Tag Archives: none of the regular cast

Link to today’s strip.

Okay, not sure what I can say about this one.  We saw Vera and Cliff the other day enjoying ice cream together…and that warrants network coverage?   For two people that were completely forgotten by the viewing public until the last six months?  (In other words, people that no one cares about.)

What, weren’t there any cats stuck in trees in the past week?

There’s really only reason for coverage like this, and that would be if the upcoming Starbuck Jones movie was the most anticipated film of the century, with people slavering to learn each and every tit-bit.

And I just can’t buy that.  Why?  Because Tom Batiuk hasn’t sold it, that’s why.  There’s a reason some people are storytellers and some people aren’t.  Some people can tell stories about damaged or despicable people and make you care what happens.   Alfred Hitchcock did this many times–in “Strangers on a Train” there’s a scene near the end where the villain is being prevented from acting, and the way the film is shot and edited, you’re actually hoping the villain succeeds.  Similarly in “Psycho,” when the car stops sinking, the audience has been subtly led to think, “Oh, no, that car has to sink!”

Alfred Hitchcock was a masterful storyteller.  Tom Batiuk…not so much.