I’ve never seen any of the “holiday specials” kids talked about when I was young. Perhaps this is the year to start.
I’m happy to see that for the first time ever on ABC, The Great Pumpkin will be shown uncut- ABC is airing in an hour time-slot (as they have for A Charlie Brown Christmas over the past five years). The remainder of the hour will be filled by another Peanuts special, You’re (Not) Elected, Charlie Brown, which features one of my favorite Linus quotes of all time: “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss in public- religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
Well, as the Great Pumpkin is [an aspect of] religion, that’s really only two things…
My wife surprised me with the DVD. I find it interesting that the DVD also has “You’re not elected Charlie Brown” on it.
Both great.
My two older kids don’t care for Snoopy and the Gang, but I’m gonna work harder on the youngest. hehehe…
For me, it marked the beginning of Fall and all the fun holidays. Halloween, then Thanksgiving (then my birthday) and then Christmas! Hooray!
I have great memory of The Great Pumpkin.
(Although when I was really little I didn’t understand why Linus didn’t wise up after being disappointed the year before.
I’ve never seen the “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown” special, I’ll have to stay tuned for that one.
The little happy dance Charlie Brown does when he gets his invitation to the Halloween party has me in stitches every time. In my family, we do that dance whenever something good happens.
Yay! (off to set my Tivo to record it.)
October 27, to be exact- the same date ABC is airing it this year. The 40th-anniversary book I mentioned reprints some nice trade-paper ads for the special, depicting Snoopy as the WWI Flying Ace with the caption “For your consideration as Emmy nominee for Best Actor of the Year,” and a funny ad with Lucy announcing that the special had tied Bonanza for first place in the Nielsen ratings: “Good grief, Charlie Brown, you tied Hoss!”
I know what you mean – whenever I’d see that bumper, I’d get the oddest little nervous/excited feeling in my stomach. Something fun was coming up!
And with that in mind … enjoy. 
I am in a minority here but since they have started publishing the “Peanuts” collection books from the 50s of every single strip in order I am less and less liking the current stuff.
Charles Schulz was a lot funnier before Charlie Brown became a blog of self pity and Snoopy and "Peppermint " Patty took over the strip. The original Charlie Brown was a loser but had a backbone and wasn’t a bit afraid to call Lucy a “fussbudget,” and we often see him chasing her. While the 60s were not bad the way Charlie Brown always went on about himself as a loser, looking back on it now I see why people gave him a rock.
By the 70s Schulz was in full swing on capitalizing on fads, that is why the strip after the late 60s is so dated. I think another reason is Schulz once said he got a lot of his ideas for the strips from his kids and as they grew up, Schulz got unfunnier.
But as specials goes this one wasn’t bad, but as for the Thanksgiving special I felt like saying “Why doesn’t Charlie Brown, tell ‘Peppermint’ Patty to go to hell.”
I mostly agree with this. By the 70’s, it seems to me, the majority of the strips emphasized the “cute” aspects of the cast, and we began to see way too much of Snoopy and Woodstock, along with Spike and other such unfunny characters. The angst that made the early stuff seem so original was mostly gone from Schulz’s repertoire.
But the early stuff rules! I’ll be tuning in.
I agree too. But what would you rather read? 80’s Peanuts, or Family Circus, or gag, Cathy?
Peanuts’ heyday was definitely the 60s. I think the strongest 70s strips — the ones that are the least dated and the truest to the strip’s roots — are actually the ones with Peppermint Patty; she had that same loser-but-with-guts quality that Charlie Brown had.
1 more day until the Great Pumpkin!
I got a rock!
Thanks, choie! Funny how a little thing like that can make you feel good…