ok, good. Sometimes I'll get to typing a thought and it comes out less understandable than I'd like.

I agree with you that the show doesn't need to be happy-go-lucky, but it does need to be entertaining. If the writers want to torture the characters, at least make me laugh in the process.

Hey, I think they're trying. We can't expect them to get every episode right, you know. Even the best shows have a few "lemons" or "duds" every now and then.

I didn't know we had a kissing Frankie icon = :-*

It's a tribute to the writers, animators, and Grey DeLisle; that they've created a character in Frankie that fans are able to care about, to whatever extent.

It's also an obstacle to overcome, as they have to be careful how they use her in the show.

In any event, the Foster's crew has done a great job making her a very human character (a very believable one). I appreciate that in a cartoon.

Yeah, that's true. I know they are trying, but I hold the show to such a high standard because I know they can do so well.

and I thought that icon was Frankie whistling, but now that you mention it.

A lot of the fans, anyway. There are, unfortunately, some people who have no regard for her at all. Some of the garbage posted as "stories" on ff.net and other sites proves it. The rest of the characters get attacked there, too. It's enough to make me want to cry sometimes. :(

Those people who write trash about Foster's on ff.net -- do they call themselves fans? And if they don't, then why do they want to destroy something that many other people love? Can't they just leave it be?

They can call themselves whatever they want, but they're not fans. A true fan doesn't treat the characters he or she claims to care about in that manner, be it torturing them, forcing then into relationships that would never happen, whatever, it's not the actions of a fan. I certainly don't do such things with my Foster's Sims; I do everything I can to make them happy and I don't interfere with their lives any more than the game requires. It doesn't say much about a person when they get their kicks from tormenting cartoon characters. It really ticks me off.

never been to ff.net, so I'm not sure exactly what y'all are talking about. I would hope that people have better things to do than write disturbing stories using characters that other people created, I probably hope too much...

You don't want to go there. Trust me.

Okay. Once in a while, there's a good story, but you can't tell if it's good or bad just by reading the title or the summary. So it's best to stay away from ff.net altogether.

"To whatever extent" is very right. There are many casual fans who don't care at all about who gets shafted and whether or not it was justified, as they view it a light and silly kids cartoon and want to enjoy it on that level(I have nothing against them, BTW).

But a diehard fan like me, somebody who deeply sympathizes with Frankie, and often wonders about unanswered aspects of her background and history(Her parents, etc) which will probably never be answered as they'd be a little too dramatic for the show(Unless they give her a movie like they are about to do with Wilt)... it greatly affects how I view her, and how I react to the things that happens to her, good and bad.

Let's just say it's been a LONG time since I've become as attached to a fictional character as I am with Frankie. There are a few others, but just a very few. And Frankie's become one of them.