Jezebel: a charlie brown christmas

Good Grief.

Sadie — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST

Angered by ABC's cutting A Charlie Brown Christmas for ad-space, Leon Lynn writes that the special "has spent 44 years now trying to remind us that Christmas is supposed to transcend crass commercialism...Do you have no sense of irony?" [MediaBistro]

You're A Good Man, Barack Obama: Afghanistan War Meets Classic Animation

Sadie — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST

Who says A Charlie Brown Christmas and Barack Obama's address on Afghanistan can't make beautiful policy together? In fact, who better than Charlie Brown, undertrodden everyman, to articulate the frustrations of a confused and embattled nation?

I think we've got ourselves a new holiday tradition, kids. And a round of applause, please, to Gawker video intern Rose Annis, who, at our request, took the much-beloved Christmas special - which was preempted so that ABC could air the President's West Point address - and made herself an awesome mashup. Not just anyone can get an assignment like "splice together Peanuts and the deployment of thirty thousand troops" and create a Christmas miracle.

Earlier: A Charlie Brown Christmas Will Not Air Tonight

Rudolph Can Take His Red Nose And Shove It

Jessica — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST

When I was in second grade, I told a girl there was no Santa. She cried. And I liked it.

There's a Slate article today about Jewish Children and Christmas programming that makes me feel less alone: I wasn't the only jealous Jew on Christmas! Of all the Christmas fare out there, the only movie that Jewish parents seem to allow their children to watch universally is How The Grinch Stole Christmas:

Many Jewish kids I heard from were permitted to watch the Grinch every year, yet somehow nobody (including my parents) is able to explain why this is so. Nearly everyone who wrote to me explained that the Boris Karloff version of the Grinch was "a classic." OK. But dig a little deeper and what surfaces is a universal (and discomfiting) sense that the Grinch is a fundamentally Jewish show because the Grinch himself is a fundamentally Jewish character. I got one e-mail that concluded, "Who is more of a Grinch than a grumpy old Jew?" And a Jew with a heart problem no less? A fair point, perhaps, but why do Jewish parents want to be pushing this peculiarly self-loathing vision of the bitter old Jewish man on their kids? Do we drag our kids to see The Merchant of Venice? If anything, the weird Grinch-as-old-Jew notion would seem to suggest that of all things Jewish kids should not be watching at Christmastime, the Seussian classic tops the list. But perhaps my colleague Emily Bazelon is right, and Jewish kids like the Grinch because "Without the ending, the movie is the ultimate fantasy for a Jewish kid with a case of Santa/tree/carols envy—Christmas, canceled."

Oh yes. I understand Christmas envy all too well. However, I can't remember whether or not my parents let me watch Christmas specials. I think they didn't overtly encourage or discourage it, but maybe I just blocked it out from deep soul pain! The other Jewzebel, Sadie, says "We DID watch the old 1930s Christmas Carol on New Year's Eve, but not really the kids' classics.Frosty and Rudolph plots both upset me, anyway. I just have the vague impression of Rudolph being ostracized and Frosty melting."

So to all you non-Christian, American TV lovers we ask: Rudolph, yay or nay?

Oy, Hark! [Slate]

Charlie Brown Christmas Dancers Are A Motley Crew

Tracie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST

Guess what? The holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas, is airing on ABC tonight. To gear up, we decided to present a backstory to one of the show's best bits: the dancers and their dances.