The Patterson work ethic: Rest is for the weak....

One thing you can't deny about the Patterson family; once they find something they love to do, it's hard to get them to stop doing it. Mike's burning the midnight oil for the sake of his 'art' is just an example of this. John, for instance, spends most of the time he doesn't devote to tinkering with his model trains planning track layouts. Elly has her love of preparing and eating greasy, high-caloric foods to drive her. Liz spends too much time going over lesson plans to clean her apartment. April isn't immune from this either; given the amount of time and effort she spent vilifying Becky, we can safely say it was her thing. Watching all this obsessive behavior play out reminds me of watching a hamster spinning around in an exercise wheel; both the Pattersons and the rodent confuse forward motion with progress. It's no good teling a Patterson to to a break from whatever it is they're doing, either: taking a breather goes against the grain. Besides, they, like their creator, think they'll have plenty of time to rest when they're dead.