Although I generally loathe most Christmas specials, there are some that I enjoy. Three that come to mind are the first of the two British cartoons featuring Robbie the Reindeer (as opposed to the celeb-filled American version), the original animated Grinch and "Arthur's Perfect Christmas". But my all-time favourite is "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of its original airing. I haven't watched it for a few years - odd, considering my children are now 7 and 10. I think it has simply been washed away by the noise from the wall-to-wall specials that dominate television now. Where and when I grew up, we had three channels only: CBC, CTV and CBC French. Once you started attending school, children's programming was a rare and wondrous thing, and every opportunity had to be grabbed before it escaped. Now, my children not only have access to every major network, along with specialty channels like Family, YTV and Teletoon, but we also have channels from other regions. If you miss your show on Family at 4:00 p.m., that's okay, because it's on Family West at 7:00. Plus, with so much air time to fill, these shows are frequently repeated on the same channel, as well as appearing on multiple channels. When I was a boy, if you missed "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on CBC on Tuesday, December 11, 1973 at 7:30 p.m., then you weren't going to have another chance to see it until sometime in December 1974. Now that's must see TV!
As with most worthwhile things, there was great resistence to the program, for its use of jazz, for quoting from the Bible, for the absence of a laugh track. But the show stands as a triumph in its simple message of fellowship, love and integrity over dishonest and self-serving consumerism. It is a Christmas special that people of any faith or lack thereof can enjoy for its simple pleasures.
If only I had stopped there.
Out of curiosity, which to my mind is the best use for the web, I started checking out links for the show, ending up on The Official Peanuts Website, www.snoopy.com/. I really wish I hadn't. On June 21, 2005, United Media, the company in charge of marketing the Peanuts brand, issued a press release listing their retail "partners" in promoting the 40th anniversary airing. These include such companies as Urban Outfitters, Hallmark, Blockbuster, Wal-Mart and such major publishers as Random House. So, let me get this straight. A show that celebrates the spirit of Christmas over materialism is being shilled as just another product by corporations such as Wal-Mart, which if my understanding is correct does everything it can to prevent its employees from earning a wage over the course of a normal-length work week that would enable them to buy those very products at any store other than Wal-Mart. Charlie Brown's sad little tree looks weaker every day.
Then, almost adding insult to injury, is a blurb exhorting retailers "Don't miss out on the 40th Anniversary of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in 2006". Not when there are t-shirts and greeting cards to be sold.
Look, I'm no innocent. I know the world is for sale, and I'm on the frequent-buyer plan. I long ago knew that TV shows, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas", have been getting shorter and shorter in order to cram in more ads. That is one of the many reasons why people such as myself who can afford to pay a bit more stopped watching most network television and moved to cable. Even my beloved "24", which purports to cram an hour of real time into each 60-minute episode, probably never ran an episode that was longer than 50 minutes, and I have heard recently that the actual screen time could be as low as 45 minutes. If that's the case, maybe they should change the name to "18", since we're losing as much as six hours of Jack's day each season. On the other hand, maybe that's when he eats and goes to the bathroom.
But "A Charlie Brown Christmas" should not be for sale. It is one of the last pure things in a world that seems to get cheaper and dirtier by the day. The Peanuts brand is apparently worth $1.3 billion in retail sales each year. That's a lot of cash, and I can't see how moving a few fewer water globes or fast-food kid's meals will significantly damage the company's bottom line. But this relentless shilling is damaging the image of the product itself, at least with this viewer, and I can't imagine there aren't others who don't feel the same way.
I'm not a religious man, but I do believe I am a spiritual man, and I have a hard time negotiating my way through the notion that there isn't a god or some higher being behind all this. Some evening over the next two weeks, I will sit down with my family and watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I will forget about United Media and their partners, and I will try not to tell my children about the bits that have been cut to make way for more ads. I will let them enjoy the show's message, as summed up in these words from Linus, and I will hold them very close:
"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord."
"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."
"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
Amen.
As with most worthwhile things, there was great resistence to the program, for its use of jazz, for quoting from the Bible, for the absence of a laugh track. But the show stands as a triumph in its simple message of fellowship, love and integrity over dishonest and self-serving consumerism. It is a Christmas special that people of any faith or lack thereof can enjoy for its simple pleasures.
If only I had stopped there.
Out of curiosity, which to my mind is the best use for the web, I started checking out links for the show, ending up on The Official Peanuts Website, www.snoopy.com/. I really wish I hadn't. On June 21, 2005, United Media, the company in charge of marketing the Peanuts brand, issued a press release listing their retail "partners" in promoting the 40th anniversary airing. These include such companies as Urban Outfitters, Hallmark, Blockbuster, Wal-Mart and such major publishers as Random House. So, let me get this straight. A show that celebrates the spirit of Christmas over materialism is being shilled as just another product by corporations such as Wal-Mart, which if my understanding is correct does everything it can to prevent its employees from earning a wage over the course of a normal-length work week that would enable them to buy those very products at any store other than Wal-Mart. Charlie Brown's sad little tree looks weaker every day.
Then, almost adding insult to injury, is a blurb exhorting retailers "Don't miss out on the 40th Anniversary of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in 2006". Not when there are t-shirts and greeting cards to be sold.
Look, I'm no innocent. I know the world is for sale, and I'm on the frequent-buyer plan. I long ago knew that TV shows, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas", have been getting shorter and shorter in order to cram in more ads. That is one of the many reasons why people such as myself who can afford to pay a bit more stopped watching most network television and moved to cable. Even my beloved "24", which purports to cram an hour of real time into each 60-minute episode, probably never ran an episode that was longer than 50 minutes, and I have heard recently that the actual screen time could be as low as 45 minutes. If that's the case, maybe they should change the name to "18", since we're losing as much as six hours of Jack's day each season. On the other hand, maybe that's when he eats and goes to the bathroom.
But "A Charlie Brown Christmas" should not be for sale. It is one of the last pure things in a world that seems to get cheaper and dirtier by the day. The Peanuts brand is apparently worth $1.3 billion in retail sales each year. That's a lot of cash, and I can't see how moving a few fewer water globes or fast-food kid's meals will significantly damage the company's bottom line. But this relentless shilling is damaging the image of the product itself, at least with this viewer, and I can't imagine there aren't others who don't feel the same way.
I'm not a religious man, but I do believe I am a spiritual man, and I have a hard time negotiating my way through the notion that there isn't a god or some higher being behind all this. Some evening over the next two weeks, I will sit down with my family and watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I will forget about United Media and their partners, and I will try not to tell my children about the bits that have been cut to make way for more ads. I will let them enjoy the show's message, as summed up in these words from Linus, and I will hold them very close:
"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord."
"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."
"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
Amen.
posted by George @ 5:22 a.m.
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