I’m As Mad As Sally!

Earlier today it was reported that all of the Charlie Brown holiday specials will NOT be airing on broadcast TV this year! Instead, it will be moving to Apple TV (a pay service) for viewing. I’m not going to lie, I am sick of all of the various streaming options! I pay for cable and Netflix. Now there is Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon, and others! CBS and NBC also have their own “pay” services! This just proves it is all about money!

I’m 50 years old, but I have always made it a point to watch the Peanuts specials (and many others). Now, I’m going to be forced to pay to watch it? No, thanks! I’ll go out and buy the specials on DVD. Then I can watch them when I want to! I’ve done the same with many of my favorite TV shows. If you look at my movie shelf, I have my favorites (not all, but most) on DVD.

Growing up, I remember it being a yearly tradition to sit down and watch Charlie Brown’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials. What a shame that after 60 years on broadcast TV, the almighty dollar has ruined it for kids of this generation!

The Halloween special is just fun. There are some great moments in it. I always thought it was cool that Charlie Brown was actually invited to Violet’s Halloween party! Of course, the story revolves around Linus and his belief in the Halloween entity, the Great Pumpkin. He vows to see the Great Pumpkin and convinces Sally to join him in the pumpkin patch.

I love when the gang goes out trick or treating! One of the things I always laugh at is Lucy’s witch mask! It’s hideous!

When the kids yell trick or treat at one house, the home owner passes out treats and the kids meet at the sidewalk excited to share what each of them got. It is here that Charlie Brown says the funniest 4 words in the special (in my opinion) – “I got a rock!”

As Sally and Linus wait for the Great Pumpkin, the two mistake Snoopy for the Great Pumpkin. Sally realizes that she has missed all the fun of Halloween and at this point loses it! She lets loose on Linus with one hell of a rant:

I was robbed! I spent the whole night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, when I could’ve been out for tricks-or-treats! Halloween is over and I missed it! You blockhead! You kept me up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, and all that came was a beagle! I didn’t get a chance to go out for tricks-or-treats, and it was all your fault! I’ll sue! What a fool I was! I could’ve had candy, apples, and gum! And cookies and money and all sorts of things, but no! I had to listen to you. You blockhead. What a fool I was. Trick-or-treats come only once a year. And I miss it by sitting in a pumpkin patch with a blockhead. You owe me RESTITUTION!!

I guess I could easily go off on my own rant about the blockheads who made these classics unavailable to broadcast TV, but what good would it do? In the words of Charlie Brown….”good grief!”