Why is Dennis Not in School???

[McGillicuddy]

:confused: It has just occurred to me that I've never seen any indication that Dennis goes to school. We never see him in school, going to school, coming home from school, making mention of school or doing homework! He's also not home schooled. Why doesn't Officer Mooney say anything about him not being in school?

Then I thought--maybe all the episodes take place in the summer months, but there's Christmas episodes. Very Odd.

[tiredmike59]

I saw an episode where Mr.Wilson attended school with him.

[old grouch]

Maybe he was expelled. :lol:

[retroTVfan4ever]

The TV show stayed true to the format of the Dennis comics. In the comics, Dennis wasn't quite school age yet, about 5 years old. So the TV show went with the same format, although Jay North was obviously old enough to be school age.

For several reasons, I think the Dennis comics are better than the TV show. I've always thought the TV show should have matched the comics and been animated instead of using real life human actors.

[McGillicuddy]

OK, I finally saw an episode that indicates Dennis goes to school. In the intro to the episode, "Dennis Goes to Camp" (sea.2), Dennis comes home from school at lunch time and announces he's home early because his teacher got sick.

[retroTVfan4ever]

So there is at least one episode that strays from the comics and makes a mention of Dennis attending school. But is there an episode where scenes actually take place at school in the classroom with Dennis and other kids? I imagine it's possible but I don't recall seeing one.

[tazz765]

I believe the Season 2 episode Pythias Was a Piker shows Dennis in school reading an essay he wrote about his "best friend" Mr. Wilson.

[Hazel Anyday]

There's also an episode where Dennis gets in trouble because the teacher is short and thinks Dennis is making fun of him, another episode where the classroom is putting on a play and Mr. Wilson plays a cowboy, also an episode where Dennis makes a film project of the town for his classroom and shows it at school. There are several episodes that involve school.

[McGillicuddy]

There was no indication that he went to school, in season 1. But yes, now in season 2, I see there's alot of episodes involving school.

[retroTVfan4ever]

There's also an episode where Dennis gets in trouble because the teacher is short and thinks Dennis is making fun of him, another episode where the classroom is putting on a play and Mr. Wilson plays a cowboy, also an episode where Dennis makes a film project of the town for his classroom and shows it at school. There are several episodes that involve school.

So there are a few episodes where Dennis attends school. That's good to know, I had always thought the series kept the format of the Dennis comics which had Dennis not yet attending school.

[gilligan fanatic]

I never even noticed he wasn't-lol

[Hazel Anyday]

I've watched Dennis for years and knew many episodes involved school. I also prefer, by far, the live b/w Dennis shows over the animated Dennis. The cartoon Dennis was meant for kids, whereas the b/w live Dennis was written to be genuinly funny and with comic situations with great character actors and classic situations. The 2 (toon and b/w show) really can not be compared, they're 2 different beasts.

[retroTVfan4ever]

While the TV show has it's funny moments, to me it's basically a watered down version of the Dennis comic books. When comparing the two, in my opinion the Dennis comics are zanier and funnier than the TV show.

[comedyfreak]

You can only do so much with tv it's a sitcom not a comic. I prefer the tv show for the comedy and great character actors plus the wardrope and cars from that era.