History YMMV / TheFamilyCircus

* PeripheryHatedom: The strip has received a disproportionate amount of mockery over the years from people not in its kids-say-the-darndest-things-isn't-it-cute? demographic (though of course this could be more an expression of just wanting to poke fun at things than obsessive hatred).

* SweetnessAversion: Quite possibly the biggest example in comics, with the family portrayed as so old-timey and wholesome that it has zero edge for a lot of viewers to attach to, not to mention how many of the punchlines involve cutesy thoughts the child characters say.

* ValuesDissonance:
** A lot of the humor in parodies like Dysfunctional Family Circus comes from the fact that the original strips can often be read as promoting traditionalist values to the point of being retrograde. For example, [[http://www.joshreads.com/images/0407/famcirc040724.jpg this]] strip's meaning is (presumably) that the two statements are one and the same.
** In the earliest strips, Bil and Thel sometimes used CorporalPunishment on the kids, since it was still widely accepted at the time.

* ValuesDissonance: A lot of the humor in parodies like Dysfunctional Family Circus comes from the fact that the original strips can often be read as promoting traditionalist values to the point of being retrograde. For example, [[http://www.joshreads.com/images/0407/famcirc040724.jpg this]] strip's meaning is (presumably) that the two statements are one and the same.

* StockParodyJokes: Portraying the family as a BigScrewedUpFamily and reinterpreting strips in this manner. ''Webcomic/DysfunctionalFamilyCircus'' and Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon are the best-known examples of this.

* WereStillRelevantDammit:
** The occasional attempts at referencing current events and pop culture. In general the comic's done a good job keeping on top of kiddie trends, using it as background detail most of the time, but elsewhere you get such oddities as Dolly dressing up as UsefulNotes/SarahPalin for [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/16/97/fb1697cc186e5c44c608e2c6d497b1b6.gif Halloween 2008]] -- and that one wasn't even presented as a joke.
*** That same Halloween Billy was dressed as ComicBook/IronMan, but for some reason colored as if he was Spider-Man.
*** Oddly inverted in the [[https://preview.redd.it/qgsik75cyguz.gif?format=png8&s=3cac991a7346fc5a33a2684e55e591cba25f67cc Halloween 2012]] comic, where Billy declares he wants to go out as "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Blood Ravens]] 4th Company in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''." Even for ''40k'' fans that's a ridiculously obscure reference (he has only appeared once), and ''40k'' itself is almost completely unknown outside of geek culture, let alone by the average ''Family Circus'' reader.
** In the mid-'80s when the Chrysler minivans first came out, the family traded their generic station wagon in for one. For the rest of TheEighties, Keane drew it with authentic 1984-86 Plymouth Voyager styling cues; since then it's slowly morphed back into a generic boxy '60s/70s wagon.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Quite possibly the biggest example in comics.

* ValuesDissonance: A lot of the humour in parodies like Dysfunctional Family Circus comes from the fact that the original strips can often be read as promoting traditionalist values to the point of being retrograde. For example, [[http://www.joshreads.com/images/0407/famcirc040724.jpg this]] strip's meaning is (hopefully) that the two statements are one and the same.

*** Oddly inverted in the [[https://preview.redd.it/qgsik75cyguz.gif?format=png8&s=3cac991a7346fc5a33a2684e55e591cba25f67cc Halloween 2012]] comic, where Billy declares he wants to go out as "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Blood Ravens]] 4th Company in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''." Even for 40k fans that's a ridiculously obscure reference (he has only appeared once), and 40k itself is almost completely unknown outside of geek culture, let alone by the average ''Family Circus'' reader.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: The occasional attempts at referencing current events and pop culture. In general the comic's done a good job keeping on top of kiddie trends, using it as background detail most of the time, but elsewhere you get such oddities as Dolly dressing up as UsefulNotes/SarahPalin for Halloween 2008 -- and that one wasn't even presented as a joke.
** That same Halloween Billy was dressed as ComicBook/IronMan, but for some reason colored as if he was Spider-Man.
*** Oddly inverted in the Halloween 2012 comic, where Billy declares he wants to go out as "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Blood Ravens]] 4th Company in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''." Even for 40k fans that's a ridiculously obscure reference (he has only appeared once), and 40k itself is almost completely unknown outside of geek culture, let alone by the average ''Family Circus'' reader.

* UnfortunateNames: Barfy the dog.

* CantUnhearIt: After learning that the real Thelma Keane was born and raised in Australia, it's fascinating to reread the old strips and imagine Thel speaking in a Queensland accent.

** That same Halloween Billy was dressed as IronMan, but for some reason colored as if he was Spider-Man.

* UnfortunateName: Barfy the dog.

* HilariousInHindsight: The producer's name on the Easter special is named [[{{Literature/Twilight}} Edward F. Cullen]].
** The character of "Not Me" is this if you've seen ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'', since [[spoiler: Lil' Slugger is basically a DarkerAndEdgier version of him]].

* CantUnHearIt: After learning that the real Thelma Keane was born and raised in Australia, it's fascinating to reread the old strips and imagine Thel speaking in a Queensland accent.

* SnarkBait: Due to extremely saccharine and dated themes and humor.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: The occasional attempts at referencing current events and pop culture. In general the comic's done a good job keeping on top of kiddie trends, using it as background detail most of the time, but elsewhere you get such oddities as Dolly dressing up as SarahPalin for Halloween 2008 -- and that one wasn't even presented as a joke.

*** Oddly inverted in the Halloween 2012 comic, where Billy declares he wants to go out as "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Blood Ravens]] 4th Company in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''." Even for 40k fans that's a ridiculously obscure reference (he has only appeared once), and 40k itself is almost completely unknown outside of geek culture, let alone among the average ''Family Circus'' reader.

*** Oddly inverted in the Halloween 2012 comic, where Billy declares he wants to go out as "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Blood Ravens]] 4th Company in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''." Even for 40k fans that's a ridiculously obscure reference (he has only appeared once), and 40k itself is almost completely unknown outside of geek culture.

* TastesLikeDiabetes

** The character of "Not Me" is this if you've seen ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'', since [[spoiler: Lil' Slugger is basically a DarkerAndDEdgier version of him]].