A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: A Xennial Rewatch

Have you ever thrown together a backyard feast for your friends?

Do you eat pretzels, jelly beans and toast on Thanksgiving?

If you love popcorn-popping Beagles with sous chef birds, you probably saw this iconic Thanksgiving special from the Peanuts gang. 

Join us as we rewatch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving as 40-somethings and share our thoughts on what we remember -- and the controversy that has followed in the years since it debuted. 

Leave us a glowing review wherever you listen to podcasts, and connect with Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast at all the places below:

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Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open And Episode Setup
• 1:00 Two-Part Holiday Specials Plan
• 1:52 Listener Gift: British Candy Haul
• 7:55 Access And Rights: Peanuts On Apple TV
• 8:22 The Special’s Basics And Plot
• 10:40 Charles Schulz: Origins And Peanuts’ Rise
• 16:00 Characters, Themes, And Representation
• 19:12 The Kids’ Feast: Toast, Popcorn, Jelly Beans
• 23:10 Peppermint Patty’s Manners And Marcy’s Role
• 25:46 Franklin’s Seat: Controversy And Context
• 29:20 Rewatch Reactions And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Would you eat a meal prepared by a beagle in a chef's hat? No. Would you attempt to kick a football teed up by your nemesis? If your idea of a Thanksgiving feast includes popcorn and jelly beans, you might be a Xennial who grew up watching holiday TV specials like a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. And so are we. I am Katie. And I'm Danny, and you're listening to Generation in Between, a Zennial podcast, where we remember, revisit, and sometimes relearn all kinds of things about being 80s kids and 90s teens. And oh my gosh, Katie, that was the cutest little um wholesome entrance. I think the only thing that could have made it better is if one of us was like, duh du. What? Song the song? Duh. Isn't it? Da now you got it. Okay. That was like the first song. I had to get to the dual side. I was like, duh. What song is that? Okay, that was cute. Thankfully. Okay, so what are we doing? What are we doing? Okay, so listeners, we have a special two-part series. You're listening to part one, where we are going to delve into two pretty common things to watch if you were Xenil growing up, even though they were made way before we were born, which are a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving TV special and a Charlie Brown Christmas. So this one is a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Yes, we're doing two. I well, we said they're gonna be like mini episodes. We're recording a lot of episodes today ahead of Thanksgiving break. And I have a feeling though they'll probably just be normal episodes. We're gonna see what happens. We're gonna see what happens. And also, like, even though mine is the Thanksgiving one and Danny's is the Christmas one, we feel like probably some of the things we researched might overlap. I think so. But we'll see what happens. So you're on this ride with us as well, listeners. But before we get into it, Danny, you said you have a surprise. I do. She's full of surprises lately. Oh, I know I'm wearing my friendship bracelet. Look at that that she gave me last surprise. So last time I came with birthday surprises, and I have more because we have a friend and listener over in England named Hannah. Okay, we've talked about Hannah before. Hey girl, hey. Hello. Um, I got to see her for like 10 minutes. They are they were in the States for like two weeks doing a two-week Disney vacay. Nice and meeting up with friends. And I saw her for just a few minutes because I was going to pick up my friend Amber. Hannah used to be Amber's nanny 80,000 years ago, it feels like, when they were stationed in England. That's how they met, and they're like super tight, good friends now. Her and her husband, Greg, we're here. And she listens to our podcast. Not every episode, but you know, picks and chooses, which is why it's fun. So she brought us some candy that we talked about. You're gonna be so pumped. Is it British candy? Yes. Oh my god, I can't wait. This is exciting. I can't wait. Oh. And full stop honesty confession. Um, I opened one, but also I forgot, I was like, why is she giving us this kind? And then I remembered because some of it, when we had our candy testing episode, two of them, we talked about the origins of certain candies, and some of them were British companies. Yep. So the first thing that is, this is where Starburst came from, Opal Fruits. Yes, Opal Fruits. And it has the original, this is where Starburst came from, and it has the lime, lemon, lime, and orange are the flavors. Oh my god. So she brought us those. We have two bags of these. Yeah, we have snacks today. Okay, one for you, one for me. Oh, they're so so they're the exact size of Starburst, and packaging is similar. And I ate the lime one, and they're delicious, and I wish they still made lime starburst. So opal fruits, then you're gonna love these fruit pastioles. We talked about these, and I can't remember when we talked about what we talked about. Katie is so excited. Probably maybe when we talked about gushers. I don't know. Oh, maybe. Uh fun and juicy sweets bursting with fruity flavors. So we'll so there we go. And then we've got um jelly beans, which is funny. These are just from England. Yay! Katie was like, I should have brought popcorn toast and jelly beans. I was like, oh well. Snoopy approved jelly beans. Snoopy approved. Um you we when we talked about um fun dip. Yes. So this is British fun dip. It's called Dip Dab, and it's got like it says it's a Sherbet dip with a tasty strawberry flavor lolly, which is what they call lollipops. Okay. So it's got, let's just open it right now. I want to see what's in it. Yeah, I want to see what it looks like. Okay. You are you supposed to shake it? I don't know. I just did. I don't know. I don't know either. Hannah's gonna be like, y'all are eating those wrong. Dip dab because I'll sucker. It's an actual, yeah, it's not like a stick like funded, but it's like in the powder and eat. I'm not eating this, but why not? I will try it, but I mean let's go. Oh my god, sour. Oh, and there's a lollipop underneath the sour. Oh, it's very sour. It's so sour. It's very source. You know what it tastes like? Lemonade mix. The sucker's probably good. Let's see. That's what I'm trying to get it with. Yeah, the sucker. No, the sucker, the sucker's sour as well. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 5:07

Maybe that's fun.

SPEAKER_00: 5:08

That was a fun to taste. That's cute. I like that. And then, and then um, hold on, I just have a couple more things. Um, this is I don't know what this is. It says drumstick, soft chew, original raspberry and milk flavor. Is it gum or is it like Starburst? We'll try those two. Did you say milk flavor? Yeah, it said raspberry and milk. So maybe it's like strawberries and cream. Okay. That we can do. So I don't know. There's that. Um, these are Love Hearts, which looks like um looks like Smarties. Smarties and maybe like sweet tarts combined, kind of. Yeah. Those are cute. And then also some chocolate. Yay! Yay! But listen to this. This is a wild. I have been eating fruity candy lately. Do you remember back in the day you told me that um to eat laffy taffies before singing? Yeah. Okay, so I bought a big pack for my dressing room and I bought some Jolly Ranchers just to suck on. You know what I think? Now I'm like eating fruity candy. What? I was in Cooper's candy, Halloween candy, eating fruity candy. I don't know what's happening. Yeah, we're all. I feel like, yeah, something about it is a little bit addicting. Oh, what's that? A note? Um saw these and thought you could relive the flavors. Oh. Wait, what? Saw these and thought you could relive the flavors you couldn't. I don't know what that means. Uh, plus a few extras for you all. We thought Coop would like them. Oh, well, I brought at the very end, it says, give them to your children. Um, but this is I love Cadbury chocolate. Yeah, it's the best. And this is a um, I don't think you can buy these here because I've never seen this kind. It's wispa, crunchy, and boost. So we've got some chocolate. I think I've had a wispa before. Well, I'm not sure. That's like the rice crispy one kind of. They sell, I think they sell the crunchy at World Market, actually. But anyway, so I'll I'll have a little bit of that chocolate later. We'll get it. Because the crispy ones I'll try. That is so like thank you, Hannah. So we've already got these ones open. I was gonna say, I get to keep all the fruit, but now that you like fruit, well, I mean, I don't, I don't, I just I don't like it all the time, but we'll keep it here and we'll just have it. Well, we did that. We can have one. I'm gonna eat one now. Oh, oh, I see. Wow, you really you really are well. I wanted to try, I wanted to oh wait, there's red in here too. Okay, I just wanted to strawberry. Um strawberry I'm gonna flavor combo. Yeah, you're gonna do lemon and lime. That's what I'm doing. Lemon and lime, do it. Okay, so that was awesome. That was a fun aside. Great treatment. And I'm excited since I'm talking a lot this episode. I'll I'll save my little candy for the next one. Okay. Little candy. My little candy. I should say you were trying to be British. I was, and it didn't really work. I mean I felt it. My little candy. Okay, that's that was a little better. Yeah. Why, though. Anyway, thanks, Hannah. Thank you, Hannah. Appreciate that. So many snacks for days. I can't wait. It's so fun. Okay, so when this comes out, listeners, it will be Thanksgiving week. So hopefully you have watched a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, if that's your thing, or you're planning to watch it this week, and this gives you a little insight. Although it is much harder to watch nowadays than it used to be, and we will get into that. You might as well it's on Apple. Uh, okay, so Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Let me just tell you a little bit about it first. It was a TV special that first aired November 20th, 1973. It was on CBS, and it's got the music of Vince Gul. I don't know if I can say his name, Gulaldi. Girl. I know the name. I can't say it. Can you say it? You know I can't say it. Girl. The guy who wrote the da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da that guy. So there's lots of and this was one of his final peanuts projects before he died in 1976. Yep. And the special won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming in 1974. So if you have not watched it or it's been a minute, I'm gonna give you the plot summary.

unknown: 9:05

Look at me.

SPEAKER_00: 9:07

Danny is ready. Okay. It's funny. I read it to Brent and he's like, hmm, because he loves everything peanuts. That's that's my husband listeners, in case you're new. And he was like, huh. I don't know that I've really watched that one that much, which is weird. I'm not sure. Because he loves everything peanuts and he loves the Christmas and the Halloween one. He's like, I don't think I've really watched the Thanksgiving one. I said the same thing because I have, did you take notes when you re-watched it? Yeah. Okay. So whenever we get there, that was one of the first things I wrote down. Like I was talking to somebody about it. I I was doing research for the Christmas one in the dressing room during QAQ because I had so much time. Well, I I didn't really get much downtime, yeah. But um, I was like, have y'all seen the Thanksgiving Charlie Brown? And they're like, Oh yeah, the one with the toast and the whatever. And I was like, oh, okay. But it does not live in my brain like the Christmas one. Yeah, interesting. I know. So, okay, the plot is the story centers around Charlie Brown being roped into hosting a Thanksgiving dinner despite knowing not how to cook. Not despite not knowing how to cook. Wow, words are hard today.

unknown: 10:09

I know I didn't.

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

I said, I said, despite knowing not how to cook, instead of despite not knowing. I guess it means the same thing though. Peppermint Patty invites herself over. Charlie Brown and Snoopy prepare an improvised feast of toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans. After Peppermint Patty criticizes the meal, Marcy helps her realize she was rude and she apologizes. The gang eventually heads to Charlie Brown's grandmother's real Thanksgiving dinner. I can't wait to get to our notes on the rewatch because I had thoughts on Peppermint Patty. On everything. On everything, yeah. Okay. So it was after it first aired on CBS, it was on every holiday season before it moved to ABC in 2001. Yeah. And then it was aired there until 2020 when ABC stopped airing it and the rights shifted to Apple TV Plus, which is the exclusive home now for like all peanuts specials. That's the only place you can get them. Take that, Disney. Yeah. There you go. But there was peanuts. There was actually a lot of public backlash when that happened. I don't know if you ran into this with your research, but people were really upset that it was behind a paywall now because it was like a shared holiday tradition kind of thing. Well, because it used to come on network TV at the same time every holiday season for like 40 years. Right. Right? Yeah, because well, it was it was um, yeah, about 40 because it was 70, what did I say? 1973. So, and then 2020, it went over to Apple. Yeah, so that's kind of bullshit. Yeah, so people were unhappy about that. So the first two years, Apple partnered with PBS and offered it free. But after 2021, it has not offered that. Nothing is free anymore. You have to either have the subscription or pay for it. Capitalism at its finest. Exactly. So if you are looking for it, listeners, because it took me a minute to find it, and I was like, isn't it on Prime? Isn't it on Netflix? Isn't it on my like DVR somewhere? But the only but eventually I just had to get it on Apple. And that's crazy because not everybody has a right, and not everybody has all the I want to get rid of all. I just want to get rid of everything. I just know it's so much better. Burn it to the ground. I know. Well, so I realized we should probably talk because we haven't had a peanuts dedicated episode yet. We've talked about different things. We talked about dogs, maybe cats versus dogs. I think we talked about Snoopy. I swear we talked about Charles Schultz. I don't know. Well, I'm gonna tell you about him briefly. But let's revisit because obviously neither one of us remembers. We're like, I don't know. Who is he? Hello? All right, so he was born November 26, 1922. Scorpio. And look, another Midwest homie, Minneapolis. Minneapolis, Minnesota. That's where he grew up. And he was the only child of a barber named Carl and a homemaker named Dina. So his dad was a barber. That's kind of fun. When he was growing up. I think I found something different in my research. I'll keep going. Really? We'll find out. Okay, we're gonna find out. You have to listen to both listeners. You have to see. We'll see because. And we're recording them right in a row. So in theory, we'll remember what I said versus what you said, but that's just in theory. So he was he had the nickname Sparky when he was growing up, and he was named after a comic strip character named Spark Plug. That's hilarious. So he was actually your Siri keeps going off on your phone. So you might want to just exit all the screens. Why am I on Facebook? I don't know. Help. Help. I see Katie's phone frozen on Facebook, and then the Siri, the Siri thing keeps going, and I'm like, oh, what's about to happen? Maybe it's the live stream that we're on. What if you just made this really long post? We'll get off in like three hours, and everyone will be like, hello? We'll have texts from all our friends. Are you want to know what we were talking about before we are? Oh geez, you better check that actually.

unknown: 13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:52

Make sure there's no incriminating evidence. You tell me if you found anything exciting about um Charles. Yeah. I'm gonna go. I don't know. I don't have my notes out. So I would not literally don't know. But I'm looking. My last post is something you tagged me in from birthday. Sweet. So we good. Oh, I forgot one thing. This is what I I have had horrible attention problems this week, everybody. I'm so sorry. Welcome to the show. I know. I got a fine Xennial present for my husband, which is a swatch watch. I was gonna ask you where that came from. Isn't it cute? It's so cute. So I always wanted one of these because my big sister had one. How do you tell time on that though? That's so hard to tell what time it is. I know. Um because it's analog. I know. It's you know what? It's good for my brain though, because it makes me pause for a second instead of just seeing numbers. Hold on. It's yeah. So, but I hate looking at my phone all the time. I know. So, do you not wear your Apple Watch anymore? I don't have one. Yeah, I don't even had one. I thought you did. Nope. Never wear watch.

unknown: 14:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 14:51

Never have an Apple watch. What did I think you had? Apple watches are on my list with AI. I had an Apple Watch and then got like a second one when it broke, and then when the second one stopped working, I was like, meh. I was over it. People are about to be pissed off because everyone we know has an Apple. I hate them. I think they're unnecessary. I mean, you can hate them for yourself. Yeah, I think they keep you way more tied to your phone. It's just you think you're not because you're looking at it on your phone. Because it's so rude when you're talking to somebody and they're doing this, and they think it's not rude because they're not looking at their phone. It's the same thing, guys. And it takes longer, I think, to read what the message is that way. And you're scrolling, yeah. Y'all know me. I'm like the crotchety old lady with technology. She is. I know. I I had to give her, give her a ribbon. Okay. She's resistant. She's wearing a swatch watch, guys. Okay, come on. There, but it's super cute. It's super cute. It's super cute. That was a good gift. And I'm like, I don't know what time is it? 10? That's my first question. I'm like, but how but how do you know what time? I mean, it takes a second because how long has it been since you looked at a clock like this? Well, and there's no numbers. Well, right. Well, there's little marks. Little marks. So there's little back in the day, you probably would have been able to look at this and in two seconds. No, yeah. Even if it didn't have numbers, because you're used to looking at a clock. But we have not been used to like, do you have a normal clock anywhere? I don't in like your house or the studio. Right? For a long time we did in our house, but we don't right now. I know. It's crazy. It's weird. It's a weird thing. I realized that today. I was like, how long has it been since I've looked at an actual clock? Wow. Swatch watch for the win. Anyway, and also it's just cute and fun. So back to Sparky, also known as Charles. Sparky wanted to see a dog cartoon. Yes. Oh, that's cute. He was. So it's a few things I found just said that he was always a very observant child. He was very creative. He loved drawing and reading comic strips. He loved. And he would spend time with his dog, Spike, who is later what Snoopy was modeled after. And then Snoopy had a brother or a cousin named Spike. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was his cousin. Wait, or was it his brother? I forget because Snoopy had like a bunch of um dogs. Siblings relatives. Yeah. Yeah, he really did. He served, uh, not Snoopy, but uh Charles served in the US Army during World War II. He was a staff sergeant, and he said that that military experience, like in several interviews, said it shaped his philosophical tone for peanuts and other things he wrote and really improved his empathy. Okay. Which makes sense. Yeah, it does. So he was pretty religious too. He was. Yeah. So that also, which I'm sure you'll get into because it's in mine as well. Yeah, like drove drove his visions. Drove his visions, yeah. So after the war, he was an art instructor at an art school, and he on his own began submitting single panel cartoons to local publications, which I believe a single panel is just like like just one, one square that tells the whole story. Yeah, basically, yeah. Like I was gonna say, like you would see in like the New Yorker now. Oh, they've just told these young kids that they don't know what that means. Yeah, old school meme. It's an old school meme meme on paper. Meme on paper. And he actually published an early series called Lil Folks, L-I Apostrophe L, Lil Folks. Oh my god, like leprechauns. What? Oh, because they're little? Because they're Lil? I don't know. I think they were just children. Oh. I think they were just normal children. And that's why he called it that. Why didn't I go straight to leprechaun? This is gonna be a day. We really are not making progress. Okay, here we go. So little folks did have it had sort of the first draft versions of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in it. But when Lil Folks became syndicated, little folks slash leprechauns, my family. It's Charlie Brown, but a leprechaun version was syndicated in 1950. The name was changed, and actually it was against um Schultz's wishes. He wanted to stay that, but it was named to Peanuts. And he didn't like the term, but he accepted it. Why is it why was it Peanuts? I don't know. A peanut gallery, I think so. And again, because they were like small, they were supposed, you know, children. But oh god, doggate my brain today. Yeah, like peanut like hey, peanut, you know. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm like the peanut gallery. I mean, it I guess definitely not leprechauns, but the peanut gallery, I could see an argument for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That actually makes some sense. Yeah, that actually makes sense. So under the name Peanuts, it was first published October 2nd, 1950, in just seven newspapers, and it only had three characters Charlie Brown, Patty, and someone named Shermy. I was like, who's that? Who's the leprechaun? Yeah, sure. Shermi. Gotta say it in an accent. Sh you could do it. No. Oh man. I can I did an Irish act. Where's Jen and we need her? I know, I know. We do need her. Um, and it was popular right away. Like other newspapers picked it up right away. People liked the just the simplicity, the minimal backgrounds, the ease at which you could like spot the characters, and there weren't an overwhelming amount of characters. Um, uh-oh, my notes are out of order or am I on? All of a sudden it's like Franklin sitting at the Thanksgiving table. And I'm like, that's not right. Here we go. You want to teleprompter. Give her the wrong page. That's it. Like I was saying about Franklin just now. Nope, I found it. Get out of here, this page. Okay, that one's gone. So people liked that it was sort of a relatable comic. You know, they it related to things like real life feelings like loneliness and disappointment, friendship, stuff like that, which I guess was a little less common. Comics were a little more um just kind of there for like the slapstick. Yeah, silly. Yeah, exactly. So by the 1960s, Peanuts was a global phenomenon. It was, you know, I told you it started in about seven papers, 2,600 plus newspapers by the 1960s in 75 countries and had over 300 million daily readers. So blew up. And from there, he started to add more characters. So we have the Charlie Brown, who Schultz always said was a self-portrait and insecurity and like wanting to succeed and fit in. And some say of mental health. Mental health, absolutely. Snoopy, inspired by his childhood dog Spike, like I said. Uh, and he evolved just kind of from an ordinary dog who was just in the strip to sort of this being of its own and an imaginative icon that could kind of transcend the dog world and do other stuff. Transcend to faith. Hold on. It's not even in my notes. I know that was I don't know where that came from. Transcend the dog world. Yeah. Let's sit with that for a second. Do we have to? Do we have to? I'm just kidding. Keep going. Okay. Linus, a blend of Schultz's philosophical side and gentle wisdom. Yeah. Although some would say I saw this in a couple articles, he's the worst mansplainer of all time. Oh my god, for real. But he does it to everyone, not just the girls. Don't they all? But mostly the girls. Yeah. Um, Lucy, bold, confident, slightly cruel, Charlie Brown spoiled. I would say more than slightly. More than slightly. She's pretty bad. She's like a masochist. Yeah. She's like, let me hold this ball. Ha ha! Hit your head. Yeah. Is that a masochist? Isn't it? No. A masochist hurts themselves. Oh. A sadist. Sadist. There you go. Obviously, I don't like either one of those things. So I don't even know what that means. They're both horrible is. Well, unless they're be weak and you're doing it with consent. But she's not. True. No. Okay, you had to think of that for. Yeah, it's a kid's cartoon. So nah. Wait, yes, what she said. Correct. Okay. And then Peppermint, Patty, and Marcy. And Schultz always talked about how he enjoyed writing their unconventional friendship, which hmm, well. Yeah, we know what that means. We know what that means. We're gonna loop back to this character, but in 1968, so remember, we go from like basically 1950 to 1968, so 18 years after Peanuts is established, Franklin is introduced. Yes, the first um black Peanuts character. And he was created after a school teacher wrote to Schultz asking for more representation during the civil rights era. And he did get some pushback for this. Oh, yeah. Um, like in the comic strip itself, in the specials on TV. And after he had like read the letter and like thought about it and was like, Well duh, yeah, I should include this character. He always like pushed for it without like any hesitation. Which I think I think is important to note that uh that that was that was pretty groundbreaking, which is unfortunate and sad, but it's the real history of our country, and that you didn't see uh kids' entertainment or even lots of adult entertainment with people of color, you just didn't, or at least during that time, or at least not in the same tables and rooms as correct, yeah. It was like a whole separate entity, it was its own like genre kind of thing, which is again this is America. Um, so I think that that's important, but again, there was only one, and that's sad too. Yep, exactly. So a few things I looked up about him, just trivia in general. He wrote and drew every single peanuts comic himself. Isn't that fascinating? That is so wild to me. I know, because at some point you're producing them daily, like even in weekend papers, like you're producing at least seven a week. Yeah. Now he did have help with things like the specials and stuff like that. Well, there was yeah, because TV animation works a little differently. They copied his style. Because cell animate animation, you have to well, back then, well, I they don't do it anymore, do they? Cell animation? I don't think so. I think it's all computerized. That makes me sad. Uh oh, here she comes. I'm not, I'm just saying it's sad because it's so cool to see those old animation cells. It's all like the process they had to go through. Like, it's just it's very unique art, I think. I was gonna say it's a very cool art form, definitely. And then, yeah, he didn't have any assistance on his writing or art. He worked daily at his home studio in Santa Rosa, California. And what else? Okay, let's make sure I'm going to the right page. This could go either way.

unknown: 25:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 25:55

This is going good. So glad you did that. It's called a stapler. All I need to do is staple these. Yeah. Wow. Or put page numbers. Word will do it for you. Sorry, I'll do it. I'll do it myself. Just kidding. And not let the AI of Word put numbers on my pages. Page numbers on a page is not AI. That's just labels on my page. Yeah. Okay. So in 1999, Schultz retired due to some illness, and he died in on February 12th, 2000. So not long after he retired. And he died the night before his final peanut strip ran.

SPEAKER_01: 26:31

Aww.

SPEAKER_00: 26:32

Like he had drawn it before, like, and it ran the next day. And his final Sunday strip contained a farewell letter to readers and messages of gratitude. I remember that. Yeah. I don't remember that. I do. That's cool. That's really cool. I do remember that. And his his estate basically states that no new peanut strips may ever be drawn. Oh. Ever. Ensuring the legacy remains purely his work. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah. So So they can have new cartoons, just no strips. It says strips. Yeah, okay. Yeah. So they can they must be able to franchise the which makes sense because there have been like the Peanuts movie and all that stuff recently. Yeah. All right. So that's all I've got on him. I didn't have a lot on religion, but this up this one that I watched didn't deal with religion much. No, the next one. Yeah. Okay. So we'll save that. Good. Yeah. Yay. Something to look forward to. Everything overlapping, yeah. Woohoo. Woo. That's exciting. Okay. She's let's talk about the Thanksgiving feast itself, which you said you had to like think about before you re-watch it. You didn't quite remember it. Yeah. This feast of which I found iconic. I remembered it before I watched it. I know why. You know what? I am just a Thanksgiving person. Did you watch the Garfield Thanksgiving special? Yeah. Okay. I remember that one. Well, yeah, it's Garfield Special. It's because it's cat. I remember dog making toast and popcorn in Chef Hat. I man, oh how did we miss? We we planned out our episodes. Garfield specials. That'll be next year. Yeah, that's okay. We we got more. Next year we'll do that. We got more. Um, so the Thanksgiving feast, Schultz wanted it to be very childlike and realistic to like if a kid was to do it themselves. Yeah. Without any parent interaction, which is a reflection of a lot of what happens in peanuts. It's the kids' stories. You don't really see the parents. They're teachers. There's no parents. There's no parents. The teachers aren't until way later, and you only hear the wah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's focused on the kids and them behaving independently and sort of figuring things out and the problems that will arise from that because kids have limited resources and they have to figure life out. So this feast was kind of an outpouring of that. So instead of this like polished traditional meal that maybe they would get to eventually, it's something that kids could really pull off at the time. But also, while I was watching, I'm just gonna throw in my thoughts while we're talking. Yeah. What okay, it's Thanksgiving Day. I know. Where are the parents? They're gone, the kids, all these kids just setting up a table outside, parents are gone, and then all of a sudden a parent comes back with this car that has 800 benches to go to grandma's. I know, I know. I was like, okay, that I know it was the 70s, but come on. Yeah, 60s, whatever it was. Yeah, that's really that's a good point. Because he wants it to be realistic, but then you just named quite a few unrealistic things. And I never noticed that before, probably because I was a kid, or whatever. But yeah, and it's and it's the quickest way to just like make the storyline work. Uh-huh. It's like, oh, the parents here, everyone's going to grandmas. Bye. Well, and also like like they're why are the kids not with their family on Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving. Right. All of them. Yes. They're like I'm going to Charlie Brown's house to sit in his yard. Like, I don't know. Look, our kids are probably gonna try to do that. Oh, that's gonna be like, I'm going to sit in Caden's yard. Yeah, because they're the Well, choice cooking. I don't know what's gonna Ooh banana nope.

unknown: 30:03

Nope.

SPEAKER_00: 30:04

Yummy. Don't be it won't be anything exciting. Well, I'll send something extra delicious if Emmy comes by at any point. Send something that he doesn't eat that has sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, or cranberry. I will. I will I'll just just for myself. Just for you. Army and M2. But nobody else in my house will eat it. Yeah, she'll eat it. Okay. I'm gonna send it. Sorry, y'all. We're planning some food on it. We're planning it. I guess I'm a little hungry. I love Thanksgiving. I do not love Thanksgiving. I don't care. Um, all right, so that's what the feast was all about, right? Not it it's interesting because I feel like, of course, this was like before our time when this was made. But I feel like in our time they would have somehow developed like a perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah. That would have been it was like all these trials and errors, but we pulled it off. But this is just like, yeah, no, this is this is what we're serving. Also, they had endless amounts of bread. Also, Snoopy actually made all the food. So don't forget the dog did it. Notice I didn't even say anything about that. I thought that's what you were gonna say when you said the thing about the parents. No, that's so funny. But also, yeah, the dog is but also the dog, and then his ear gets buttered. That's my favorite part. I don't know why. I just think it's so cute. Uh I'm not trying to put butter on my dog's ear, so gross. Okay. So also the feast part, which I've just sort of touched on, was built around Snoopy's personality, right? Right? So it was meant to be a funny scene for him, dramatic, theatrical, something totally absurd. And then Charlie Brown's like, Snoopy, what'd you make? I'm like, bro, it's your dog.

unknown: 31:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:37

He was like shocked. He's like, Snoopy, what are you doing in here? Hello? Um okay, so they started the first idea, was the toast. Schultz liked the idea that they would um default to that when asked to make anything, and be like, Well, I can make toast, like his own kids and maybe just kids of the time, which is funny because my kids do, except like one of my kids that does it makes avocado toast and it's all fancy. Wow. I know. And I was like, make me a piece, and she does. Unless we're out of avocado, or she only has enough for herself. Well, I'm so glad you told that story. We're gonna keep going. I'm just saying the times have changed. They have. My child, this child can make toast, but it's avocado toast. But it's bougie toast. Yeah, bougie toast. Yeah, exactly. Um, let's see. Whoop, where are we now? We are up. Oh my god. Okay, we're down to two pages left. Staples and page numbers. Y'all should see the floor. It's littered with all my notes. This was supposed to save her time, I guess. And it really is. It's really going. And what's wrong with your printer? There's ink all over the if you know me, you know this drama. We don't know what happens. Why do you just go around talking about your printer drama? No. Like anyone, I guess I should say anyone associated with the studio that I printed anything out for. Or students. Our students. So that's a lot of people that know me. Or if you went to see Ride the Cyclone, because I printed them from my printer, every program had that on there. Oh, I didn't notice. But it was like a vibe for that show, so it was okay. Oh my god. It's this really, really nice printer, and we've done everything we can to try to make it not do this. We've changed the ink, we've cleaned it, we've like taken it, we've done all the YouTube videos, and it's still doing it. So we're just gonna have to get a new printer, I think. Or everything is just gonna have a vibe. It's been uh I said cyclone, that was back in April. So we've been doing this at least since then. Oh no. But back to the top of the vibe. Why do I have so many notes about that? I don't know, she was pumped. I was really pumped. Um, I kind of already said that, just that it's more Snoopy, slapstick, accessible for kids. Yeah. Okay. So then the popcorn, which is popped by Snoopy, the jelly beans and pretzels were colorful and silly and easy to animate. Oh, okay. So it was like, what can people clearly know what this is? That makes sense. And so it was a way to just kind of like dress up the scene and make it easy to identify what they made. Um, they were also influenced by like what the food could do. So, for example, the toast can fly out of the toaster, the popcorn can pop everywhere. Yeah, the jelly beans and pretzels can slide across the table. So, like their capabilities too for animation. Snack capabilities. Snack capabilities. Hey. And then what I already said, which was that the non-traditional feast wasn't just a joke. Schultz loved that it reinforced the themes of gratitude for what you have, effort over perfection, friendship over presentation, that sort of thing. And let's talk about Peppermint Patty being a rude dog. Let's talk about that. Since we're here. Well, first of all, she invites herself over. Okay. So there's that. So rude. And I think we can all relate to that because we've all had people that invite themselves and stuff. Sure. It's me. I'm sorry. I do be doing that. It's definitely been me. Oh, I do that. But I don't mind when people do it if it's if it's something that requires me to have no effort. You know what I'm saying? Sure. Like if you hear me talking to somebody, like I I'm also, and you are this way too, I'm also like a everyone's welcome kind of situation. So like if you and I don't leave people out on purpose. Sometimes I just it just organically I'm talking to somebody, and then somebody's like, I'm gonna come, like, okay. And then somebody else is like, I'm gonna bring this person, and it just happens. I'm not leaving anyone out. No. But she straight up called him and's like, I'm coming over, make me some Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, and I'm bringing all these people. Great. And that child, Charlie Brown, just be like, Well, I guess I have to do this. I know that's some Charlie Brown. I know it is, and then she has the nerve to say, What is this trash that I am served? I know how annoying. I'm I'm totally paraphrasing, but like, well, basically, it's like he went through all this trouble, or Snoopy did, and they got the whole backyard ready. And like I loved how it had all the different chairs. I know. I I wrote that. I was like, you know, when you're having like a party or something, you're like, I need more chairs, and you have like the ramp. And like nothing is at the right height. And yeah, I know I wrote that down, but then peppermint patty don't even be the one to go apologize. No, it's like Marcy. She goes, Hey Marcy, will you go do that for me? Because I just mess everything up. No, I know peppermint patty. Also, Marcy's voice, so cute in this episode. Oh my gosh. I know, adorable. I was like, is she like three? What's going on? I love it. It's she's so cute. She is cute. She is cute. And like the the I was trying to think of the right word, isn't it? Um, in like older TV shows and stuff that aren't like outright, you know, like nowadays are LGBTQ like directly addressed and all it's like gay coded, isn't that the word? Gay coded. That is um peppermint patty, is definitely and it's fun to watch it now and be like, I see what you're doing, Charles Schultz. Yes, I see, but then it's kind of sad because I don't know, like I would love to go into the depths of the behind of like the um fans who do the deep dive and uh really analyze it because she's always saying she's in love with Charlie Brown, which maybe it's just a whole um spectrum thing. Like maybe, you know, yeah, and how um Marcy calls her sir, sir. I love that. I think it's great. I love it, and I also noticed an I don't know if it's just a style thing, but Peppermint Patty had sandals on with her toes out. Uh huh. Did you notice that? The whole every episode she's ever in, yeah. Ever, ever. And I'm like, it's Thanksgiving. But then that okay, I just said she. But then Marcy calls Peppermint Patty sir. Right. So is it a non-binary type of situation, too? Maybe without a without a direct knowing even maybe what that is. Yeah. Anyway, I mean, back then they would have said it was she was a tomboy. Or whatever. That's probably yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, interesting. Peppermint Patty, though, you had rude manners in this episode. Yeah. Oh, yeah. She was so rude. Or special, whatever's on it. In this special, yeah. Hey, now it's time for Franklin's page. We've made it. We made it. Oh my gosh. I feel like I'm missing a page, but I don't know. Maybe I'm not. Okay. It might be on the floor over there. It might be on the floor, and we'll just never know what I was gonna say. Okay, so a little bit of controversy surrounding this, a couple different things. I this was interesting. I did do a deep dive on this and kind of found both sides to this story. So this is Franklin, the character I mentioned earlier, the black character, is seated at the Thanksgiving table alone on one side and in sort of like a broken lawn chair. Now. Oh, that's so true. However, a lot of the chairs were a little jankety, but yes, he's in sort of like but not nice chair, and he's not sitting, sitting by the other kids. No one's like on either side of him. I didn't notice that. Right. So it sparked criticism then, and of course now through like a modern lens. Oh, he's included, but he's not really included. Right. He's still separate. Right. So I couldn't really get to the bottom of if that was on purpose. I mean, it feels like it was, but it wouldn't have been by Schultz. Because he, when he drew his own strips and stuff, never drew it that way. Right. Like Franken was in the midst of everything with everyone next to people sitting places riding or the network. Because a little bit of what he well, well, which the animators would have had to facilitate. Correct. So, you know, through a modern lens, especially, it looks very racially insensitive. And like you're here, like you said, you're here, but you're in your own spot. Yeah, oh, you're included. It's like it's that white gaze situation where, oh, he's there, we're including him, but also no, you're not really, because he's still very separate. Right. And kind of being singled out. Yeah. But I read an NPR article that had Robin Reed, who is the person that voiced the character of Franklin for um both of these specials, I believe. And he started vo the doing the voice when he was 11. He wasn't in the Christmas one. He wasn't. It was okay. So he was just in this one with the controversy, the Thanksgiving one. And his quote is, It's so very easy to get offended or upset, but we have to remember that at that time that actually represented progress. That's true. And he said he's very proud that he got to voice that character. And then another um civil rights activist named Bryant Keith Alexander said, I'm glad he's at the table. Does it matter that he's sitting in a lawn chair isolated on one side of the table? Yeah, because that's symbolic of the time. Well, that's true, too. His pos his positionality at the table is secondary to the fact that he's at least there. So good, but not good. I mean, I get it. So they were kind of just saying that. And then um, that same guy, the Brian Keith Alexander guy, said he remembers as a kid watching him and just seeing kind of himself, one of the first representations of himself. So, like it was a positive experience for him. Okay. He as a kid, he didn't watch it and go, Oh, why is he over there? You know, which obviously as we get older and wiser, we have more whatever. Um, and then I already talked about how Apple has the exclusive rights now, and people still complain that childhood classics shouldn't be paywalled, especially cultural things that we all share.

unknown: 41:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 41:52

And that loss of accessibility uh really kind of I don't know, it sort of hurts everyone culturally because it's something we could all share. Yeah, it's classism, it's assuming, oh, we'll just buy it on there, it's not that much or whatever. And capitalism on top of it. And Peanuts is still to this day an incredibly lucrative and successful franchise. Yeah. I mean, my kids love Snoopy. They Snoopy what theme park is he at? Is he at SeaWorld? That's no. Where is Snoopy? Six Flags is ten is Looney Tane's. Yeah, I don't think it's Six Flags either. Somewhere. Maybe they have their own park. They have their own park. Yeah. No, they don't have a Snoopy park. Is it like at Hershey Park or something like that? That's what I was thinking. We'll look it up. Okay. On the next episode, we'll tell you. But yeah, but yeah, it's it's it's franchise. So that's all I have in the way of research by. I need to not slip on these pages when I stand up. The pages worked out really well. I um I stand by it. Okay. I won't. You're sitting by it, actually. But literally. Literally. It's papers of all over the place. A sea of papers. So we we kind of talked about the episode as we went. Yeah, but we have to look and see what else I have on. Yeah, let me see too. I I enjoyed okay. So, first of all, did you enjoy watching it? Eh, okay. It was okay. Interesting. I don't know. I okay, this I I like Snoopy and Peanuts, but I'm not like a huge fangirl. Got it. Like, I know your daughter loves Snoopy, your husband loves Snoopy. I like it. I liked it more when I was a kid. Okay. Like, you know, there are some cartoons I still love, even as an adult. This one, no. It's kind of it kind of, here's what it is. It's just kind of too calm for me.

SPEAKER_01: 43:43

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 43:44

Which I think as a kid I liked because I I dug the Mr. Rogers and like when I was little, little. And I'm like the music's really good, like that jazz is nice, but I don't know. I don't know. I liked it. You know what's weird? I don't like cartoons, but I like peanuts. I enjoy watching peanuts. But see, that makes sense then that you would like that, and I'm kind of like, meh, it's all right. Yeah, it's like not over the top enough for you. And it's it's just chill for me. It's not fantastical enough. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's it. Yeah, maybe that's it. And I like that it's not always happy all the time. However, poor Charlie Brown, I think we could all be nicer to him. But I do think that it having kind of a touch of cynicism and a touch of these other things makes it but I like that. I don't want that. And that's fair. And that's fair. I have enough in my real life. You know what? Well, I mean, if it's on, I'll watch it. Yeah, yeah. I have like 800 Dawson. Oh, here we go. Um, already said that Lucy was mean. She is. Um, oh yeah, remember we said this. I read something sometime or I heard something about it on MPR um about like in cartoons addressing mental health without really addressing it. Like Charlie Brown has like some issues and his friends kind of just accept it. Well, some of them are really mean. Um, but like Eeyore was another one who's depressed, but his friends just let him be depressed and or try and help him out. And like anyway, I I thought of that when I was watching it. Um I think oh, did you ever find it strange that um a dog was besties with a bird? I've never really thought about it. What? Okay, you thought about it before today?

unknown: 45:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 45:33

Oh because because like in Looney Tunes, Sylvester and Tweety are like, well, that's a cat. That's a cat. Which is still weird. They're but they're enemies. Oh, they're enemies. That's not true. You don't know you have Looney Tunes. I sure don't. You went like this. Well, but then well, my point was what I was gonna say was they're like mortal enemies. Okay. Like I was gonna say mortal enemies, not Well, I my hand gestures did not make sense for what I was doing. Uh the sentence I was going to say until I realized that Sylvester was indeed a cat. But also, dogs don't like birds either. I've s oh no, my dogs hate birds. Well, right. So I just thought it was funny that that's the animal they picked for him to be besties with. I guess I just always assume because he lives outside. He's got his little dogs. I mean, there's other animals outside, but it just makes sense that he would have a have a bird nearby. I don't know. I don't know. It is a little weird. I mean, it's a cartoon, guys. It's a cartoon worried about. Um, I saw something about the toast, chairs, peppermint patty being a jerk. Oh, yeah. Parents and grandparents just be chilling somewhere else. That's yeah. Honestly, they probably have like a cigarette and a drink, and they're just somewhere like they're fine. They're fine. Yeah. Come home when the when it gets dark outside or whatever. All the only other thing I wrote was what kind of car are they even riding in? I know, right? Because I would like one. May I have like benches at the back? Like, here's like 10 kids. I know. I don't know. What did you have? Uh, that was kind of it. Um, this is not it, this is Johnson's. Oops, so is this. I guess I didn't have anything else. I just put it in there. I love it. You're just watching it. I enjoyed it. It got me, it got me really pumped for Thanksgiving. And just to be ironic and funny, I might take those food items to my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving. Oh, that'd be hilarious. I'm gonna do it. I could make a little party tray, a charcuterie board with toast and jelly beans and popcorn. And pretzels. And pretzels. I'm gonna do it. They would people would eat that in two seconds. Two seconds. Yeah. Do you like toast? I don't like plain toast. Oh no, I don't like toast. But I'd have to put it. Um it's just like heavy for nothing. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know how else to describe it. But like you eat it and you feel like so full, but then you're also like, it's heavy. But I but I really ate nothing and I'm still hungry. Oh my god, that's the funniest description of toast. I love that. If you've got a better one, listeners, please send. You know what I used to love as a kid was cinnamon toast. I know you hate it. I get and then when I got older, a friend of mine I was at their house and they made peanut butter cinnamon toast, and that changed my life when I was a kid. I was like, what do you mean you put peanut butter on your toast with the cinnamon and sugar? That's amazing. Katie's about to throw up over here. I do love peanut butter. It's good. Maybe. But I don't like toast that much. I'm gonna trick you one day and make you peanut butter toast and put cinnamon toast, cinnamon and sugar. How are you gonna trick me when I see it? No, I'm going to blindfold you.

unknown: 48:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 48:46

That is not where I thought you were going with that. I didn't think that forever until that moment. That's what's gonna happen. I will see the cinnamon unless I'm blindfolded. So it is a foolproof plan if you carry it out to that degree. If it comes to that, are we okay? No, no, we're not okay. This is only episode one of my hours are so tired looking. I keep looking in the you're in tech week. Yeah, but I'm not doing much. I'm just wandering around. Doesn't matter, you're still there all hours of the day. Why are you okay? I'm trying to open my eyes. They're like this. It's fine. I'm okay, everyone. Okay. Well, we hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and definitely tune in next week for our Charlie Brown Christmas special episode. And whatever you're doing this holiday season, we hope you stay safe and take us with you. And I love when Katie improvs the end of these. It's great. Take us with you on your device to listen to. There you go. There we go. Download all our EPS. That's right. Did you say EPS? Yeah, that's my abbreviation. My new abbreviation. EPS. I mean, okay. It works. It works. It's gonna be a thing. Do that, guys. Like fetch, it's happening. Well, fetch didn't happen though. Correct. So it's not like probably will be exactly like so actually, yes. Okay. Well, thanks for listening, guys, and we will see you next time on Generation in Between. Bye.