The unbearable melancholy of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

I LOVE it. Watched it today with momma. We’ve been cooking and watching Christmas movies and specials.

Best Christmas special ever made.

It's funny you should mention this, OP. I watched it this morning on AppleTV+ and thought, "Man, this is depressing. Why did I love this so much as a kid?"

The music is great, though.

I agree, OP. I would use the word masterpiece!

The show properly shows a world in despair that needs an understanding of the gospel.

Peppermint Patty at the Nativity NO LESBIANS NEAR BABY JESUS PLEASE .

The first time I saw it my mom and I were at my brother's apartment babysitting his first child. We loved it. It seemed then like one of the best things t.v. ever produced and it still holds up, as does this happy memory.

This really is the most honest Christmas special out there and is emblematic of the time it was made it. It’s interesting to see how regressive our culture has become in many ways.

I remember watching this show repeatedly as a child. Over the years, I did find it to be grim but I so totally related to Charlie Brown in many ways, I just thought it was normal.

Franklin, sit at the other table please.

The only Christmas Special worth watching. I grew up in sunny California and was always envious of the SNOW!

If I received that Peanuts nativity set, I would display it year round

The ending always makes me tear up: Charlie Brown seeing his pitiful Christmas tree transformed, all the Peanuts gang shouting "MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!" and then all of them breaking ou into an exuberant rendition of "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" as snowflakes come falling down.

Just came across this a few minutes ago...

I loved the voices. They were real amateur kids, not actors. They didn’t over-emote and have cute squeaky cartoon voices. It was genius how the adults were womp-womp trombones.

I watched it as a 10 year old in 1965 when it debuted and I remember we all talked about it the next day at school.

You have to remember that the "Peanuts" comic strip had a subversive air about it in the 50s and early 60s. We understood "Peanuts" and the grim aspect of the special was to be expected.

It was an era when kids TV shows were things things like "The Adams Family" and "The Munsters".

We read "Mad" magazine too.

Even many Saturday morning cartoons had a sardonic edge to them.

I’ve always hated Peanuts 🤷🏼‍♂️ Never enjoyed the strip or tv specials as a kid, and feel the same now. Just always found them insipid.

Even back in the 1960s, quoting the bible on TV was controversial.

Imagine a character reading from the Bible on prime time TV in 2020. Millions would be triggered by the literal violence of hearing those words.

Charles Schulz suffered from depression and it comes out sometimes in his cartoons. It’s realistic. I love the Peanuts Christmas special, I’ve watched it for years every Christmastime (except this one because it didn’t feel like Christmas.)

Vince Guaraldi’s music adds so much to it, too.

Very amateurish play but for some reason I really like the protrayal of Charlie and Linus.

How many pharmaceutical companies were inspired to create anti-depressants due to A Charlie Brown Christmas?

It's a true classic. My husband and I watch it every year, and as it cues up, I always think, "Oh God, Really..." and then it starts and its magical and funny and wise all over again. It's so funny to watch some of the stop/action mistakes, but there's something simply marvelous about it. And that soundtrack...Christ. And if you ever doubted Linus was gay, "Lights please" gives you that answer.

[quote]Even back in the 1960s, quoting the bible on TV was controversial.

What? Where did you ever get that idea?

I'm not religious at all, but I always appreciated Linus's reading of the Bible verse.

Schulz fought to keep it in.

I think kids at that time loved it because in many ways America was still football heroes and beauty queens. The Peanuts kids are the clumsy kids, the small kids, the too-smart kids, the artistic and or gay kids, and even the bossy kids no one likes. Everybody identifies as one or more of those except real cunts.

[quote]I loved the voices. They were real amateur kids, not actors. They didn’t over-emote and have cute squeaky cartoon voices

It should be noted that the Peanuts gang were first shown in animation in 1960 in a series of Ford commercials for the new Ford Falcon.

And children's voices were used sounding much like the 1965 special.

R23 on the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD, there is a special "making of" bonus feature. Melendez (the director) talks about when he sent the finished show to the network. They told him to take the scene of Linus quoting the bible out, because it was too controversial.

Luckily, because of the success of Great Pumpkin, Schultz had been able to negotiate total creative control over the Christmas special. He told the network that the scene stays in, or you don't get the show (and you still have to pay us).

I thought that was the best part, and I wasn’t religious.

They weren’t just throwing it in there, the point was that crass commercialism is not what Christmas is about, and you have a choice to celebrate Christmas simply and non-commercially for what it is. You don’t have to make it a commercial buying frenzy just because advertisers say so.

Considering all the hysteria this year of people refusing to acknowledge they needed to downsize Christmas because of Covid, it’s a really appropriate message this year. Christmas is not about the latest gadget or the biggest tree. And people get so frazzled trying to make everything perfect, they need somebody to tell them to let it go, because hardly anybody ever does tell them that. It’s always, how can we outdo ourselves this year? Just unnecessary stress added to what should be an enjoyable holiday.

I used to read Peanuts as a kid in the sixties and seventies. It had a very low key but thoughtful tone, similar to Doonesbury. It was a lot of social commentary. Mostly about life being stressful and people being unreasonable, and you have to navigate yourself through a bunch of people wanting to pressure you, and still be true to yourself. Charlie Brown was Everyman, a stand-in for Charles Schultz. It was adult commentary being carried by kids.

The dancing was everything.

The last time I watched it, it was on a cable channel that had removed Linus's speech about commercialism so they could have more commercials. It was like a bad joke.

[quote]Even back in the 1960s, quoting the bible on TV was controversial... Imagine a character reading from the Bible on prime time TV in 2020. Millions would be triggered by the literal violence of hearing those words.

Climb down off the cross, R18. Somebody needs the wood.

When I was a kid (mid to late 1970's), any Charlie Brown special was a call to pop a bunch of popcorn and the entire family sit together and watch. Our family died one by one from various illnesses and the Christmas special became too much for my aunt and me to watch. My senior year of high school, I played Charlie Brown in a production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It wasn't a pleasant experience and those negative memories soured my childhood love of "Peanuts".

It took awhile, but we began watching the specials again when they were released on dvd, multiple times in fact, for each holiday. But it didn't take long before the melancholy and "downer" aspect took hold again and the show became too depressing to watch. We now find ourselves watching "A Muppet Family Christmas", The Smurfs Christmas, and Ed,Edd,and Eddy instead of Charlie Brown. Those specials seem to be more joyful and leave you feeling happy and uplifted after they end. However, they too have the message of the Christmas holiday is what you make of it, enjoying those around you and what you have. Presents and decorations are nice, but the most important things-not just at Christmas, but the whole year through- are our hearts and love, kindness to others. I prefer "It's in Every One of Us" to "Christmas time is Here."

As someone mentioned above, it's ironic a show about Christmas commercialization has been merchandised to the point of nauseum.

[quote] I watched it as a 10 year old in 1965 when it debuted and I remember we all talked about it the next day at school.

This is so fucking cool. Lucky bitch.

R22 It’s like a property homemade and stitched quilt of wit, wisdom, and loveliness. Truly transcendent.

Apparently this special, when it aired, wiped out the entire aluminum Christmas tree industry .

[quote]Luckily, because of the success of Great Pumpkin, Schultz had been able to negotiate total creative control over the Christmas special. He told the network that the scene stays in, or you don't get the show (and you still have to pay us)

Didn't happen, R27. A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in 1965 and It's the Great Pumpkin was released in 1966.

With a little love, we could send it rocketing skyward.

[quote]Apparently this special, when it aired, wiped out the entire aluminum Christmas tree industry .

Got a source, R35?

The attempted anti-commercialism message undermined itself even in the context of the special because it's that same commercialism that enables Charlie Brown to save a tree by using the prize-winning decorations from Snoopy's treehouse. That rings truer than Linus quoting the New Testament which merely explains why Christmas is a Christian holiday.

Well, R39, it was the Peanuts gang, rather than Charlie Brown, which raided Snoopy's doghouse for the commercial decorations to improve the little tree.

But, good analysis.

The original airing opened with the Coca Cola logo on Snoopy's sign. So much for no commercialism... The Coca Cola bottlers were the first sponsors, and their ad agency commissioned the show.

[quote]Well, [R39], it was the Peanuts gang, rather than Charlie Brown, which raided Snoopy's doghouse for the commercial decorations to improve the little tree. But, good analysis.

Only after they bullied him for bringing the damn thing to the theater in the first place instead of a plastic or metal tree.

after his death, his wife and kids cashed out licensing the most Commercial " Christmas crap.

I believe I recall reading that Charles Schultz was terrible to his wife & kids, so maybe they felt like they had a right to cash in after ole Chuck kicked it.

I watched it again this year; it's amazing how timeless it is...

[quote] The Coca Cola bottlers were the first sponsors, and their ad agency commissioned the show.

And, of course, the subsequent specials were sponsored by Dolly Madison. Sparky was the biggest whore this side of Las Vegas.

I have read and considered every "Peanuts" strip, from the start. Schulz had issues with depression himself. From the start was working with both simple observations of the world from a child's perspective and reflections on injustice, anxiety and the need for togetherness among children.

The money-grabbing commercial transformation of the strip into a brand of snark, repetitive tropes and loss of character is missed by people who haven't seen the early "Peanuts." The change in Snoopy was the most obvious alteration. When the strip started selling life insurance, it was clear things were aimed in a fundamentally different direction, for all the retention of mean girls, child piano protege, blockhead and a dog of delusion.

But the Christmas show of 1965 captures more of the original spirit than did any of the others. Life can be hard. It's difficult to be alone in a crowd. Stick with your true beliefs about life's meanings and you will be happier than you would have been otherwise. Fellow-feeling makes it worthwhile. But life can be hard, no matter what.

R41 I think a company like Coca Cola sponsoring it makes so much sense. When it comes to Christmas their advertising strategy always seems to be we would enjoy the opportunity for our product to be a part of your celebration, which is different from the crass commercialism of BUY OUR PRODUCT, NOW OR YOUR CHRISTMAS WILL BE SHIT or IF YOU DON'T BUY MY PRODUCT YOU AREN'T REALLY CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS, which is the style of commercialism I think the show was attacking.

Well, I celebrate Hanukkah so the point is moot.

R47 I've known several Jewish people in my life, but they all celebrate a secular Christmas along with Hanukkah. As a child I thought it was so depressing they got eight days of presents and then an extra day while I only got one.

Meanwhile, I've never actually met a black person that celebrates Kwanzaa.

It's the same amount of presents but it takes more than a week to give them out.

R50 Maybe normally, the family I knew was rich so the kids basically got the equivalent of Christmas morning nine times.

But the dancing is LIT

If you want to get the best, fullest story of Schulz and PEANUTS read the biography by Michaelis that came out a few years ago. It's very well written and explores Schulz's need for and contempt for the huge commercial success of the strip. And he was a depressive, and his family is pretty much a mess these days. But a very wealthy one. His second wife, Jean, has done a decent job with the legacy, but they haven't really figured out how to keep it relevant. Schulz and the strip and the characters were truly one. He died one week after the last strip was published, and he stipulated no one could carry it on.

Here's a copy on the Internet Archive, looks to be from an old vhs copy, but still fairly good quality. It has the Coca Cola promo at the beginning.

I love OutKast’s version.

R55, I'd just as soon settle for the original tune for that dance - Vince Guaraldi's 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠:

It really hasn't been A Charlie Brown Christmas for me since the last time this played before it started.

R57, that's why you should cut together a master version of 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', including all the elements you cherish, and burn it to a DVD for your very own. ;)

The pitch is a little high for that CBS Special Presentation Logo. It needs to come down a bit.

This one is better: