Monday, January 1, 2018

From Comics to Toons: Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986)

On this day 32 years ago, CBS premiered Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, the 30th Peanuts primetime special. With the Christmas break coming to an end for school children here in the frigid Northeast today--classes resume tomorrow--this is actually appropriate.

Charlie Brown (Chad Allen, later of Our House) learns, to his dismay, that he & his class have to read Leo Tolstoy's epic novel, War & Peace, during the Christmas break. If it was a book from the Bible, it might not have been so bad. Jeremy Miller (Growing Pains) is heard as Linus.

Edit, 12/22/20: Had to change the video again. This time, the gang play Musical Chairs.



In a way, we can all relate to Charlie. If he hadn't procrastinated and waited until the last minute to finish the book, then write the report, well.....!

Rating: B.

2 comments:

Jeff said...

32 years later, I still can't figure out why no one else in the gang has to read that book.

hobbyfan said...

Actually, they did, I think. Charlie just didn't have the confidence to read the entire book during the duration of the break, and the plot centered on him being unhappy over the assignment. We must infer from the party that he had procrastinated to the point where he was forced to read during the party, taking himself out of the festivities.