A Charlie Brown Christmas Review

Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, TFG1Mike

here from the GeekCast Radio Network, and here

on Tooncast Beyond's 25 Days of Tooncast Beyond

Christmas, we're going to take a little brief

stroll down memory lane to Tooncast Classic episode

30, the holiday show. Back then in 2009, I had

asked various people to send in voicemails of

what Christmas specials they liked and whatever

else. And because this is a Charlie Brown's Christmas

here in day 20 of the first annual Tooncast Beyond,

25 days of Tooncast Beyond Christmas, I wanted

to go back and I wanted to grab the old Pecan

-Corn -Michael voicemail. So, from the original

episode 30 of Tooncast Classic. So, here you

go, after that we'll jump into Charlie Brown's

Christmas tree, after this. Hi, this is a message

for the Tooncast Holiday Show. This is Clark,

aka Red Random Hero. And my favorite Christmas

special of all time is a Charlie Brown Christmas.

I love that show, ever since I was little, and

I'll keep loving it. Even the Scrubs version

they did, I still love it. And my other favorite

is the How the Grinch Show Christmas and the

classic Rudolph the Red Rooster Reindeer. My

least favorite is, well, I don't have a least

favorite, it's just I never got into Grandma

got ran over by a reindeer. But, you know. by

the favorite i didn't read about pro the garfield

christmas that my best uh... and merry christmas

and happy new year hey guys how's it going this

is uh... mike birdman dot from this we can keep

dot net i'm calling in for tune cast you wanted

memories of my favorite christmas cartoon well

reasonably thanks to the nostalgic critic every

discovered the he managed your christmas special

Man, what a shitload of crap. I can't even begin

to describe that. But, uh, upon watching it last

year, I discovered one of the best lines of all

time, said by Skeletor. But I'm not fighting!

Nyah! And it's just incredibly amusing. So, I

thought I'd call in and share that. Other than

that, I really can't think of a lot of other

ones that had Christmas specials, at least from

my era. I'm thinking, why was there never...

a captain power christmas special but uh... anyone

feel really really really cool let's go over

to that guy with the glasses dot com check out

uh... doggies then it has a great himself uh...

top eleven christmas specials and his top twelve

christmas specials from last year but definitely

hit shira he managed your christmas special definitely

worth checking out so anyway guys make sure you're

tuning into this week in geek dot net and as

i'm often fond of saying live free or die hard

and i'll catch you guys around the show next

time peckett back everybody this is steve megatron

phillips and uh... yes i am going in for the

uh... can cast christmas special uh... in reply

to uh... if you would like uh... post on his

blog uh... i'd have to say my favorite christmas

movie cartoon -wise anyway of all time i have

to say is the year without a santa claus i have

to say that will be because uh... potentially

really uh... really really uh... fun to watch

you get a lot of interaction between the characters

you can see what it's like for uh... them to

visit mother nature the miser brothers which

to me are the best part of the whole uh... i'd

love especially the uh... freeze miser uh...

which those two actually spawned a second movie

about But yeah, I'd have to say that it's one

of my favorite Christmas movies of all time I

couldn't go really a year without watching that

one next to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and

of course the Grinch More of the traditional

Christmas movies But yeah, I'd have to say that

is one of the best ones I've seen to date I Just

like the whole perspective it takes is this you

know he's sick. He takes a holiday But yeah,

anyways, that's all I was calling to say. That's

a good movie or a good show to watch. Check it

out. It's on DVD. I think you can buy it in a

six pack or something at the store. Pretty cheap

with like Rudolph and various other Christmas

movies. Anyways, Steve Megatron Phillips signing

off. Hello, this is Michael Wilson, also known

as Pecan Court Michael on the GeekCast Radio

Network. I just wanted to add my two cents in

on the Christmas episode, primarily for the Charlie

Brown Christmas Special. I was watching the Charlie

Brown Christmas Special with my three -year -old

son Aidan last week, and I couldn't help but

feel that I was missing something. I used to

watch it every season as a kid, but I hadn't

seen it in the last 15 or so years. So I might

have stopped. Oh, probably around college, maybe.

didn't watch anymore but now that i have kids

of my own and copy movie on DVD i thought it

would be a good idea to start up the tradition

again but something had changed i think so but

you know i was younger and to me the whole thing

seem to be about the commercialism of the holiday

uh... charlie brown complaining about his dog

who's only in it for the money and his little

sister, who's only in it for the cash and the

gifts, despite not being old enough to write

her own Christmas list, and the implication that

you can't have a good Christmas without a gaudy

aluminum and expensive, I bet, tree. Shiny tree.

Shiny. It's not like rampant commercialism has

hearts on their bottom line. I dig the Geraldi

Jazz score, so I went out a few years back and

I bought this Snoopy Christmas CD. Love it. Listen

to it every year. Score one for commercialism.

My wife and I buy another Snoopy stuffed toy

every year from Hallmark, usually on a sled or

in a Santa suit or something. Score two for capitalism.

And the original introduction of the show featured

Linus, careening off the icy pond into a Coca

-Cola sign because Coke originally sponsored

the whole thing. So, three, it's a commercialism

hat trick with some irony tossed in there for

good measure. Now, I wondered if the Christmas

marketing blitz and subsequent merchandising

started the day after Halloween in 1957, much

like it does now. And that would explain things.

But a lot of things were different back then

when the show first aired and maybe I'm just

too old to get it out like Charlie Brown. I just

don't get it. But look at my boy and he's all

smiles. He loves it. He liked it so much that

it really forced me to look and see what it was

that he was seeing. And he helped me to remember

what I loved most about the show. Snoopy. Snoopy

dragging Linus' blanket on the skating pond and

sending Charlie Brown into a tree. Snoopy decorating

his house with tons of lights and stuff. Remember

those things were. Snoopy dancing at the play

with everyone else while they were all ignoring

Charlie Brown's direction. And Snoopy, again,

laughing at Charlie Brown's ridiculous tree.

You gotta love that Melinda's laugh. Yeah, I

do. I'd love Snoopy. I'd love Snoopy still to

this day. And although I'm older now and I have

a firmer grasp of the anti -capitalist agenda

of the show, I still find myself drawn in. Railing

against a cash -driven society is just a means

to close with a reminder of the reason for the

season. And that's a lesson that I'll gladly

pass on to my boys. So I'll probably watch the

Charlie Brown Christmas special every year from

now on. Or at least until my youngest son goes

off to college. Thanks a lot. It was good being

here. Have a Merry Christmas. It's Charlie Brown

and the Peanuts Gang preparing to spend another

joyous holiday together. Only this year, Charlie

Brown is getting a little fed up with what seems

to be the new Christmas spirit. What's the true

meaning of Christmas? When money, money, money,

dear Santa Claus, just send money. We all know

that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's

run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know. Good

grief. So Charlie Brown attempts to restore the

true spirit of Christmas by buying a neglected

little Christmas tree. But as is often the case

with Charlie Brown... Oh, everything I touch

gets ruined. It appears that this Christmas may

be a sad one. That is, of course, until the rest

of the gang shows good old Charlie Brown that

they haven't really lost the Christmas spirit

at all. A Charlie Brown Christmas. That's what

Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Hello,

folks. It is Day 20 on Tooncast Beyond's 25 Days

of Tooncast Beyond Christmas, and we are finally

getting to the classics, Day 20 to Day 25. will

be all the classic cartoons that we know and

love. I am, of course, TFU and Mike. Joining

me for the second time in the first annual 25

Days to Gas Beyond Christmas is Pecan Court Michael.

Hello. Hey, how's it going? It's going. So, do

they have any Pecan Court Pie? Sorry. It's a

bad Thanksgiving joke, folks. I love Pecan Pie.

I really do. I don't see how that matters. I

don't know. So folks, it's been about seven and

a half years since Tooncast's classic episode

30, The Holiday Show, and Michael Wilson was

one of the people that called in on that voicemail

for that show, and you would have just heard

that before this, and wow. Man, it doesn't seem

like you've aged a day in seven and a half years.

Really? Yeah. That's awesome. You should see

me now. I know, right? Because I remember, and

people would have already heard this in the voicemail,

I remember you talking about, at the point, I

think Aidan was, what, one or two? Wait, no.

Something like that. Well, no, he's ten now.

Yeah, he's ten now. So this was seven and a half.

He was three. He was three and a half. So Gavin

would have been one. Yeah, Gavin would have been

one. I remember, you know, you talking about

how whatever else and you didn't... Until you

watched it with Aiden you didn't really see the

but we're gonna get into it folks because today

we're talking about a Charlie Brown Christmas

the quintessential the number one Christmas cartoon

that everybody loves except Michael Wilson I

Love it. I Remember watching it when I was tiny.

Yeah when I was Aiden's age. Yeah, we were really

young Really really young Really really really

really really really young Oh Lord tell you oh

yeah as far back as I can remember yeah I can

remember yeah, that's that's very young So yeah

Charlie Brown Christmas this one I have kind

of a I really do enjoy it. I do very much think

it's a quintessential Christmas classic. I don't

know, maybe it's just the fact that my mom's

not here anymore or anything like that, and that's

still kind of raw since it only happened a year

ago, but it's just one of those things where

it's like, I just can't get into this as much

as I used to. I see it differently too. Well

yeah, well yeah, you see it differently too because

you have kids, you know, and you see it through

their eyes. Well, it goes beyond that. I mean,

I've seen it through there. I mean, I remember

seeing it when I was little, and I remember,

you know, we'd watch it with, like, Rudolph and

Frosty the Snowman and the Staples, right? Yep.

And now I've watched it with my boys, and they've

grown up with it because we watch it every year.

We have it on DVD. And now at this point, I'm

just kind of jaded, and I'm starting to see it

for what it really is. Because it came out in

1965 It came from a bygone era that we don't

even identify with anymore Yeah, that's well

the whole point of a Charlie Brown Christmas

is to basically screw Commercialism that's the

whole yeah, I remember down with Santa. Yeah

You know, it's the great pumpkin that brings

everybody presents. Everybody knows that come

on now Did you notice that there's no Santa?

Yeah, there is no Santa. There's no Santa Notice

there's no Santa and it's sad because it's like

What's wrong with capitalism? Was Schultz a Marxist?

I Don't get it. I'm not entirely sure. I don't

know the backstory here, but I get the impression

that You know, he was either Born again Christian

who hated capitalism or a Marxist he was a dirty

commie. I mean, I just don't know maybe he was

blacklisted in 65 by the You know, what do they

what do they call them? They're McCarthyists.

I Wish I knew more. I wish I knew more about

the history of how this came together. I Just

don't Yeah, I don't know either When you say

Marxist, and I know what you're talking about

I know what you're actually meaning when you

say that the sad thing is all I can think of

is friggin Richard Marx and all the stupid love

songs he used to do Richard Marx, you know, most

people, Groucho kicks in, you know? Yeah, most

people Groucho, I guess. I don't know, I get

where you're coming from, but... I guess I'm

just right here waiting, people. Oh, that was

bad. Oh shit. Damn. I'm dying over here. It's

kinda hard to use the judicious use of mute when

I'm spitting up all over myself. We now pause

for a shower. Uh, yeah, considering my Comedy

Night, my Starscream This Is Bad Comedy Night

shirt from Rip to Peril is now all wet. Oh, good.

At least it ended up on my shirt and not my keyboard.

Yes. That's better. Yes, that's better. So here's

a question, though. Charlie Brown, in the beginning

of the show, is clearly... he's he's clinically

depressed he's very dismayed at the whole commercialism

of christmas yeah so at this point he actually

says i think i'm depressed and i'm like dude

they're gonna put you in a rubber room minus

says of all the charlie browns in the world you're

the charlie browniest it's like so charlie brownie

is clinically depressed is that how that equates

itself They would put him on volume in 1965.

I mean this is before Adderall, that type of

thing. They'd be like, here you go kid, let's

get you stoned. But this is what kids did before

the internet, right? They're catching snowflakes

and they're throwing rocks at cans. I did not

even remember the throwing rocks at cans scene.

Yeah, I didn't either. They're operating unlicensed

psychiatric practices. Advice what you did in

65 when you're bored, right? Yeah advice five

cents five cents She knows her stuff too because

she's listing off this huge list of phobias Charlie

Brown isn't in fear of anything. He's just downtrodden.

Yes, very very downtrodden Well, you know, here's

the thing By the end of this Charlie Brown does

come around But in the beginning of this, Charlie

Brown, he's pretty much a Grinch or a Scrooge

or whatever you want to call him, because he's

just so dismayed at all of the various, as we've

been saying, commercialism of the holiday thing

and even his sister Sally. She wants Christmas

to come in 10s and 20s. Yeah. She's got daddy

issues. You know what the sad thing is? You know

what the sad thing is? Is that in high school,

one of my senior classmates had said for a graduation

gift, all he wanted was a duffel bag filled with

50s and 100s. Yeah, exactly. And this was 1999,

folks. Well, yeah, the denominations went up,

right? It goes from 10s to 20s to 50s and 100s,

because it's inflation. Yeah. You know, we had

to survive the 80s in Reaganomics, so it's gotta

be 50s and 100s now. I'd rather survive Reaganomics

than go through another, um, Lewinsky blowjob.

Oh, dude, you know... Alright, anyway, I'm not

gonna get political here. This is 2016 is not

a good year to be talking about politics. No.

Dancing, let's talk about dancing. With the stars.

No, no, with the peanuts gang because honestly

this is the most iconic scene perhaps ever set

to film is when they're all on the stage and

dancing and they all have their own little...

kind of weird makeshift dance and that's true

you know they've never seen soul train so because

it hasn't been invented yet so they're just kind

of like wobbling back and forth but no this scene

is often imitated never topped but often imitated

and each character gets a part in the play yep

and you know each of these characters are we're

well -known peanuts characters up until I'm gonna

guess until about the 80s when this became a

Snoopy -only comic. Yeah. Because Schultz...

Schultz was drawing his... was it daily or weekly

script? The... oh, the Sunday Funnies? That was

weekly. Yeah, well he was doing that up until

he died. Yeah. He was. Yes, right at the end

there, it was pretty much just Snoopy. Snoopy's

immediate family. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But

this one I think so in some of the peanut specials

I have one or two favorite favorite lines Obviously

the beginning of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

I'm gonna kick that football clear to the moon

Isn't it peculiar Charlie Brown how some traditions

just kind of fade away, you know, you've got

all that and with the great pumpkin you've got

I Could have gone tricks or treaty. I could have

gotten gone out and got tricks or treats and

you owe me restitution! you know, sally to lius

for the whole great pumpkin thing with this one

with this one it's snoopy and lucy dog germs!

get some deodorant! get some disinfectant! I

love that I just love that I just absolutely

I love that line. I think that line is one of

the best lines of the show. Dog germs. Boil some

water. Yeah. Get some disinfectant. Get some

disinfectant. That's what she says. That's right.

You know what's funny too is growing up I was

kind of worried about dog germs because of that

show. Like would I get dog germs? And you know

everyone says that dogs have cleaner mouths than

humans. Well, you should know at this point,

you have like ten dogs at your house. No, I got

two dogs, and only one that bites me. Wait, which

one bites you? Well, you know, Dargo's show of

affection is a chomp on my arm a little bit.

He's just telling me how much he loves me. He's

licking me with his arms. So the first dog you

guys ever got, uh, sits there and gnaws on your

arm. no just when he's just when he's happy to

see me he'll run up and go hi hi and i'll pet

him and he'll chew on me wow humans are the new

dog chew toy wow i am the dog chew toy i must

taste delicious i guess that dog is i guess that

dog is tired of the beggin strips i am the beggin

strip oh god i was changing subject i was uh

trying to transition Unsuccessfully, I might

add. But something about Schroeder. Schroeder

plays the piano, right? Yep. So he and Lucy are

having this conversation where they're talking

about the piano. He's playing, but he's playing

on this little toy piano. He's playing the music,

this iconic Snoopy Christmas music, which was

originated by Vince Geraldi. Yep. So it's like,

is Schroeder's last name Geraldi? No Well, I

don't know his shoulders for all I know Schroder

is his last name and his first name is like Tim

like Tim Schroder or something But now I I have

the Vince Garaldi trio soundtrack, so do I yep?

Oh really? Yeah, I play it every year at Christmas

So we have family over it's on the CD player

like on repeat All right, so Schroder He's a

fictional long -running character Uh, first appearance

was the comic strip shut up. You're not supposed

to say that crap. You're not supposed to reveal

the hidden magic of podcasting. You ass. The

innards of the sausage, I'm sorry. Yeah, I mean,

he doesn't really say that he has a last name.

It just gives his name as Schroeder. I'm gonna

call him Geraldi. He's very Italian. of the first

blonde Italian kid. Wow. He must have had German

parents. Oops. Sorry. Whoa! See aisle! Better

get used to that now that Trump's president.

Oh. Now see! Why you gotta - Oh no! Sorry! It

just came out! Yeah. Uh huh. Alright, I'm sorry

folks day 20 here in the 2k SBA 25 days of Christmas

We were supposed to be talking about this Christmas

cartoon and we've gotten more political in this

cartoon that we've done it all year long Wow

I'm gonna transition Quickly back to the cartoon

them. Yes fake metal trees. I've never understood

fate the fake metal tree They'll actually walk

up to this pink tree donk donk donk and it like

sounds like he's banging on the ductwork, right?

Yeah Were fake metal trees a thing in the 60s?

Um, not being alive in the 60s. I wouldn't know

but yeah, you were born 13 years too. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah good eight years after this So so no, I

I don't know I've never seen a picture of a fake

metal tree. I can't imagine a fake metal tree

I've seen pink trees and like, you know, they've

colored trees before but I've but they weren't

made out of metal. They're plastic Yeah, all

the non -green All the other non -traditional

colors of Christmas trees whether they be fake

or real Because I really don't think anybody

would spray paint their Christmas. They're real

Christmas tree pink Well, that would kill it

immediately. Yeah, be a fake tree I like fake

trees, but Charlie Brown being a Marxist avoids

the capitalistic fake metal tree and goes straight

for this anemic twig. Yes. Makes no sense. Because

he hates capitalism. He's like, you know what?

I'm not paying money back into the system. Yeah.

Yeah, I Charlie Brown you are the Charlie Browniest

And then the whole thing of the at the end the

fellowship and the friendship and the love makes

the tree grow three sizes that day You know I

It's a Griggs joke, damn it! It is, that's right.

You had to tie in Chuck Jones somehow, right?

Absolutely. Why not? You know, if Chuck Jones

directed this, it would've been a different show

altogether. Absolutely. It would've been completely

different. I don't buy that. I don't buy the

fact that their love makes everything grow, because

what they do here, beforehand, they commit the

cardinal sin. A man's worst fear is being laughed

at. A man would rather be attacked and killed

than laughed at. And everyone laughs at Charlie

Brown. Even his dog laughs. And when they leave

him there, humiliated. Now, how he's not in tears,

you know, on the ground crying, I don't understand.

But, you know, the scene is so sad that we don't

even mind the religious lecturing that comes

right after it. Yeah Yeah, because he asks if

anyone really knows what all Christmas is all

about and then Linus Standing alone on the stage

states that he can tell him and recites the Annunciation

to the shepherds seen from the Gospel of Luke

chapter 2 verses 8 through 14 he gets up there

in his pulpit and Announces that Santa Claus

is not the reason for the season It is indeed

found somewhere in the Bible so Linus is Santa

Claus Linus is now a priest Linus has taken up

the cloth Linus cannot marry Sally. That's right.

He had he had his blanket turn into a oh Hell

I was gonna say habit, but that's what they call

this thing ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah yeah

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah

the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah the collar

ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah the collar ladies

and gentlemen yeah yeah the collar ladies and

gentlemen yeah yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah

the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah yeah the collar

ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and

gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies

and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies

and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies

and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies

and gentlemen yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen

yeah the collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the

collar ladies and gentlemen yeah the collar chuckle

out of this but recently Chris Jericho on Monday

Night Raw for WWE and wrestling I know I understand

well part of his gimmick is that he always wears

a scarf and one of the gimmicks that he wanted

to do for Survivor Series this year was have

all of his teammates wear a scarf and everybody

kept going to him and say I'm sorry Chris I'm

just not a scarf guy cox said not a scarf guy

how can you not be a scarf guy but i hate it

who doesn't like scarves yeah yeah that's that's

almost what he said and you don't even watch

it what's wrong with you you're not the scarf

wearing dude come on man everybody likes scarves

but yeah if elias were to grow up and take the

cloth he would have turned his blanket his wooby

into the scarf that you hang over the shoulders

that you don as you perform your benedictions

and such yes and really this is um At the end

of this and I know we've been joking about this

and that kind of thing But at the end of this

when Linus puts his little blankie at the bottom

of the tree for a tree skirt They then go to

Snoopy's house and basically steal all of his

stuff You know, he already won the contest, so...

I know! You know what makes me... I wonder how

much he got. It said cash prizes at the beginning.

Yeah, I don't know. Ornament contest, right?

Decoration contest. And cash prizes, so he got

something. Yeah, he got something. You gotta

think, he's lining the inside of his little doghouse

there with 10s and 20s. Yeah, I I love Snoopy

and Woodstock. I love Snoopy and this is already

said I think it's One of his best performances

outside of the world war one flying ace And like

I said before the whole interaction with him

and Lucy's just hilarious I got kissed by dog

lips I love the scene. I love the scene where

he's dancing on the piano Uh -huh. And they kinda

look at him and the song stops and he's like,

eww. Tough crowd that he kinda slinks away. I

mean, I was happy that there wasn't like an interlude

like in the Halloween special where he sneaks

off and does the soft with camel thing against

the red baron. I mean, I like that, that's cute,

but I don't... I feel like it would have been

out of place here. Mm -hmm. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Well again, they tie, you know Because this is

the first story the first special labor did for

television so this came then I think Halloween

then Thanksgiving I could be wrong on that but

They tie Snoopy into whatever the theme is obviously

with Halloween and dressing up and World War

one flying ace Thanksgiving. He's he and Woodstocker

pilgrims And all's now I can think of is friggin'

Adam's family values and Wednesday is the, oh

god. Um, you know, so, they, they, they - Are

they made from real Girl Scouts? Ew. Oh lord.

Which part of the Girl Scout exactly? Stop. Please

stop! So to wrap up, as we were saying, I just

watched this tonight with my boys, because we

have the Christmas special DVD. And you watch

basically half an hour, 20 minutes, right, without

commercials, of Charlie Brown railing against

capitalism and his hatred of commercialism. And

the next episode was, it's Christmas time again,

Charlie Brown. Where he goes door -to -door Selling

Christmas wreaths. Yeah in order to make money

And everyone else is railing against him saying

that he's a sellout because he's now a pawn of

capitalism and he's about to commercialism and

even You know a sister who? 20 minutes earlier

was you know begging for 10s and 20s She's even

telling him that he's going about everything

wrong. And I thought, wow, this is just such

a huge change. And it was quite clear that this

wasn't written by Schultz. This was written 15,

20 years later by some marketing shill who didn't

understand the message of the original piece.

Again, and you can take this with a grain of

salt. It does say on here that it is written

by Schultz Okay, well then I backtrack then I

mean, let me let me go back and say I will back

at all and say that Schultz wrote it But he wrote

it in a different frame of mind. So we're not

talking about a you know post -war war or two,

you know my here now now we're looking at like

a I would I would guess maybe post Vietnam era

mindset. I don't know. I'm guessing. I don't

know. Again, maybe the wiki will vindicate me

here. Oh, I don't think so. You hate the wiki,

the wiki hates you. A couple interesting things

here about this. Number one, this had a budget

of $96 ,000. That was a mint back in 1965. I

know! It doesn't say what the actual box office

was, because it wasn't ever... I don't think

it ever really did box office. It was direct

to TV, so... But the budget was $96 ,000, and

like you said, in 1965, that was a mint. A million

dollars! Yes, a million dollars. A bajillion

million frillion dollars. The other... the other

interesting part about this has to do with the

cast and it's kind of the tragedy here more so

than than anything else but well and showing

around was because it was performed in sixty

five which means everyone who is in is dead now

is is he dead i don't know uh... no he's no he's

still alive uh... robins yeah peter robbins the

voice of charlie brown he was born lewis Nanassi,

August 10th, 1956. He's 60 years old. Yeah, Charlie

Brown is 60 years old, ladies and gentlemen.

And he still gets rocks. So here's the thing

with Peter Robbins. This is a sad thing. Charlie

Brown, since about 2013, has had a lot of legal

trouble. The guy is in jail Charlie Brown's in

jail folks December 7th of last year He was sentenced

to four years and eight months in prison as part

of a plea agreement For sending threatening letters

to his wife and to the manager of the mobile

home park in which he lived in Oceanside, California

And apparently Robbins has stated in previous

hearings that he suffers from bipolar disorder

and paranoid schizophrenia That's terrible, I

can't you know, have you seen this is this is

an iconic role Yes, and and we should you know

pay attention to this with the seriousness of

its do right? What is this a pepula pew cartoon?

What are you doing over there? What is that?

Get the balloon out of your hand. Stop it. I'm

sorry styrofoam Quick play it with your toys.

I'm unpacking I should have put this on mute.

I'm unpacking a cyber power adaptive sine wave

un -interruptible power supply alright that's

gonna be on the cutting room floor so yes yes

yes ladies and gentlemen charlie brown shut up

stop laughing or else no one will get the joke

sorry so yes folks charlie brown peter robbins

in real life has had some really really bad uh...

legal troubles over the past years you know for

a sixty -year -old guy in jail that uh... doesn't

really Speaking a lot about the guy. But the

legacy of this cartoon... Honestly, if you're

spending... Spending all day in a trailer park,

jail can't be that much worse, right? Wow. I

was just saying. Wow. You don't have that much

space in a trailer. It's kind of small and confining

and... But a Charlie Brown Christmas... I do

still enjoy it. It is still something I can watch

every year. It is going to be always a part of

my holiday traditions of watching it. Obviously

take it to the point of context of when it was

made and that kind of stuff and everything else.

What are your - and I'm putting you on the spot

here. What do your boys think of this when they

watch this? Like what are their reactions? I

don't know. I don't want to say that parts of

it go over their head. But again, this was made

in a time that modern children can't really identify

with. Right. And even if it were, a lot of the

terminology they're using, when they start talking

about commercialism, things like that, a lot

of these words are just going to go over the

heads of a 10 -year -old. I don't think he really

realized this. It's not going to get really entertaining

for him until... Snoopy shows up and dances on

the piano Yeah, that's true Yeah, I mean these

are the scenes that I remember from when I was

little, you know, you Snoopy dancing the Geraldi

music The What do they call the play when they're

when they're all dancing on the stage, you know

that type of thing these things resonate with

me but Honestly, it isn't until I go back and

watch it that I remember that this is a whole

You know Marxist tirade against capitalism that

that didn't focus with me when I was their age

And it's probably not gonna focus with them until

they watch it again with their kids, which is

inevitable. Yeah Well, maybe not because you

mean when I was growing up, you know, there's

what five channels and Yeah, around Christmas

time, that was all that was on for two days straight.

And we watched it every year, just like we watched

Wizard of Oz every year. Because once a year,

that was pretty much all that was on. But now

you've got 500 channels. And if you want to watch

the Disney Christmas special, you pretty much

got to pull it out on DVD and deliberately sit

down and watch it. So maybe they're... Maybe

my kids aren't going to remember it as fondly

as I do. Unless I make them watch it every year.

Which, you know, I'm going to leave that decision

up to them. Do you guys want to watch this? I

mean, this year they were like, yeah. So we all

sat down and ate dinner and watched Charlie Brown.

But are they going to want to do that every year?

I don't know. It's up to them. Yeah, that's very,

very true. Alright folks, we're gonna get the

heck out of here tomorrow on day 21 We're going

to steal all the presents and Christmas and roast

beasts in Whoville So yes, we're all gonna become

Grinch's tomorrow. I'm already a Grinch Don't

I know it? That's that's my secret. I'm always

Grinchy Grinchy is as Grinchy does So we're gonna

get the heck out of here working people find

you online sir I'm on Twitter and Facebook at

pecan CT Michael All right, you can find me at

TFU and Mike on Twitter You can follow at the

cast radio on Twitter follow at to cast beyond

for the show on Twitter Go to get cast radio

comm where all our podcasts will be And we will

catch you tomorrow As we try to make all of our

hearts grow three sizes that day That's what

she said You Something grew three sizes No, I'm

leaving that in To hell with that. I already

have to do way too much editing at this point

screw that That are some things grew three sizes

that day All those emails finally paid off Oh

my god, no you didn't. Unsolicited spam mail.

Oh my god, no you did not just do that. Someday,

somehow, penis enlargement emails come in handy.

Something three sizes. An email can enlarge your,

enlarge a penis? Wow. Who needs pills when you

have email? I printed them all out and then shredded

them and then made a concoction of penis enlargement

email stew, which I consumed with the blood of

small... Anyway. What the fuck? I was getting

ahead of myself there a little bit. Yeah, I think

so. My magic penis enlargement spell. Oh my god,

you've turned into a maniac. Snoopy, you'll have

to be all the animals in our play. Can you be

a sheep? How about a cow? How about a penguin?

Yes, he's even a good penguin. No, no, no! Listen,

all of you! You've got to take direction! You've

got to have discipline! You've got to have...

Slug you.