What was really the BEST Peanuts animation? Probably “You’re in Love, Charlie Brown”, the 4th TV special, from 1967 (produced next after the also-excellent “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”). The “wah-wah” adult voices debuted here, but that is not the crime some people seem to think it is. The humor of the episode was top-notch, perfectly reflecting the strip in its heyday.

Of course, with that being the “best”, means that, sadly, it was all downhill from there (albeit slowly at first)….

Alan

If FG is not funny to you, then FG is not funny TO YOU. Lots of people like it. That’s why it was brought back. I think the new ones are less funny than the originals, but I still get a good laugh out of some of the gags. The same way that I can fall out of my chair laughing at some BritComs while other people don’t even realize that a joke has occurred. Different people have different senses of humor.

Robot Chicken also had the BEST parody ever. The one where CB comes up to kick the football, and when Lucy pulls it away he kicks her squarely in the head exclaiming, “THAT’S FOR YEARS OF HUMILIATION, YOU B*TCH!!!”

Re CB = SB: I guess “Emily” might equal the little red-haired girl, then. Though more sublimely efficient (and FG-compatible to boot) would be to substitute the name “Charlie Brown” for “Arnold Layne”.

Most sublime of all, of course, is the tribute: “Shine On You Crazy Blockhead”…

Linus = Roger Waters? (Though I suppose Lucy would have knocked his block off when he suggested she vocalize on “The Great Gig In The Sky”.)

Other possibilities? A Snoopy/Red Baron-themed “Corporal Clegg”, perhaps; or, rather obviously, “if you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding” rendered in wha-whas…

I hate FG and agree that derisive humor at Peanuts expense feels like a cheap shot. But one that resonates with the FG crowd, I’m sure. I guess all that was left there was when Chuck pushes the blond skank with the fishnets away, to have Linus pipe up and say “Sally!”

Sometimes it felt like they stumbled onto the script for someone else’s movie, and then filmed it using Peanuts characters.

i said it first!

seriously, i haven’t seen that Snoopy Come Home, but based on many of the comments I really want to now. I have always loved Snoopy.

Where I think you missed something, though, is in the omission of probably one of the stupidest 1/2 hours of audiovisual nonsense ever created, that being “Race for your life, Charlie Brown” (I think it was called that). A pointless little film about Charlie and the gang at camp in some kind of canoe race. I remember being a kid of the proper age, a huge fan of other CB specials, and being bored by this one within less than 5 minutes, and asking myself why I bothered sticking with it. It was really, truly, a failure. And perhaps unlike “Snoopy Come Home”, race for your life really is a lame-o!

You say intense, I say overworked, self-conscious and far too predictable. It’s like watching a show made by the funninest guy you knew in high school. What was probably hilarious around the lunch table just comes off as second-rate and derivative against real inspiration and genius.

That said, I loved Charlie Brown as a kid. I have little kids now, and watching it with them, I can’t help but notice a strong whiff of neurosis and pop psychology that probably seemed normal in the ’70s, but sounds an awful lot like whining now.

I never thought I’d write that.

If you read the reviews at Amazon you’ll see that the strip was geared to making disease and hospital stays understandable and less mysterious and scary for younger children. In that respect I think it succeeds quite admireably

Heh, I had the Flashbeagle soundtrack and a little kid. Loved it.