A Quick Take – Why Do We Love It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?

My son is going on 4 years old and I was so excited to show him It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It aired on ABC at 8:00pm – too late for H to stay up.

So, we waited the day for it to be on ABC On-Demand and all piled into bed to watch last night.

It ended and he turned to me and said “That’s it?”.

That stopped me in my tracks. He’s right. That’s it? What’s the plot? What’s redeeming about any of the characters? What’s the happy ending?

The Christmas special, at least, has some great messages and a happy ending with all the tree decorating and singing.

The Halloween Special just kind of ends. Everyone is mean. Like, EVERYONE.

Charlie Brown was happy to get an invitation.

He’s told – sorry – that had to have been a mistake. Ouch.

Adults in the community are giving the kid ROCKS for Trick or Treat – ROCKS!

Seriously? All the other kids get candy, gum and chocolate and you single out the one kid (UNDER A SHEET!) to get a rock – every time. Ouch.

Where the hell are the parents? Charlie Brown has to use scissors and makes his ghost into swiss cheese.

And Linus?

He’s left shivering in a pumpkin patch until his sister wakes up at 4am to bring him back inside.

Sally loves Linus but gets pissed when she realizes she misses the chocolate and screams at the poor kid.

YIKES! Not the way to win the heart of your beloved, my dear.

Don’t get me started on Snoopy.

I have no clue where the getting shot down and crawling through France thing even fits in.

So, help me and H out – WHY, exactly, do we love this special?

-KP