Let's take just a moment to ponder the true meaning of the phrase "Christmas classic."
A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on Dec. 9, 1965, and became an instant classic. Its gentle message still rings true today and you can enjoy it once again when the special is rebroadcast at 7 p.m. today on ABC.
In 1965, Vietnam was still a mystery for most when the first American combat troops arrived that year. The second pilot episode of a little TV show titled Star Trek was produced (to be broadcast in 1966). The band Pink Floyd formed and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was completed.
A Titan II missile complex fire near Searcy killed 53 in August 1965. The Houston Astrodome opened. Bob Dylan "went electric" at the Newport Folk Festival and The Beatles performed at New York's Shea Stadium. The Watts riots burned large chunks of Los Angeles. Hillary Rodham enrolled at Wellesley College and author J.K. Rowling was born.
In 1965, a scrawny little green fir tree taught us all the "true meaning of Christmas."
Today's airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas will be the unedited, digitally remastered 25-minute version, followed by the 2002 compilation Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales to fill the entire hour (with commercials).
In the special, Charlie Brown complains about the over-commercialization of Christmas that he sees everywhere during the season. Lucy (from her psychiatric booth) suggests that he become director of the school Christmas pageant, and Charlie Brown accepts.
Frustration (as usual) follows for Charlie Brown.
"This little green one here seems to need a home," Charlie Brown says when picking out the tree for the play. But Linus knows Lucy will not be happy because she wanted a big, shiny aluminum tree.
Returning with the little tree, Charlie Brown is held up to ridicule and begins to wonder if he really knows what the true meaning of Christmas is.
It's up to Linus to set him straight. It'll warm your heart.
Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales totals 18 minutes and consists of a series of shorts, each starring a different member of the Peanuts gang in assorted Christmastime situations. The installments:
Happy Holidays From Snoopy. Snoopy dresses up like Santa Claus to work as a bell-ringer to raise money and is briefly confronted by an angry Rerun, the younger brother of Linus and Lucy, who chastises him for failing to deliver the toys promised to him the previous Christmas.
Yuletide Greetings From Linus. Linus tries to decide what kind of letter he should write to Santa and reveals he likes the strange new girl at school who keeps changing her name.
Season's Greetings From Sally. Sally decides to give everyone paper airplanes for Christmas and learns, much to her chagrin, that Santa's name is not Samantha.
Peace on Earth From Lucy. Lucy tries to get Schroeder and Linus to buy her presents.
Merry Christmas From Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown and Sally prepare for Christmas together.
• More Peanuts. If you enjoy all the above, be sure to catch I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003) at 7 p.m. Saturday; and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986) at 7 p.m. Dec. 29.
The former centers on Rerun. It's Christmas vacation and, as usual, Rerun's big sister is stressing him out, so he decides to turn to Snoopy for holiday cheer. Rerun asks Snoopy to invite his brother Spike for a visit and the real trouble begins.
In the latter, Marcie and Peppermint Patty are throwing a big New Year's Eve bash but Charlie Brown plans to curl up with Tolstoy's War and Peace. He does go to the party and even invites his unrequited obsession, the Little Red-Haired Girl (real name is Heather). What happens is kind of heart breaking.
• More cheer. Considered a modern Christmas classic by some, Home Alone airs at 7:30 p.m. today on ABC Family. The 1990 film stars 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin (before he got weird) squaring off against a couple of bumbling burglars.
The Santa Clause airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC Family. This is the clever 1994 original starring Tim Allen. The two sequels in the franchise never hit the quality of the first.
• Death watch. Six freshman programs have now flunked out and several more are iffy. The latest to be canceled is Fox's Red Band Society. It lasted 10 episodes. Dec. 3 was the final offering.
The series joins ABC's previously canceled Selfie and Manhattan Love Story; Fox's Utopia; and NBC's A to Z and Bad Judge.
Production on NBC's Constantine has been halted at 13 episodes, while Fox has cut Mulaney to 13 episodes and CBS has trimmed CSI's season order to 18. And the CBS comedy The Millers has been canned, lasting four episodes into Season 2.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 12/16/2014