Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Toon-arama Thanksgiving Special: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

by tryanmax

“We've got another holiday to worry about. It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us.”

So says Charlie Brown near the beginning of his Thanksgiving special, and it pretty well sets the tone for the show as Charlie tries to cope with the demands of the holiday wedged neatly between Halloween and Christmas. I think it’s fair to say that, of all the holidays we celebrate, Thanksgiving is regarded as more of an ordeal than any others. A quick mental inventory of every Thanksgiving movie or special I’ve seen seems to confirm this. So while the Peanuts gang may be a cynical bunch, it seems to fit with the general outlook regarding this holiday.

Charlie Brown’s ordeal is this: Peppermint Patty has invited herself over for Thanksgiving dinner along with her friends Marcie and Franklin. The trouble is, Charlie already has plans to visit his grandmother for dinner, and he can’t cook. Linus suggests having a separate dinner beforehand. Enlisting the help of Snoopy and Woodstock, they prepare a feast of buttered toast, popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Patty is not impressed and demands to know where the turkey and mashed potatoes are. Charlie Brown is thoroughly humiliated. Marcie takes Patty aside to remind her of the reason for Thanksgiving, giving thanks. Patty apologizes to Chuck and, with amends having been made, Charlie calls his grandmother to explain he will be late and she invites the whole gang over. They pile into the back of the station wagon, singing “Over the river and through the woods,” despite Charlie’s misgivings that his grandmother lives in a condominium.
True to form for a typical Peanuts special, original strips do the work of storyboards and are strung together to form a loose narrative. Even if you don’t remember the original strips, the regular pattern of set up and punch line makes it pretty clear what’s going on. The Thanksgiving special is a close echo of the Christmas special that preceded it by a number of years. Linus’ table grace might not have the same impact as his nativity soliloquy, and Marcie tag-teams on driving the moral of the story home, but all the parts are there. It’s a neatly packaged, simple story leaving little to discuss.

What makes A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving worth talking about, honestly, is the filler. Of all the Peanuts specials, this is likely the most puffed up. Not only are there the usual gags we expect to see, like Lucy and the football and Sally flirting with Linus, but there is a ton of time devoted to Snoopy and Woodstock’s high jinks. Really, this is the story of how Charlie Brown’s dog single handedly prepares a Thanksgiving meal, sort of.
In a series of sequences that would normally be skimmed over via montage in almost any other show, we actually watch Snoopy go through all the steps of preparing his feast. We start with him digging through the garage for a table, only to get sidetracked by basketball, ping-pong, and literally wrestling with a lawn chair. The Vince Guaraldi tune “Little Birdie” which plays over this sequence, is still one of my favorite jazz tracks.

Then, Snoopy is off to the kitchen. I remember as a kid being fascinated by this scene for the various styles of toasters. Later, a remarkably inordinate amount of time is devoted to Snoopy plating up each of the guests. And, in a final gag, as Charlie Brown and the others head toward grandma’s, Snoopy and Woodstock return to the doghouse to feast on the turkey and pumpkin pie that Snoopy had been holding back from the rest of the gang. Thanks to Snoopy’s dominance, this Peanuts holiday special feels a lot more “cartoony” than many of the others.

What do you think? Is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving just a nice story? Or did I miss something? Did I leave out any of your favorite bits? And while you’re at it, tell me some of your Thanksgiving horror stories.

28 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Excellent article. You make an interesting point that everything Snoopy does in cooking the meal would be handled as a montage by modern storytelling. I think that's right and really highlights how things have changed. Modern shows not only need a quicker pace, they have less tolerance for meandering. Everything now needs to advance the plot and you can't just have a break like this to let a character goof around on film.

In many ways, this reminds me of some comedy acts at the time, where they would just dig through a box and tell jokes based on whatever they pulled out of the box. It felt incredibly lazy to me at the time: whether it really was or wasn't, it projected the idea that the guy was winging it.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, I disagree a little bit. We still see the meandering thing, just in different forms. So maybe tastes in meander change? Things in movies today that don't advance the plot are things like bludgeoning action sequences or uncomfortably long ad-libs by the "it" comic in the show. A sometimes third is ponderous views of CGI landscapes reminiscent of the ponderous views of real landscapes of yesteryear. The interesting thing is, whatever is being dwelled upon, there's always some contemporary pushback. It's as though directors want to take the scenic route, but audiences are saying, just get there already!

KRS said...

I like meandering when it is well done - Bill Cosby is the master of all comic meanderers and I could just sit back and watch him all night. So, yes, I really like the detailed bits of Snoopy making the kid's dineer, especially when the punch line is turkey on the dog house.

And, I'll diverge on another point: Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday! (I spared you the manical all caps.) I would take the TG celebration over Christmas any day and I think credit goes to my Mom for getting it right early in our youth. She was a lady who cooked from scratch and was blessed with boys, no daughters. She was determined that she would not work the kitchen alone, so she trained each of us to cook in the German style and later French. When TG day came around, there were lots of cooks, but we had our assignments and worked well together, so it was easy. We'd start cocktails at four, wine with an unbelievable dinner and liqueurs after. By nine, we would all be very happy and a little stupid. I remember a lot of laughter, but not what it was about. In short, we were just being together and enjoying ourselves in a big way.

As we got older and married up, TG just got moved to the most convenient day so that it didn't compete with In-law Thanksgivings. Out of towners could come in for it, whereas they couldn't come in for Christmas. There has never been any presents or other distractions.

We keep that going today, and have two TGs every year, about a week apart. Everything is very relaxed and fun. We make whipped cream beards.

AndrewPrice said...

I'll respond in a bit. Busy morning.

tryanmax said...

KRS, Cosby is a master meanderer. A lot of good comedy meanders, because that's where the jokes are. And Snoopy meanders very well, too.

Does green bean casserole count as cooking from scratch? My family isn't near the well-oiled machine yours is, but we get through TG alright. We discovered we like a simple TG the year our family was supposed to host but we all got sick and had to cancel. So we had this giant dinner prepared and all to ourselves. It was actually the best TG ever. Since then, we've almost always kept it small.

PikeBishop said...

KRS: that's a beatiful story. Enjoy your special day.

KRS said...

T-Max - GB casserole has earned a place on our menu from my wife's family, but not the sweet potatoes with marshmellows.

Basic reason for Mom cooking from scratch is that it was always cheaper than buying processed. Not so much anymore with what the cost of gas has done to the prices in the produce section!

Mom would turn her kitchen into a bakery for a weekend, draft a couple of us and make dozens of loaves of bread for lunches for the next month or so. She made jams and chilis and soups, cakes and German danish and...oops, drooling on the keyboard. We ate like kings, but she saved money.

So for TG, she'd cut up the pumpkin for the pies and I'd make the crust. Someone would cook and press the cranberries through the food mill (add a little almond extract to take the edge off). Eggs, onion and celery for the stuffing. Sometimes someone would fix up Yorkshire pudding on a whim. Clean and dress the turkey and stuff it. Night before, we made some yeast dough for the crusty rolls. When the turkey's done, drippings, flour, salt and pepper for the gravy. Easy peasy.

People cooking would be bumping elbows and joking, while everyone else would be hanging around just outside the kitchen (annnnd, by this time we've started drinking! Happy TG!).

Boy, you got my nostalgia working on overtime. Thanks for bringing this up! I'm definitely with you on the smaller celebrations today. Our family is really spread out, so we've gone smaller by necessity and it's still great - small helps keep it easy. The less fuss, the more fun.

KRS said...

Thank you, Pike!

tryanmax said...

KRS, now the drinking, that's something our families might be on par with! LOL

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, True! Let me redefine "meandering" because that wasn't quite what I meant. What I mean is the type of thing Snoopy does here. You rarely ever see a character in a modern film suddenly stop the plot cold because they get distracted by a non-plot item and then start playing with it. Mr. Bean is perhaps the big notable exception. To put this in example terms, what I mean is that you don't see characters going to stop the aliens or arrest the suspect or whatever, who suddenly run across a collection of balls and stop to juggle, play catch, shoot imaginary hoops and basically do a ball-centric comedy routine. That is something you saw in the past, but you don't today.

Today, the meandering is all plot related. As you note, it's lingering CGI shots, fight scenes that drag on and on and on and on, subplots that are just filler. But it all feels like it's advancing the story, even if it isn't. The meandering Snoopy did, felt like an aside that's been injected into the story.

AndrewPrice said...

KRS, Bill Cosby does it well because his meandering is super smart and it's usually part of the bigger story he's telling. For a lot of modern stand-ups though, when they do it, it comes across as disorganized and ad hoc.

On Thanksgiving, I LOVE Thanksgiving for precisely the reason you outline. I love being with family and the food and everyone being in a great mood. This is a wonderful time of year! :D

Great story, by the way.

Patriot said...

KRS.....A truly "American" TG feast. That is what I have always loved about TG. We had our traditions growing up and once I got married my wife was German and we brought a lot of their delicious dishes into my family's old English and French Canadian dishes. I love it that every family has their own traditions and traditional foods that they have carried over the generations into their present day traditions. A real hodgepodge, but distinctly American.

tryanmax....I have NEVER seen this CB special! I grew up with the CB Christmas Special and in distant second, The Great Pumpkin at Halloween. This does sound like it has all the elements of these specials....Linus, Lucy, Snoopy and Woodstock and their ability to create extravagance out of anything. I'm surprised CB never dragged Snoopy to the pound for a little "attitude adjustment" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, perfect article for this week. And KRS, thanks for the memories. My family too treated TG very similar to the way yours did. First course....wine. Then making the desserts ahead of time. And then LOTS and lots of mashed potatoes!! Thanks!!

tryanmax said...

Patriot, while I have all the Peanuts specials on DVD, I'm pretty sure you can find this on on YouTube. And I believe ABC is airing it on Thanksgiving Day.

After watching this one, I can't see why Chuck would want to adjust Snoopy's attitude. In spite of holding back the turkey (which he doesn't even know about) Snoopy does all the work of setting up and cooking. I've never found a dog that will cook.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, I see the point your making now. And, yes, there are a lot few side-tracks today if you don't count the sub-plots that don't pan out.

On the other hand, the thing that annoys the heck out of me on TV action/dramas are those scenes where the bad guys are at the door, the favorite supporting character is dying, and the bomb is about to go off when the female lead decides this is a good time to instigate a heart-to-heart with the male lead about why he's been so distant lately. I don't know. Maybe because he's fighting zombies! (And this is why I love Commentarama.)

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, There are a million reasons to love Commentarama... why settle for just one? :-P

I couldn't agree with you more. I hate those moments. It's nonsense. It's cliche. And it's cynical. They just inject those because they think that if they don't, then they can't get women to watch. That doesn't work. You can't trick people into watching by inserting half-*ssed fake subplots from different genres.

BevfromNYC said...

Tryanmax - Great article. I had no idea there was a Thanksgiving special. I guess that I am passed the Peanuts phase.

BevfromNYC said...

I meant to add that I loved all the Peanuts characters especially Snoopy. I will have to watch this one.

tryanmax said...

Bev, Like I told Patriot, this is going to be on in a couple days, or you can find it on You Tube. I'm surprised more people don't know about this one.

KRS said...

Patriot - Hodge podge is right. I grew up with Irish, German, Scottish and English traditions. Mom added French cuisine for fun. Now we've married in to Chinese and African. Who knows what the menu will be a generation from now?

Andrew - I hate slo-mo. I know it is supposed to build dramatic tension, but it is as overused as shaky cam. The only film I can think of where it was entirely effective and pulled you into the story was 300. It worked there because they were going for a graphic novel feel. But usually when they choose to slo-mo, it's a dramatic speed bump.

Oops, worked in Matrix, too.

KRS said...

Do you think anyone ever told Woodstock he was eating a bird?

AndrewPrice said...

KRS, Sorry about that. You ended up in the spam filter for some reason.

I agree about slo-mo. It's very rarely worked.

Koshcat said...

Meandering seems to be a common theme with CB episodes. For example, Snoopy shot down behind enemy lines in The Great Pumpkin. This isn't a strong show but better than most of the seasonal crap out there. The primary reason it has had staying power is the simple story and the fact it came on only once per year.

Koshcat said...

I don't have any major TG disasters. Growing up we would go to my grandmother's place. TG was also on the last weekend of hunting season so we often were working on filling our tags. Grandma didn't allow alcohol in her house but that didn't seem to matter. She always made these homemade caramel rolls for breakfast, which were awesome.

Today, we either have a nice meal with just my wife and kids or we visit family. Last year we spent it with my parents but my wife and I did all the cooking. We tried a new recipe for the turkey that turned out great; butter, lots and lots of butter. We like trying new things to go along with the traditional. This year we are going to try roasting a duck.

tryanmax said...

Koshcat, agreed, there is a lot of meander in mot CB specials, but the Thanksgiving one stands apart in the amount (by my estimation, ~55% of the show is filler), the humor (most of the gags are actually holiday-themed), and in that it's actually somewhat related to the plot, (no battles against the Red Baron). The more I think about it, the more I find the filler really is the show. The plot with Peppermint Patty really falls into the background and Snoopy's preparations are the real story.

Not everyone has a TG horror story, so don't worry about it. I just thought it'd be a fun way to get talking if anybody did. Apparently, we Commentaramans are an organized bunch when it comes to our turkey dinners.

Critch said...

I have all the Peanuts specials and watch them when the time comes..Charles Schultz was a genius...

tryanmax said...

Critch, They're some of the best ones to have. This year they seem to all be on, but I don't think that's always the case.

LisaP said...

This is two years later but I just found this and want to say I feel the exact opposite. I think Thanksgiving is the best holiday! No gifts to buy, no costumes to make, no eggs to dye, you don't have to prove your undying affection... you just have the best meal of the year (that is next to St. Patty's day.) I love it! No pressure. You get up in the morning and put the bird in, switch on the parade and then cook a wonderful meal with your family then later on you all eat together and play games. No having to prove anything. What could be better?!

AndrewPrice said...

Lisa, Thanks for the comment! I too love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday and I see it as the one that brings us closest to our family and the holiday spirit.

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