Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine New PEANUTS special on TV this Friday

I know a lot of folks around here listed Charles Schulz's Peanuts strip as one of their all time favorites (whether "now" or when you were a kid). I thought I'd make sure everyone who cares knows that there is an all new Peanuts special on ABC this Friday, Aug 29th at 9pm (I'm PST, so adjust your times accordingly).

It's called " Lucy Must be Traded, Charlie Brown " and is about C.B. trying to set up a winning baseball team. Click the link for a more complete synopsis.

Here's hoping that the folks in charge of Peanuts animation specials keep the magic alive, and do Schulz' memory proud!!

Ooh, it sounds like it could be really fun.

Even when Shulz was still alive, he penned a few direct-to-video specials that, um, were pretty bad. I'll keep my fingers crossed for this one.

Eric

You're right. The later stuff wasn't as stellar. How do you compare with Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Great Pumpkin. They are like, legendary IMHO.

We'll see on Friday I guess...

Looking forward to this!!!

I wish it were better, but it recycled comic-strip dialogue and plots from about a decade ago. My brother commented on this before we even picked up the "TV Guide" to read the very same fact in the Close-Up. Even the animation was recycled within itself -- how many times can you show Chuck's losing his clothes on an over-the-mound line drive?

We were bored by it, and that's sad, because we've followed the Peanuts specials fairly well since we saw "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on its first appearance in 1965. We turned over to a Britcom on the PBS channel before it ended.

I believe the Peanuts realm ought to be wound down, gracefully yet unmistakably. It had lost its creative spark even before Sparky Schulz died. Unfortunately, with its still being the generator of tens of millions of dollars annually, too many are making a livelihood from it for them to stop milking it very soon.

Overall I was disappointed, and having followed the strip for so many years it was obvious to me that they were tying together old baseball strips. The "comics page rehashing" seems to be their formula for the last two or three specials (at least) have gone: the updated "Christmas" special last season, and the additional Valentine's episode as well.

My boys liked it, as they never read the old strips, and we actually laughed outloud once, when Lucy fell off the wall as the baseball beaned her and Charlie Brown asked Shroeder, "Do you think there's any way we can get the ball back, and leave her on that side of that fence?" Unfortunately that hearty laugh was all we had during the half hour.

In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, "Sigh".


I just remembered being disappointed when they announced the scheduling of Peanuts Classics as Schulz retired. They said they would begin as of 1972, as most of the cast was established by that point, and it would be familiar to more readers that way. I thought they should have gone much farther back, as I fondly remember reading compilated strip books from the late 50's and 60's, with Linus as a baby, and later Sally as a baby. Why even fussbudget Lucy was noticably smaller than Charlie Brown, Violet, and Patty (not Peppermint Patty) when she was first introduced. Those were definitely "the classics", and I think the strip was truly heartfelt and alive back then, it would be nice if others could see that.

At this point, I'll have to content myself with the Peanuts video classics. Not many Christmas cartoons can affect me the way the original good ol' Charlie Brown one does.


And before I go, has anyone noticed the change in energy and flow of Family Circus over the past year or so? Bill Keane's son Jeff ("little Jeffy" from the strips, all grown up in real life now) does the comic with his dad now, and you can tell Jeff has more recent exposure to small ones running through the house. It's gotten quite cute and clever again!! Nice to see!! Of course, being that I have young ones running through my house, I can relate to it better than I could have a decade ago (would that be "pre-booties" for me?).

Oh, frell! I forgot to set the VCR when we hit the road for dinner and some grocery shopping (we're hosting a birthday party -- we don't always go grocery shopping on Friday night; how pathetic would that be? ) At least it doesn't sound like I missed much.

It does seem to be a bit brighter. I wonder if I would get in trouble if I posted the best Family Circus ever. When I worked at a newspaper in Oklahoma eight years ago, we were close to going to press when the syndicate pulled the next day's strip. I saved it and have it at my desk at work. I was disappointed because it had to be the funniest Family Circus I had ever read, and it had been ages since I'd laughed at the strip. Dolly's holding her doll over the toilet, and the caption is "In the name of the father, the son, and into the hole you goes." (The beginning may not be quite right, but that's how it ends. I swear.)

Eric