ABC Commits Blasphemy (Cuts from a Charlie Brown Xmas)

[fishy!]

If you want a reason why ABC should leave A Charlie Brown Xmas as it is (i.e. give it more time to show it in its entirety), just look at the list at what was cut from the special.

-Everything that takes place between Charlie Brown talking to Violet to him walking to Lucy doctor booth.
-The entire scene where Sally asks Charlie Brown to write a letter to Santa.
-Shermy's comment about how he plays a shepherd every year.
-The bit where Schroeder chooses some of Beethoven's works as music for the Xmas play.
-The bit where Lucy asks Schroeder if he can play Jingle Bells.

I've already sent a complaint letter to ABC about the unneeded cuts that they had to do a Charlie Brown Xmas just to fit it into a half-hour.

 

[Toreno]

Oh good lord. I'm glad I skipped it this year. They really couldn't find an hour long time slot for this?

Pathetic.

 

[Paul UK]

I heard we were supposed to get the hour long version last week, but as you know, it got interrupted by the Presidential Speech.

 

[pandaa]

Cramming a half-hour? No surprise...

 

[costescu_andrei1975]

Just to let you know, the hour-long version will air next week.

 

[Flare 89]

We've been getting a "cut" version of the Charlie Brown Xmas special for years. The original was sponsored by Coca Cola, and there were in-show ad's for Coke (when Linus is ice skating at the opening and he crashes, he acctually crashes into a Coca Cola billboard)

SO yeah... we have had the "cut" version since the original airings in 1965, 1966, and 1967.

But yeah... the edits they did this year are completely unneccessary.

 

[Mr Doesright]

When I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, A Charlie Brown Christmas fit in a half-hour broadcast without requiring any of the cuts mentioned. It may run a few minutes longer than the usual 22 minutes of a normal show these days, and I can see that ad space for CBXMas would command a premium, but I still don't see why it would need to be padded out to an hour or get cut that drastically for a half-hour's worth of broadcast time.

Oh, well. I own the DVD, so the need to watch the special on TV drops dramatically.

 

[Buddafly]

It was even worse: the sound was out of sync. You might not have been able to tell with the limited animation, but it was most noticable when Charlie Brown suddenly mouthed "THAT'S IT!!" a half-second before he actually said it.

Have they indeed rescheduled the hour version? I hope so.

 

[Tessa Lynn]

Oh, I noticed as early as the conversation between Charlie Brown and Lucy. Appalling, really.

 

[Star!]

I know for a time from 1970's until the mid 1990's the scene where some Peanuts kids throw snowballs at a tin can and Linus knocks it down with his blanket and Lucy complaining to Linus "What are you going to do with that blanket when you grow up?" and Linus replies "Maybe I'll make it into a sport coat." was cut out for more commercial time in the CBS A.C.B.C. airings.

ABC has done edited 30 minute versions of the Peanuts specials - "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown", "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown", "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown", "Charlie Brown's All Stars", and "This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers" in the past.

 

[crawil_bunny!!]

I definitely understand being upset about a show airing with cuts. But look at the bright side: it's available on dvd - http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Brown...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1260368700&sr=8-1

 

[Kunmui]

Yeah, it was one of the reasons as to why I decided to play Super Mario Kart and come back to ABC for the new special that was airing. That and it all seemed too quick for me.

 

[Emylee]

UNFORGIVEABLE! ABC really dropped the ball on this...thanfully I have an old VHS copy somewhere (now all I need to do is get my VCR out of the attic.)

But yea this deffinantly P.O.s me. May Snoopy have mercy on there souls.:evil::radda:

 

[starlette]

This is almost as bad as when TBS played two scenes of School of Rock incorrectly. I cant say I'm surprised. After all, ABC made:

 

[Zoee<3]

More desperate for the revenue from commercials, that's why the cuts. More commercials = More money for idiots.

 

[Amaya Sakaruta]

Do you think they made all those cuts, because of the special that aired after it?

 

[yamam]

I own the DVD so it doesn't really matter to me. At least they are playing the uncut version later.

 

[deangelashante]

Man, just when I post in another topic about how I'm glad they're still showing this Christmas special after all these years, ABC goes and murders it just in time for the holiday season. I think most everyone would have rather watched the full-length special instead of the President's speech about an unpopular war, and I can't see how ABC thinks this will help their ratings. :shrug:

 

[Ess 94]

It doesn't really matter what ratings the President's speech gets, they don't sell ads during it.

 

[tendlich37]

A few things:

1. As Master Moron mentioned, the President's speech wouldn't have affected the ratings anyway (given how the speech was aired commercial-free on all the major channels).

2. Even if A Charlie Brown Christmas did air last week instead of the President's speech, it would have still been the "butchered" half-hour version (as that and Prep and Landing were originally scheduled for last week).

3. As I mentioned earlier in the post, the hour-long version of the special will air next week.