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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fbofw_animated.jpg]]
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3The newspaper comic strip ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' (1979–2008; still existing in reprint form) by Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston was rather popular from the start, with its ongoing, real-time portrayal of family life as experienced by the Patterson family of Milborough, Ontario. In the 1980s and 1990s, {{Animated Adaptation}}s of comic strips were commonplace. Naturally, that extended to FBORFW, all of them produced in Canada.
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5There are three "tiers" of FBORFW animations. The first was a one-off from Creator/AtkinsonFilmArts called ''The Bestest Present'', aired on Creator/{{HBO}} on December 19, 1985, as well as Creator/{{CTV}}. It tells an original Christmas story centered on the Pattersons. Lynn's own children, Aaron and Katie, provided the voices of Michael and Elizabeth, and Rod Johnston made a cameo appearance, providing the voice of a mailman.
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7Beginning in 1992, another Ottawa-based studio, Creator/LacewoodProductions, produced six more specials, also for Creator/{{CTV}}. In the United States, these were seen on Creator/DisneyChannel. According to Lynn Johnston, the set designs (for instance, for the Pattersons' house) required by these and subsequent TV programs led her to develop a much more sophisticated background style in the comic strips.
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9The six specials produced by Lacewood were:
10#The Last Camping Trip (July 1992)
11#The Christmas Angel (December 1992)
12#The Good-for-Nothing (Halloween) (November 1992)
13#A Valentine from the Heart (March 1993)
14#The Babe Magnet (a.k.a. The Sweet Deal) (September 1993)
15#A Storm in April (June 1997)
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17In 2000, Ottawa's Creator/FunbagAnimation produced a new animated series for cable TV network Creator/{{Teletoon}}, which began airing on November 5, 2000, and ran until December 16, 2001. Featuring introductions by Lynn Johnston herself, the show looked at three related storylines from three different eras of the strip: the mid-1980s, the early 1990s, and the late 1990s.
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19The series consisted of two seasons with eight episodes each, with each episode centered around a ‘theme’.
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21This page contains examples from all three types.
22----
23!! These works contain examples of:
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25* AdaptationAmalgamation: As Brian Enjo is cut out of the Teletoon shorts, Lawrence assumes his personality traits.
26* AdaptationExpansion: The Teletoon segment "A New Year" is this for New Year’s Eve 1997 (when Mike announced that he loved Deanna). In the strip, we never saw what the Pattersons were doing at home that New Year’s Eve, nor Tracey showing Deanna around her house.
27* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Patterclan as a whole.
28* AdaptedOut: Mike’s second girlfriend, Rhetta. Also applies to his friend Brian, although Brian’s sister Dawn does appear.
29** Meredith and Robin do not appear as the series ended before they were born into the strip.
30** Surprisingly averted with April’s two friends, Becky and Duncan. They appear in one episode each.
31** Also averted with the Pattersons’ neighbors. Connie appears in five of the Teletoon segments, and Anne and Steve Nichols appear once.
32** Actually,Brian does make a brief appearance,but its briefness justifies his remaining under this entry.
33* AintTooProudToBeg: Michael in the Teletoon segment "Jingle Jingle, Mrs. Dingle".
34* AscendedExtra: Minor strip character Allyson Creemore in the Lacewood specials. Michael’s girlfriend Martha also counts as this. A third example is Gordon’s wife, Tracey, who actually gets a bit of dialogue in her three appearances in the Teletoon shorts.
35* BabiesEverAfter: Although the Teletoon timeline doesn’t extend as far as showing Mike and Deanna’s children, Gordon and Tracey’s son Paul puts in an appearance - twice!
36* CallBack: Although never directly seen, the death of Farley the dog is mentioned by Michael in the episode "Farley’s Day".
37* CoolBigSis: Elizabeth Patterson is pretty much this in both the Lacewood and Teletoon cartoons.
38* TheCutie: April, in both the Lacewood specials and the Teletoon segments. Also Liz, to a lesser extent.
39* GoneSwimmingClothesStolen: In the Teletoon show's episode segment 'A Tent's Situation', Michael, Gordon, and Lawrence go to the campground where Elly has taken Elizabeth and her friends to prank them. While waiting for the girls to return to their camp site after setting up parts of the prank, they head to the park lake to go skinny dipping. Unfortunately for the guys, Michael accidentally leaves his initialed knife at the girls camp, alerting the girls to their presence. While they're swimming, the girls steal their clothes from the beach and place them on a clothes line back at the camp. As the guys retrieve their clothes, assuming the girls are asleep, the girls jump out with flashlights and surprise them. The guys, covering their fronts with their clothes, run off screaming in embarrassment with their bare butts facing the girls who end the segment laughing their heads off.
40* InSeriesNickname: Lizardbreath, for Liz.
41* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Teletoon!Martha is implied to be this.
42* NoodleIncident: Farley’s death, the car accident after which Michael and Deanna reconnected, how Mike and Martha met, basically almost anything that actually received a storyline in the strip.
43** Averted with April’s birth,which received its own special.
44* SiblingRivalry: Michael and Elizabeth, just as in the strip.
45* TwinkleSmile: April has one.

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