1. ae
THE SUNDAY REPUBLICAN APRIL 1, 2007
SECTION
H
SOCIAL MOMENTS See who else joined
Michael O’Connor, left, CEO of the Waterbury
Development Corp., and Rep. Sean J. Williams,
R-Watertown, at the Waterbury Regional
Chamber’s 2007 legislative dinner. 4H
rts& ntertainment
From the ‘Complete Peanuts’
book series: ‘1950 to 1952’
featuring Charlie Brown (below)
Guilted
and ‘1955 to 1956,’ featuring Pigpen.
treasure Classic
comics
WHY WE JUST CAN’T
hit the
HELP LOVING VH1’S
‘ I LOV E N E W Y O R K ’
BY BRYNN MANDEL
books
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
T
here’s a deep, dark secret with-
in certain corners of this very
newspaper’s features depart-
ment.
BY ALAN BISBORT
We love New York. Not the city, but the
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
bawdy show, “I Love New York.”
What goes around comes around.
A spin-off of VH1’s equally trashy This karmic equation holds true for
politics, relationships, even classic
“Flavor of Love,” the latest produc-
comic strips.
tion chronicles Tiffany “New York” Take the ongoing effort by Seattle-
based Fantagraphics Books to reissue
Pollard looking for love. VH1 award-
every single installment of Peanuts.
ed “New York” her own show after she This is a bigger undertaking than one
might think. The strip ran from 1950
was dumped, twice on successive sea-
to 2000, when its creator, Charles M.
sons in front of millions of viewers, by Schulz, died. Because Schulz stipulat-
ed in his will that no one could draw
rapper-turned-reality TV star Flavor Flav.
the strip after he was gone, Peanuts
This time, the fake eyelash-fluttering essentially died with its creator. This
explains the “Classic Peanuts” strips
woman who brought the drama to Flav’s
that still run in newspapers all over
show does the dumping. What started with the world, including this one. People
need their daily fix of Snoopy.
a sundry group of 20 guys with nicknames
And who can blame them?
like “12 Pack” and “Pootie” competing for With Fantagraphics’ monumental
undertaking, however, people can
Pollard’s affection is down to two.
now bask in their daily Snoopy, Char-
On Monday’s season finale at 9 p.m., lie, Lucy, Linus, et al., wallow in
them, wallpaper their homes with
“New York”will choose her knight in shin-
them. Though the project will require
ing body oil. 25 large-format hardcover volumes,
Fantagraphics is releasing two vol-
After weeks of spit-swapping, alcohol-
umes per year, each with 320 pages
induced antics and wannabe actors and that include two years’ worth of strips
and supplementary material, like
singers masquerading as potential mates,
biographical sketches of Schulz, com-
I am looking forward to the finale. Words mentary by scholars and introduc-
tions by famous people whose lives
cannot express the extent of my shame
have been touched, if not shaped by
admitting this. Peanuts. Among these are Walter
Cronkite, Whoopi Goldberg and
I know: It’s mindless. It’s insignifi-
Diana Krall.
cant. It’s enthralling. Six volumes are now out, with a sev-
enth (covering the years 1963-1964)
I am not alone. The episode two weeks
on the way. True, these are reruns,
ago drew 4.2 million viewers, and VH1 but of the absolute finest kind. Built to
last, the volumes are handsomely de-
says the show is the highest-rated origi-
signed by the Canadian artist Seth
nal series on basic cable so far this year and available in boxed sets.
Of Peanuts, Krall said, “Charlie
among adults 18 to 49.
Brown and his friends endure be-
cause Charles Schulz trusted the in-
See CHEESY, Page 4H telligence and instinct of even his
youngest readers to understand sub-
tly illustrated dilemmas and simple
PICTURED: Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard, truths expressed in a cartoon strip.
star of VH1’s ‘I Love New York,’ and her His creations appeal to you as a child
mother, Sister Patterson, seated, who and speak to you as an adult.”
is never far behind.
See RERUNS, Page 5H
COURTESY OF VH1
“IT’S INCREDIBLY CHEESY. IT’S INCREDIBLY STUPID.
BUT IT’S CHEESY AND STUPID DONE REALLY WELL.”
BOB THOMPSON, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S CENTER
FOR THE STUDY OF POPULAR CULTURE