Here is Linus, telling us all the true meaning of Christmas. It's the best part of my favorite Christmas special, "A Charlie Brown Christmas". And I'm glad Charles Schulz fought hard to get it in:
Not to put a damper on the Christmas spirit, but last night I watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" that I DVR'd from early in December, and I simply appalled by the chopped up version ABC presented. In recent years they've showed a 35-minute version to accommodate all those commercials they have to show, but this year they went back to the 30-minute version. They cut Linus hitting the can with a snowball, Charlie Brown looking for Christmas cards in his mailbox, Schroeder playing "Jingle Bells" and Shermie's immortal line: "Every year it's the same. I always end up playing a shepherd." I was simply appalled by this butchered version, and ABC should be ashamed for what they did to my favorite holiday classic.
OK, enough of the ranting. It's Christmas.
Enjoy the holiday everyone!
I was also pissed they showed the 30. But then about 2 weeks later (Dec 15th) I saw an hour version on my Guide. I DVR'd it and after reading your post, I finally checked it out. It's the 35-min version, followed by some weird unrelated Disney 10-minute thing, and then a newer CB special begins. Very odd the way they set it up, but they did show the 35 after all.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if maybe they got complaints about the early-December 30-min, and that's why they forced in a 35 later. (However, I did notice many specials were shown early-month and then AGAIN mid-month this year.)
I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason they showed the special for a second time this season, Jere. I can't remember the last time that it was shown twice in the same Christmas season. I'm glad that they showed the 35-minute version, and I hope that chopped up version never sees the airwaves again.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I've confirmed with the Guide that the Twilight Zone marathon will indeed be happening again on SyFy this year. Starting on the morning of the 31st.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually trying to DVR both the Twilight Zone and the Honeymooners marathons at the same time, Jere. WPIX shows the Honeymooners most of the day on New Year's Day. I went through the Guide and picked out the best TZ episodes and I'm taping them. BTW, you probably know that SyFy is showing just the half-hour episodes, and none of the hour-long ones...
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