"For Better or for Worse" (2000) TV series

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Seasons:

unknown

Genre:

Animation | Family

Plot:

The animated misadventures of Lynn Johnston's acclaimed comic strip family.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Comic | Kids And Family

Cast

Lynn Mason		(2 episodes)
Henry Gauthier		(2 episodes)
Rylan O'Reilly		(2 episodes)
Lianne Picard-Poirier		(2 episodes)
Vanessa Lengies		(2 episodes)
Anna Wedlock		(2 episodes)
Bryn McAuley		(2 episodes)
Lynne Addams	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Sonja Ball	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Norman Mikeal Berketa	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Sara Cornthwaite	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Jayne Eastwood	...	Mrs. Dingle (2 episodes)
Kathleen Fee	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Dawn Ford	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Patrick Fry	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
A.J. Henderson	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)
Lynn Johnston	...	Herself (2 episodes)
Alexander Swerdlon	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Funbag Animation Studios

Quotes:

John Patterson: How's our mournful musician?
Ellie Patterson: He's still up there.
John Patterson: I already tried my A-Material on him. "Stiff Upper Lip" "Plenty of fish in the sea."
Ellie Patterson: Well, What did you do when you got dumped?
John Patterson: Who says I was ever dumped?
[Ellie looks at John disaprovingly]
John Patterson: Well, I guess I did stuff. Played with my model trains. Excuse me for a second.
[Opening kitchen door. Singsong]
John Patterson: Michael shove a sock in it.
Ellie Patterson: It's good for a boy to get. He hasn't done anything for days.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Follows For Better or for Worse: A Christmas Angel (1992) (TV)

An excellent family cartoon.

This animated series is actually produced and drawn here in my hometown of Ottawa, Canada.

Lynn Johnston may be the most underrated cartoonist of the last 30 years. Her creation "For Better or For Worse", based on her family life, is much different than other cartoons. Unlike "Peanuts","Calvin And Hobbes" and all the others where time stands still, the Patterson family actually ages over the years. The adults have more children, the children grow up and leave the nest, and all the friends and family do the same, too. That makes it a truly special cartoon.

Johnston's cartoon isn't laugh out loud funny like "Garfield" or "Calvin and Hobbes", but it intrigues me because of the family structure and situations. It's like an 80's sitcom, which is better than anything that passes as a sitcom in 2002.

Ergo, the series is split into three segments, covering three time periods of the Patterson family. The animation is very good and look better moving, the look at family life refreshing, and the storylines are ones we can relate to. Lynn Johnston herself introduces her segments while drawing in kind of a "pep talk" way. It's not a laugh out loud show, but it's still an intriguing cartoon nonetheless. If I'm staying up until 2 A.M. to see it, it must be good.