This half-hour Christmas show is one of the truly lovable animated specials in TV history, a status proved by its annual network telecast since 1965. A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first, and best, of a series of programs based on the Charles M. Schulz cartoon strip “Peanuts.” Hapless hero Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at Christmastime, searching for the true meaning of the holiday amidst the glitz and commercialism of the modern age. Appointed director of the school holiday pageant, Charlie Brown ventures out with Linus to buy “a great, big, shiny aluminum Christmas tree.” Instead they bring back a miserable tree–a real one. A Charlie Brown Christmas shows off the “Peanuts” gang doing what they do best: Lucy is bossy, Snoopy is crazy, Linus is sweet, and Pig Pen is, well, filthy. Instead of using adult actors trying to sound like kids, the production features real children providing the voices, an endearing effect. The jazz music score, composed by Vince Guaraldi, has become a classic in its own right; like so much about this program, it’s an unexpected but perfectly right choice.
There really were aluminum Christmas trees back then. There were also pink frosted trees with some really psychedelic decorations, too.
I’ve watched this every year since I was a child. I used to stare up at the TV while CBS played that “SPECIAL” graphic and music and then . . . there it was: The Charlie Brown Christmas special!
Now that I’m an adult, my schedule has almost made me miss the show each Christmas season. But now that I have the video, I will never miss it! A friend of mine even gave me the cassette of Vince Guaraldi’s musical score to go along with it. Hooray!
I’m always touched by the message in the story. Christmas is too commercial. It pains me to see Christmas stuff in the stores before school starts, or to see commercials pandering to children so their parents can buy more stuff. But watching Charlie Brown and the gang reminds me of a simpler time.
Snoopy, with his gaudily decorated dog house, represents all that’s commercial and greedy about Christmas. Charlie Brown tries to overcome that with his involvement in the school play and his search for the right Christmas tree to set the mood for the play cast members.
I love this show. I heard that ABC bought the rights away from CBS for all the Charlie Brown specials. But I’m glad I have my video copy so now I don’t have to worry about whether it airs or not.
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown! “Christmastime is here. Happiness and cheer.” And for Peanuts fans everywhere, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without this classic holiday delight. Christmas lights may be twinkling red and green, but Charlie Brown has the Yuletide blues. To get in the holiday spirit, he takes Lucy’s advice and directs the Christmas play. And what’s a Christmas play without a Christmas tree? But everyone makes fun of the short, spindly “nevergreen” Charlie Brown brings back – until the real meaning of Christmas works its magic once again in this Remastered Deluxe Edition with Improved Picture and Audio. Happy Holidays.
