I finally had the time to go through the archives as I've been meaning to do since Dr Rogers said "absolutely not." I found what I was looking for here, at strip #127. It appears that Jim is already incurring Dr. Rogers' disapproval, with a gift that the Doctor considers a tired, unfunny joke. In the previous strip he also expresses a lack of friendliness towards Jim:
"
"How nice to have the whole family together again!"
"Hello, Mr Rogers!"
"...and Jim."
I didn't realize at the time that Josie's father was DOCTOR Rogers. For Jim to call him MISTER Rogers in order to perpetuate a lame joke definitely could be construed as disrespectful. Of course Jim didn't mean his approach to be any sort of disrespect. If he didn't respect Josie's dad, he wouldn't have bothered asking for his permission to marry her! Still, I can understand why the matter would have created an undercurrent of festering annoyance in the Doctor's mind.
I also wonder whether Dr Rogers might have a degree of disapproval over Jim and Josie's rather Bohemian lifestyle. They produce pornographic movies; they have sex with a 16 year old girl (and have apparently been doing so for at least a year); the prom where Jim was chaperoning recently ended with the school's roof being partially destroyed and with an after-prom orgy, involving some of the students, at the chaperone's house. This is a small enough town that word gets around, and doctors often hear more about what's going on than most. Especially after prom night.
What surprised me in re-reading this strip was that it was Dr Rogers asking Jim when he was going to give him a grandchild! This hardly seems like something that someone who is opposed to their marriage would say. Have Jim and Josie's antics since she returned home changed his mind? Or is there something deeper going on?
I finally had the time to go through the archives as I've been meaning to do since Dr Rogers said "a