Talk:The Family Circus

Untitled

It is certainly debatable whether the comic is dated and mawkish. This should be revised for NPOV. --Daniel C. Boyer 22:58, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

Product Marketing

I remember in the early 1980's, The Family Circus characters adorned bags of potato chips, but I don't recall which brand... TimLegg 72.54.34.34 (talk) 18:12, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Frito Lay, I believe Bkatcher (talk) 05:07, 17 August 2019 (UTC)

Syndicated?

According to the Garfield comic, that strip holds the Guiness World Record for most syndications. I know this article says according to the publisher this is the worlds most syndicated strip, but shouldn't that be removed if garfield is indeed the most syndicated? I am not sure if the Garfield one is accurate so I don't want to make any changes. -murder1 01:28, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I've changed the wording from most widely syndicated "comic series" to "cartoon panel" as is stated by King Features. Panel cartoons are considered different then comic series or strip-type cartoons. CactusWriter (talk) 11:43, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I think "The Other Family" link should be removed. It is too R rated for a source, however if others want it there, than maybe leave it without a dirct link, so that others should search for it if interested.

Rewrite

The prior article seemed to be imbalanced, focusing little on the strip and more on online parody and satire. I have revised the article to deemphasize the parody aspect and wiped the NPOV stuff about "sterile humor" and "mawkish sentimentality". I haven't removed any of the links or pop culture references but I did revise them. Perhaps the parody warrants a separate article. I have expanded other areas to balance the revised parody section. Irene Ringworm 09:08, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I've never done editing with Wikipedia before, but there is a bizarre comment in the "Location" discussion, in all-caps, about the FC characters being aliens/marcians [sic]. However when I try to edit that section the aliens/marcians comment doesn't appear. Someone more Wikipedia-savvy than myself should change it.24.125.175.110 23:27, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

---

But I think we still need a criticism section detailing their "mawkish sentimentality". I would make one myself, but I just can't find any sources that Wikipedia would find acceptable. I have seen a lot of message boards bashing it though.

Surname

It's been many years since I've read FC regularly, but somewhere along the line, hasn't it at least been implied that the family's surname is indeed Keane?Rockhopper10r 01:49, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

P.J.

Has any strip stated what P.J.'s full name might be? 45750born (talk) 20:47, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Sunday 2010

On Sunday 2/28/2010 the Sunday comics "Family Circus" had a family portrait with all family circus members -Including pets-drawn by unnamed cartoonist {Bil Keene of Course}. On the drawing table is a small photograph-Keene and his family when he started drawing "family Circus" 1960! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.83.126.88 (talk) 13:16, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

comic used as example

Without a specific date given it is difficult to verify whether this comic is a legitimate Bil Keane Family Circus comic. The presence of a rather surly looking-- and drunk-- daddy tends to make me think it is not. I doubt the strip has changed this radically over the years. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.59.226.212 (talk) 05:43, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

The example comic dated October 22 1960 can be confirmed. It has been republished on page 93 of the book The Family Circus 1960-1961, Volume 1, IDW Publishing, Library of American Comics, November 2009. The comic did change substantially over time. — CactusWriter ^(talk) 06:30, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

It's still not a particularly good example for the article in my opinion. It certainly isn't reflective of the strip's current (or even remotely recent) style of humor. A reader of this article unfamiliar with the comic would get an entirely wrong impression from it. -Elmer Clark (talk) 10:17, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

The early strip did indeed look that much different than today's strip. And FWIW, in the Milwaukee Journal, that Oct/22/1960 strip is titled Family-Go-Round. In the Pittsburgh Press it's Family Circus.DiffuseGoose (talk) 13:09, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

• I agree that we should see if we can use a different example, where the characters (especially the father) look like they currently do. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 16:51, 25 May 2021 (UTC)

Thel's parents?

"Thel's parents are both alive but apparently live several hundred miles away in a rural area. Strips in the past have mentioned them living in Iowa, but one 2007 strip mentioned Florida. The family occasionally visits them for vacation."

I thought Thel's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Carne, lived in Australia? 206.8.2.211 (talk) 02:18, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

That's the way I remember it. SlowJog (talk) 17:23, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Bil Keane's Death

Does anyone know when Jeff Keane took over the strip, the extent of Bil Keane's involvement in his later years, and what impact his death will have on the strip? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.246.86.168 (talk) 01:23, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes I believe it was in 2001 that Bil Keane passed on the "Family Circus" rights to his son Jeff Keane. Jeff Keane is currently drawing the strip. I used to find "Family Circus" funny back in the 1960s to the 1990s (I was born in the 1980s) but today in the 2000s and 2010s it's just same old boring kid jokes and facts of life, I hope one day this strip retires one day because it repeats itself over and over that's just my opinion. CrosswalkX (talk) 01:59, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

It was no funnier when you were a kid, you just grew up. Wimpyguy (talk) 13:51, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

No, as far as the date that Jeff Keane took over all of the drawing of the cartoon, 2001 appears to be much too early. Sources indicate it was only a few years prior to Bil's death in November 2011. The earliest actual date that can be verified is November 2009 from this this interview. — CactusWriter ^(talk) 18:31, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Title Progression

I've added the title Family-Go-Round to the intro paragraph. This title was used for nearly a year, from about August 13, 1960 through July 10, 1961, before the strip became Family Circus. Reference is The Milwaukee Journal for that period -- https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC&dat=19600813&printsec=frontpage&hl=en, next to last page.

It might be nice to have that info in the article, but there's currently no suitable section. Perhaps a section could be added, discussing the controversy between the syndicator(?) and Family Circle magazine. It would seem that Family-Go-Round would have allayed any objections from the magazine, so why was the title changed a second time?DiffuseGoose (talk) 12:59, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

Parody

I was a huge fan of the Dysfunctional Family Circus. This article notes that Bil Keane came to disapprove of it. The broader story is sort of fun. According to his own account, the founder of DFC met Bil Keane at some sort of conference or convention and was so taken by Bil's niceness and decency that he felt that he could no longer mock his work. PurpleChez (talk) 16:56, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

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Facts or Other?

"Thel's parents are both alive but apparently live several hundred miles away in a rural area. Strips in the past have mentioned them living in Iowa, but one 2007 strip mentioned Florida. The family occasionally visits them for vacation."

I remember them as living in Australia.

"Mr. Horton is Bil's boss."

In 6 day arc, Bil's boss was shown to be a woman. https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2018-03-26

"The Family Circus takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona. ... "

I remember the Keane's home as being near Philadelphia, even when the real-life family was living in Scottsdale. But, I haven't read every one. It is possible I missed or forgot episodes where, in the comic strip, Thel's parents moved to the United States, Bil's boss changed, and they moved to Arizona.

I agree that the article needs more sources and citations. SlowJog (talk) 17:20, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Sunday Strip

I don't have a cite for this, so I can't put it in the main article, but at one time the Sunday strips often had a subfeature called "Sideshow" (to go along with the "Circus" theme) which showcased literal illustrations of puns and other figures of speech. If anyone could verify this, it would be a good add. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.202.33.17 (talk) 04:43, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Looks like you are right. Here is one example: https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B5%2F3%2F4%2F534308%5D%2Csizedata%5B850x600%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D SlowJog (talk) 22:25, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Possible criticism section?

Would it not be appropriate to acknowledge the astounding shittyness of the comic? It has a horrible reputation, so I would think it would make sense to add a section addressing common criticisms, and I'm honestly surprised that hasn't been done already. Criticism of the strip's idiotic religiosity, alongside the complete lack of humor would seem to be appropriate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:1c2:4c02:82c0:8916:436d:e0a6:a7e0 (talk • contribs)

American English, please.

It's an American comic strip, and the family lives in the United States. So, American English should be used for this article. In American English, periods and commas go inside the quote. So, I disagree with the edit by at 18:24, 27 March 2022‎ by 63.116.166.11. SlowJog (talk) 22:20, 27 March 2022 (UTC)