regressed to about age 12. \*Instead of, you know, holding him down while Liz called the cops. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/52 "2010-01-19T02:47:55Z")
Even with Paul, he didn’t just cheat with Liz. He cheated on her with his childhood sweetheart, who he was “meant to be with”. And don’t forget. Her choice wasn’t just Paul or Anthony. There was also the helicopter pilot, Warren. I don’t know what was wrong with him. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/53 "2010-01-19T03:06:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Perhaps more precisely, let’s be honest; NOBODY looks good ripping their spouse. Complaining about your spouse in public, no matter how deserved it is or isn’t, always makes a person look mean and ugly. And it looks even worse when you do it in front of a multinational audience. Everyone knows that Mr. Ellie is her ex’s avatar, and everyone knows exactly what she’s doing. > [@](#): > > I actually thought it would have been interesting to have him shot in the line of duty. Not killed, because Lynn got enough grief when the dog died, but a grave enough injury to make Liz think long and hard about whether she really wanted to be a LEO’s wife. And she’d choose the accountant, of course. I really think that having Farley die was one of the best parts of the strip. Yes, it was sad, heartwrenching, even. But dogs don’t live forever, and part of having a pet is having it die. I always felt that Lynn was cheating when she had Farley’s son come into the strip. Oh, he looks JUST LIKE his dad, and acts like him too! I can accept that the offspring of one dog will look and act a lot like the parent…but it seems to me that she just needed a new Farley for some of her storyline. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/54 "2010-01-19T04:34:12Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I really think that having Farley die was one of the best parts of the strip. Yes, it was sad, heartwrenching, even. But dogs don’t live forever, and part of having a pet is having it die. I always felt that Lynn was cheating when she had Farley’s son come into the strip. Oh, he looks JUST LIKE his dad, and acts like him too! I can accept that the offspring of one dog will look and act a lot like the parent…but it seems to me that she just needed a new Farley for some of her storyline. They got Edward quite a while before Farley died, IIRC. The two dogs co-existed in the strip for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/55 "2010-01-19T04:47:20Z")
A.) it’s Edgar. B.) I didn’t so much mind Edgar being there as I minded periodically seeing that stupid tree take on the features of the Farley-Ent. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/56 "2010-01-19T05:42:30Z")
This thread is a stunner for me - I read and loved “For Better or For Worse” throughout my childhood, but stopped when I moved out of my parents’ house 10+ years ago and never subscribed to a newspaper on my own. What’s all this stuff about xenophobia and small-town Ontario bigotry?? I don’t remember anything about race relations, but FBOFW always seemed like a very progressive strip: wasn’t it one of the first strips to have a gay character (or multiple gay characters, IIRC) and a handicapped teacher? The idea that LJ would be bigoted against a First Nations character doesn’t ring true. …But then neither does the idea that Lynn Johnston is apparently a [pretty rotten person](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Johnston#Personal_life). Like a lot of people, I always felt like FBOFW mirrored my life. It’s like finding out that my mother is actually an asshole. This is all very confusing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/57 "2010-01-19T06:06:40Z")
Incidentally, this thread made me start flipping through some of the strip’s [old storylines](http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexstoryline.php). The one in which [Lawrence comes out](http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexstoryline.php?q=Lawrence%20Comes%20Out) is truly heartbreaking, but it’s encouraging to see how much has changed: the plot opens with Lawrence telling Michael that he’s probably never going to be able to marry and have kids…because he’s gay. Little did he know that in 10 years both things would be possible. Way to go on that one, Canada, and here’s hoping that your southern neighbor follows suit very, very soon. (Sadly, the whole being-kicked-out-of-the-house thing is probably all too common, but no law can change that…) For the record, _did_ Lawrence ever end up getting married? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/58 "2010-01-19T06:36:18Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Bringing up someone’s race where it has no bearing speaks volumes. But in this case, it has bearing. Without that point, I’d have had no idea of who he was talking about. Thinking it’s racism when it’s not- _also speaks volumes_. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/59 "2010-01-19T06:45:21Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > For the record, _did_ Lawrence ever end up getting married? No. Apparently [it’s enough to know he has the right.](http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexpanel.php?q=but+isn%27t+it+great+to+know+we+have+the+right&Submit=Search) ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231/60 "2010-01-19T06:57:34Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > No. Apparently [it’s enough to know he has the right.](http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexpanel.php?q=but+isn%27t+it+great+to+know+we+have+the+right&Submit=Search) 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-has-for-better-or-for-worse-completely-abandoned-the-reboot-idea/525231.md?page=4)