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It's a Podcast, Charlie Brown

As a kid, it was a good Saturday afternoon if I had a bowl of Cheetos and a collection of Peanuts comic strips in front of me. Charlie Brown and the gang were friends to me. (I especially identified with Linus.) I really liked the week-long story arcs and the brilliant mix of humor, frustration and perseverance of these lil' folks. And, honestly, I'm a little sad Shermie never took off as a main character. Animated Peanuts was great too. The airing of a Peanuts TV special was a big event in my house. I was pretty young, but I remember seeing RACE FOR YOUR LIFE, CHARLIE BROWN in 1977 in a movie theater. I know I watched A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN over and over on cable. BON VOYAGE, CHARLIE BROWN (And Don't Come Back!) is a wonderful movie, animated or otherwise. And I don't think a year has gone by that I haven't watched the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas specials. I pretty much have the dialogue memorized, much to the chagrin of my wife and kids. To date, Charlie Brown and the gang have appeared in five feature films and dozens of TV specials, including the series "This is America, Charlie Brown" and "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show". And on this podcast, we're going to watch them all. We'll discover what we liked and what we didn't. What worked and what didn't. There are many layers to a Peanuts special. Even in two dimensions, these characters are fully fleshed-out humans - and one beagle - with all the fears, anxieties, joys and laughs we all experience. Let's explore those together.
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Now displaying: June, 2019
Jun 15, 2019

Playwright Jack McManus returns to the podcast this month to discuss one of his favorite Peanuts specials: "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?" from 1990. This first TV special of the 90's arose out of Schulz's desire to honestly talk to kids about cancer. One of the Peanuts kids is diagnosed with leukemia and we follow the others as they process this information. It's a heavy episode. Does it manage to both entertain and inform? 

Unfortunately, there were some audio issues that makes Jack hard to hear for a lot of the discussion. Don't give up, though, it's good stuff if you just bump up the volume a little. My apologies.

Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Mining by Moonlight" and "Base Walker".

Thanks to Henry Pope for the use of his "Linus & Lucy" remix. Check out his music on Soundcloud here.

It's a Podcast, Charlie Brown - show notes, episodes, social media, etc.

Atari Bytes - Hey! That's my other show!

Pick up It's Podcast, Charlie Brown mugs and shirts and what not at our AB_Pod_Store on Zazzle.com

You can support the show financially on the Patreon page here. 

You can pick up my short story collection MISERY BANANA: VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS in ebook and print many places. Here's one of them.

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