"A Charlie Brown Christmas" - Talkback: 12/8 @ 8/7c on ABC

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tinner67

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Here we are once again, as we come to the Peanuts special that is pretty much the most embraced and popular, with Great Pumpkin a close second. Commercialization, sermons, and looped dance scenes make this one a classic all around.

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The dance scene's easily my favorite part of the whole special---the dances were ridiculous but hilarious (Freida merely waving her arms back and forth... Shermy doing a Frankenstein-dance... etc.).

The rest of the special's also pretty funny (various scenes of Lucy being, well, Lucy, Sally asking for "10s and 20s" for Christmas, etc.).
 
I missed the Halloween special, had to miss half the second act and the ending of the Thanksgiving one because of my dog's incredibly small bladdar, and now I forget the Christmas special... AGAIN

I REALLY need to get these DVDs, don't I?
 
I always seem to miss this special when it comes on so this year I decided to buy the DVD just a few days ago. I hadn't seen it in a few years and I forgot how lighthearted and sweet it is. I've always loved Charlie Browns explaintion when he put the ornament on the skinny little tree. "I've killed it!" and like everyone else I agree that that dance scene is a bit silly, but its got great music to it.
 
Until I bought the DVD about a month ago, I hadn't watched this one for a few years. I'd forgotten how great it is, and why 99% of the time, it's considered the best Peanuts special. I also assumed that the wonderful, special atmosphere I remembered from it was more part of my own childhood than the special itself, but I was delighted to find that it was just as fun, warm and Christmas-y as I remembered it. Everything's great in it, the music, voices, story, even the crude animation has a special charm that I think the later specials drifted away from pretty quickly.
 
I forgot about it, but I have it on DVD. I will defently watch it on DVD soon, and maybe ABC will reair it, like they always do.
 
I was actually able to catch the special last night thanks to the fact that they didn't air it on a Tuesday, one of my class days. I always do get a kick out of their dancing. I remember that's how I wanted to dance after watching this special and other Peanuts moments. I also liked seeing Snoopy play the guitar and pretend to be all of those different animals. Linus's speech near the end was great and the ending was as touching as always. It's definitely the best Peanuts special in my opinion. I'll be looking foreword to watching the next Peanuts Christmas special they're having next week, even though it isn't nearly as good as the classic Christmas special.
 
Which one? Aren't there, like, five Peanuts Christmas specials? I like It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown. Not quite as good as the first one, even though my memories for It's Christmastime Again go further back than for the "classic" one (I had It's Christmastime Again on a tape that I got at the gas station ages ago.) It's Christmastime Again was just a bunch of strips stitched together, but they did it in such a cohesive fashion that it worked well.
 
I'm not sure if they're playing two like they did for last night, but they're airing the special where Rerun wants a dog for Christmas. I remember watching that and it was fun. They also had Christmas Greetings, or something like that title, on right after the classic Peanuts special last night.
 
You said it--Shermy looks like a zombie, Freda looks like a Hooters cheer leader, Sally looks like she's running,the twin girls look like wig wag signals Violet looks like she's sniffing her armpits and that dude in the yellow shirt looks like a puppet on a string; only Linus seems to move to the beat.
 
That dude in the yellow shirts name is 5, and the two twins are named 3 and 4, and of course are also 5's sisters. They were introduced in the 1960s, where they were mostly significant in their introductory storyline. 5 explained that his father gave the family numbers instead of names. 3 and 4 didn't make many appearances after they debuted, and their only other appearance in a Peanuts special was You're in Love, Charlie Brown.
 
This is the quintessential Christmas special, I remember watching this when I was a kid and I've seen it every year since. Everyone should enjoy this classic during the holidays :)
 
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