Dennis the Menace Forums

My 4 years old daughter just found Dennis the Menace on Netflix. I watched this show as a child.It was not ever in my top 10 but I did enjoy it. In those days you only had 3 options. But after seeing interviews by Jay North and other case members on what all Jay North went though and how he was abused by his aunt and uncle I cannot enjoy the show at all. All I see is a child who is being mistreated and a cast who knew about it but did nothing. And I don't want to hear that times were not the same then as they are today. I catch myself looking for signs that maybe someone could have picked up.

Actually, the real life "Dennis the Menace", Hank Ketcham's son, had it hard too. He had numerous behavioral problems (these day they'd probably have diagnosed him with ADHD and doped him with Ritalin) and was a problem child. Dennis Ketcham and his father became estranged for some years. Then when he became a father, the younger Ketcham and his daughter never got along. I watched both this and the animated version growing up, and enjoyed the DtM strip for years, never realizing its humor came from such a sad place.