I saw that it was on but didn’t watch it.
Those cartoons are total bummers and not funny or entertaining in the least! Charlie Brown has some serious depression issues. Charles Schulz had some mental issues and it shines through in his work.
The other Peanuts kids are mean spirited little pricks. But let’s be honest, it’s hard not to pick on a schlep like CB. He’s pretty much just asking for it!
So, here’s what I was thinking. I came to Canada from the UK when I was 6. My parents had no concept of what traditional Christmas specials were or what we should watch, so I never really watched any originally. Eventually I saw The Grinch, and Rudolph and at some point Frosty, but my dad ruled the TV and we weren’t accustomed to these traditional shows. I watched “It’s Wonderful Life” for the first time a year or two ago.
I didn’t grow up with these. I never watched Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers or any of the kids’ shows that were popular; we didn’t know about them, or care for that matter.
I loved Saturday morning Loony Tunes though, because that’s when the kids got to pick the entertainment while my parents were still in bed.
It’s only been the last couple of years, after my separation, that I’ve started trying to backtrack and watch what the rest of you have watched all along. I bought “A Christmas Story” a couple of years ago and loved it!
So, there you go.
You mean like the Toy Story [del]30 minute toy commercial[/del] special that was on just before “A Charlie Brown Christmas”?
All true, pkbites, but let’s sit back and enjoy that happy, glorious show-stopper, Christmas Time is Here! It’s sure to bring out the suicidal side of all of us. : old rolleyes :
Yeah, this. I don’t think anyone who didn’t grow up before the age of VCRs (let alone streaming video on demand) and kids cable channels understands how special “specials” really were.
You are entitled to your opinion. I disagree. It and Karloff’s Grinch are classics.
Huh! I stand corrected. In my mind, she will always be The One And Only Lucy.
Looking over her filmography, I see she was also in Blondie, which I had forgotten.
In 1969, which was also the year she did ST:TOS, she would have been ten. I thought she was more like 12 or 13 at the time.
Minor correction: “And the Children Shall Lead” was filmed and first aired in 1968. It was the fifth episode of TOS’s third season.
I think that today we have become so used to people complaining about how commercial Christmas is that we forget that when A Charlie Brown Christmas came out that was a novel enough thought to be the main theme of a show. Aluminum trees (with the lighted rotating color wheels aimed them) and first generation plastic trees were becoming wildly popular. Schulz commenting on the commercialization of Christmas resonated with people then in a way that looks quaint and old-fashioned today. Linus saying, “Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?” was really a funny line at the time.
http://www.vice.com/read/we-all-live-in-a-constant-state-of-existential-dread-charlie-brown
" But Peanuts at it’s best wasn’t about fun or the power of the imagination. It was about how the world is a grim place where you fail over and over again, and then you die."
For me, music defines how “good” TV or film is. So CBC is great.
But apart from that, it has a special kind of hopeful Christmas feel, because it runs against type and has an ending that is not broken. An ending that is not dis-functional. And to appreciate that, you have to appreciate that when you saw Charlie Brown, you were expecting and fearing real life, which is broken and dysfunctional like a Peanuts cartoon strip.
The Christmas concert was going to be lame, because a Christmas concert put together by a bunch of kids is always lame. And Charlie Brown and all his class-mates (I won’t call them friends) are lame anyway. And you can see the whole thing falling apart. And then…
His kite doesn’t get caught in the tree. Lucy doesn’t snatch away the football. His dog doesn’t snub him. For once, it actually turns out all right in the last frame.
It’s Christmas.
Exactly.
Yes, but that’s also what makes it depressing. The best you can hope for is that the world doesn’t suck for a short period of time.
[Voice of Linus]: You’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem!
Did anyone see the ACBC anniversary special they did a few years ago hosted by Woopie Goldberg? It was interesting as they told the history of the show and had the former child actors come back and read their old lines.
Did you know, believe it or not, in 1965 religion was rarely put into network tv and the whole “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” thing at the end was actually quite controversial. BTW, the last song still gives me chills at the innocence and sincerity of the children.
Back in 1965 when it first aired, TV executives were certain it was too religious.
(Luke insertion mine)
From an article by Lee Habeeb, The Gospel According to Peanuts, How A Charlie Brown Christmas almost didn’t happen:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/284093/gospel-according-peanuts-lee-habeeb/page/0/1
Oh, yeah. Even then, they didn’t want to “offend” anybody. :rolleyes:
You just made me think of something…I was pondering about how in “Bread and Circuses” (ST:TOS) at the end when everyone got gushy when they realized the natives didn’t worship the sun, but rather “The Son”. And how Spock DIDN’T say, “Oh, so instead of one hooey religion they have a different one!”
Then I realized what bothered me so much about that DS:9 episode where half the staff runs off on a suicide mission so that Dax can get into Klingon heaven (???)…the episode Barely makes sense cause it’s hidden behind Klingon mysticism, but what if say…O’Brian died. And half the staff runs off back to Earth to find the goddamn Holy Grail so Miles can go to Avalon? Same thing, right?
…man that episode was stupid. and right in the middle of a war too.
Edit: And while I’m ranting…what’s so great about the Goddamn Undying Lands anyway?? The Hobbits do realize that it’s going to be them, Gandalf and a bunch of Elves, right? Wouldn’t you rather die amongst your friends than spend another hundred years among Elves in Elfland?
In ST:TOS’s Bread and Circuses, at the end when Uhura points out it’s not the sun in the sky they’re worshiping but rather the Son of God, did Spock say anything? Was there a punch line, by Spock or anybody else? I’ve seen the episode but can’t remember, it’s been so long.
Oh, man, as a child of the 80s, I was Pavlovianly conditioned by that spinning CBS “A Special Presentation” logo to feel great excitement in expectation of a Peanuts special. Every once I. Awhile, it was a different, non-Peanuts special that was on, and I’d be greatly disappointed.
Mortals don’t last long in the “Goddamn Undying Lands”, so I’m sure Bilbo embraced the Gift of Iluvatar not long after arrival, dying amongst his pals Gandalf and Elrond. All his hobbit peers were long dead by that time anyway. He liked to travel, so what better way to go out, as opposed to returning to his native village, which he left decades earlier.
Frodo would have lasted a while longer, also hanging out with his immortal buds until his demise. Touring Avalonnë, climbing Kortirion, and checking out the house of 100 chimneys while being feted by various Eldar and the occasional Maiar, and possibly even a Vala or two has got to be better than expiring in Hobbiton, amidst the aromas of pigshit, badly vented chimneys, and unwashed other hobbits, IMHO. Besides, Vanyar maidens are easy (on the eyes at least). 