One whose actions have never earned her so much as a reprimand. Nobody ever wants to tell the kid no, so she just says and does whatever she feels like at any given moment.
Shannon is irritating, but that’s the fault of every adult in her life repeatedly failing her (Jonah being the worst, but Brad and Toni aren’t doing her any favors by refusing to instill any discipline in her.)
Bernice on the other hand is downright loathsome. Which is interesting because there are characters with similar traits to hers who I absolutely adore, two of which are Britta Perry from Community (who is also a psych major who thinks too highly of her own abilities), and Amy Santiago from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (also an obsessively nerdy teacher’s pet). Even Liz Lemon from 30 Rock and Alex Dunphy from Modern Family are cast from the same mold as Bernice, yet both are much more likable.
I’d write Bernice out of the strip, make sure Ann Eiffel NEVER comes back, and have Luann and Tiffany get a place together where they figure out that the reason for their mutual distaste is because they’re more alike than they realize (which has always been true in the main strip.) Luann would move past the high schooler mindset and start acting like realistic young adult (and yes that would include adult themes like drinking and sex: Luann and Tiffany both need to start taking a realistic attitude rather than acting like religious fundamentalists while not having any actual religious beliefs.) Also Jonah would straight-up abandon Shannon (or simply get killed off) leaving her with Brad and Toni full-time, so they could learn to be actual parents to her instead of letting her run wild. In fact, they could move into a house of their own while Luann and Tiffany take over their previous one.
Though let’s be clear here: I could not actually write a comic strip. I lack the essential creativity needed to be a storyteller. I learned that in high school when everything I tried was a thinly-disguised ripoff of something else.
Shannon is actually rather tolerable this week, probably because she’s paired with the most insufferable person in the strip and therefore comes off better by comparison.
Remember that time she threw a tantrum because Luann dared to do something without inviting her, despite the fact that she would’ve never agreed to do it anyway (and she fully admitted that last part BTW)? But no, she demands to be invited to everything regardless, so she has the chance to make her negative opinion known to all.
It’s true that when I was a little kid I read a lot of overly-simplified biographies designed to point out notable virtues of historical figures (I think they were called ValueTales or somesuch.) I wonder if there’s still a market for that.
One whose actions have never earned her so much as a reprimand. Nobody ever wants to tell the kid no, so she just says and does whatever she feels like at any given moment.