Tag Archives: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/23/25 — 11/29/25

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Apple TV+)

Erin and I watched this on Tuesday.  It’s one of our traditions!  I swear, though, Peppermint Patty is so mean in this one.  And yet, after all that he’s had to put up with, Charlie Brown still invites everyone to come to his grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  What a guy!  You can read Erin’s thoughts here.

Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)

Finally!  The version of Saved By The Bell that I grew up with is available on Prime!  I watched a few episodes on Friday and …. well, they weren’t very good.  But maybe I just need to adjust my expectations.  I look forward to watching all seven seasons!

A Scene That I Love: Preparing The Meal In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Thanksgiving is just a few hours away!  If you’re like my family, you’re probably already working on your Thanksgiving meal.  But, if you’re not, don’t worry!  Take a lesson from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Snoopy, Linus, and Woodstock didn’t have much time but they still came up with a feast fit for a… well, maybe not a king or a queen but still, they did their best.

In this special, Charlie Brown has unexpected guests coming for Thanksgiving.  Luckily, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Linus are there to help him prepare a meal.  Toast and popcorn balls might not seem like a typical Thanksgiving dinner but, as this special shows, it’s not the food that makes Thanksgiving special.  It’s the company.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/24/24 — 11/30/24

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Spending this Thanksgiving week with my sisters, I didn’t watch a lot of television.  I did watch and review episodes of Homicide, Degrassi High, Miami Vice, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, Baywatch Nights, The Love Boat, and Monsters.

And, earlier today, I watched episodes of CHiPs, Degrassi High, Baywatch Nights, Monsters, Malibu CA, Check It Out, and Friday the 13th: The Series and I wrote up reviews that will post over the course of the upcoming week.  It’s always nice to have a head start on all of that.

On Tuesday, Erin and I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Charlie Brown really was way too nice about Peppermint Patty inviting herself over to his house and then getting upset over being served popcorn.  Myself, I love the fact that Snoopy had a fully cooked turkey that he basically hid from everyone else until it was just him and Woodstock at the house.

On Wednesday, I watched the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen.  I was not surprised to see Lulu eliminated.  I hope Brandon wins this season.

I watched bits of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and also the four football games that were played on Thursday.  My cousins were really into the football games.  I said I thought it would be nice if everyone could win and I got booed and accused of being a commie.  As for the parade, it just made me wish that I was in New York to see it in person.  Maybe next year!

On Friday, I watched episodes of two old 90s shows — Rollergames and Happy Hour.  They were both enjoyably dumb.

And that’s it for this week!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/20/22 — 11/26/22

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!  Here’s some thoughts on what I watched this week!

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here!

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

One of the Brady kids needed to make a movie for his Thanksgiving project.  The entire family helped!  Needless to say, Mike took it all way too seriously.  The movie itself looked awful but I’m sure the Brady kid — I think it was Peter — got an A.  No one ever had the courage to stand up to those Bradys.

California Dreams (YouTube)

Surf dudes with attitude….

Catholic Mass (Sunday Morning, The CW)

I always feel a bit weird watching Mass on television.  This Sunday, I felt even stranger about watching it while wearing a bikini and getting ready to lay out on the deck of my cousin’s place at Lake Texoma.  But, I did promise my sisters that I would try to go to Mass on Sunday so I did what I had to do!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Apple TV+)

Erin and I watched this classic on Wednesday.  She wrote about why she loves this special a few years ago.

Cheers (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

I haven’t seen many episodes of this show but I’ve read all the online praise and I am an unabashed fan of Frasier Crane.  The episode that I watched on Sunday was a Thanksgiving episode.  A bunch of barflies decided to spend Thanksgiving together.  Needless to say, it turned out to be a bit messy but also funny and even kind of heart-warming.

City Guys (Tubi)

They’re the neat guys.  I wrote about them here.

Football (FOX, NBC, CBS, Thursday)

The family was watching football so I joined them, kind of.  I cringed with every tackle and I felt terrible for the teams who lost.  I mean, what a sucky way to spend Thanksgiving.  Personally, I think they should allow for tie games so that everyone can be a winner!  But apparently, that’s not the way that football works.

Frosty Returns (Friday Night, CBS)

Frosty’s back!  But an evil businessman is going to destroy him with something called Summer Wheeze!  The 90s version of Frosty The Snowman tries a bit too hard.  I prefer the original.

Frosty the Snowman (Friday Night, CBS)

Yay!  Santa was able to bring Frosty back to life!  Seriously, I first saw this special when I was little and I was traumatized by melting Frosty!  Trauma aside, I love these old Christmas specials.

Full House (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

I watched two episodes on Sunday.  The first episode was from season one and it featured the Tanners having their first Thanksgiving since the death of Danny’s wife.  This was actually one of the better episodes of Full House.  This was followed by a much later episode of Full House, in which DJ finally got a boyfriend and started to show some independence from her overbearing family.  Good for her!

Gilligan’s Island (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

A bank robber (played by Larry Storch) somehow ended up on the island.  He menaced everyone with a gun, tried to hide his money, and then left without offering to help anyone else return to civilization.  I haven’t seen many episodes of Gilligan’s Island but apparently, this was a fairly common occurrence on the show.  For the record, I only watched this episode because I thought it was going to be Thanksgiving-themed but it wasn’t.

Happy Days (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

Upset that her family was more interested in football than fellowship, Marion Cunningham told the story of the First Thanksgiving.  To be honest, Happy Days is one of those popular old shows that I just don’t get.  The extremely enthusiastic “live audience” drives me crazy.  That said, this was an okay episode.  The cast got to dress up like pilgrims.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (NBC, Friday Night)

I love Boris Karloff!

The Love Boat (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

MeTV aired a Thanksgiving episode of The Love Boat on Sunday.  It was from season 6 so it’ll be a while before I get to review it as a part of my retro television reviews.

Saved By The Bell (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

I woke up early on Sunday morning and I watched six episodes of this show — that’s three hours! — as I had breakfast, cleaned up around the lakehouse, and packed for the trip home.  The episodes were a bit random.  It started with the Senior Prom episode, in which Zach realized that he still had feelings for Kelly.  This was followed by the infamous Graduation episode, in which the entire school rallied to help Zach avoid summer school despite the fact that they didn’t owe Zach a damn thing.  Then it was time for the “Time Capsule” clip show, in which a bunch of loser students gathered in Belding’s office to watch a VHS tape that had been left behind by Zach and the gang.

Time then moved backwards.  Suddenly, Zach was meeting Slater for the first time, Zach and Slater were competing to take Kelly to the school dance, and Zach was pretending to be Candy in order to get Screech to do his homework.

All of these episodes were, of course, pretty dumb and cringey.  But they made for nice background noise.  At this point, I think I have ever episode of this silly show memorized.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

WKRP IN Cincinnati (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

“Oh my God!  They’re turkeys!”  Jeff introduced me to the Thanksgiving episode of this classic sitcom a few years ago and, since then, watching it has become a Thanksgiving tradition.  Poor Mr. Carlson!

A Scene That I Love: Preparing For Thanksgiving in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is not only Thanksgiving but it’s also my birthday.  If CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, Freeform, PBS, Nickelodeon, or any of the other stations really want to give me a great present, one of them could cut a deal with Apple TV+ and start broadcasting the Peanuts specials again.  It’s really not Thanksgiving without A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving airing on ABC a week before the holiday!

(Lisa and I watched it on Apple TV+ last night but it just feels like something that belongs on regular television.  That’s just the way that I’m used to watching it, I guess.  Knowing that I was watching the show along with thousands of other people at the same time added to the experience and it made the special’s message feel even more important.)

Since the special wasn’t broadcast this year, I’m going to go ahead and share my favorite scene.  Charlie Brown has unexpected guests coming for Thanksgiving.  Luckily, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Linus are there to help him prepare a meal.  Toast and popcorn balls might not seem like a typical Thanksgiving dinner but, as this special shows, it’s not the food that makes Thanksgiving special.  It’s the company.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/21/21 — 11/27/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Between my sister’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and my attempts to get caught up on my Lifetime movie viewing, I didn’t watch much TV this week.  Here’s some thoughts on what did I see:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

With the long-distance duck making its way (very slowly) to London, Rene and the Resistance disguised themselves as doctors and nurses so that they could rescue Monsieur Alphonse from the hospital.  Meanwhile, the German colonels plotted to assassinate Alphonse with an exploding bedpan.  It was a bit of an odd episode but I still laughed.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

On Friday, I continued my binge of the first season of Baywatch Hawaii, watching three episodes.

Episode 11 featured a bit of tragedy for the Baywatch Hawaii team.  No sooner had Allie declared her love for Nick, the hunky coast guard helicopter pilot, than Nick ended up sacrificing his life so that two dummies trapped in a mini-sub could live.  David Hasselhoff made a brief appearance so that he could presumably collect his a paycheck and also so that Mitch could declare, “Nick wasn’t a lifeguard but he died being one.”  That’s actually probably why he died.

Episode 12 featured some JD/Jessie relationship drama, as it was revealed that JD and Dawn had previously worked together and had a relationship in Florida.  I’m assuming that JD and Jessie broke up over the fact that JD kept it a secret, though the ending of this episode kind of left things in the air.  There was also an odd subplot about JD inventing a new type of wet suit that allowed lifeguard to swim faster than dolphins.  It was an oddly disjointed episode (and I haven’t even gotten into the subplots about the missing child and Dawn getting named in a wrongful death suit) but it did end with a nicely surreal scene of the lifeguards relaxing underwater while fireworks exploded in the sky above.

Speaking of surreal, that’s the only way to describe Episode 13.  A man was recovered after drowning.  Despite having been underwater and medically dead for 20 minutes, he was still revived with absolutely no brain damage or any other injuries.  This led to Dawn and Sean exploring an underwater meditation technique that Dawn learned in India.  Sean was freaked out by a vision that he had in which Dawn appeared to be trying to drown him.  MEANWHILE, Jessie, Allie, and Kekoa went shopping!  Yay!  This led to them getting invited to a party on a boat and it also led to them having to strip down to their newly-purchased lingerie (in slow motion, of course) in order to save a group of stranded swimmers.  It was weird mix of philosophy and prurience and, to be honest, it was kind of brilliant in a Baywatch sort of way.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Sunday Night, PBS)

A few years ago, my sister wrote about why this special is something to give thanks for.

Cowboys vs. Raiders (Thursday Afternoon, CBS)

Because it was Thanksgiving, I kind of watched this football game with my family.  Most of my cousins really got into it.  Myself, I’m just hoping that no one suffered any permanent injuries and that both teams had a nice Thanksgiving meal after the game ended.  I was a little bit disappointed when the game went into overtime.  I mean, they already had the tie.  There was no need to hurt anyone’s feelings!  Still, with their enthusiastic spirit and their can-do attitude, both teams were winners!

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter here!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about the latest episode here!

King of the Hill (Sunday Afternoon, FXX)

I watched three classic episodes on Sunday afternoon.  Khannie and the Dale Gribble Bluegrass Experience went to Branson. (“She’s good …. she’s Branson good!”)  Peggy was conned by the president of the fictitious Genius Institute but she got her money back by pulling a con of her own.  Finally, Hank tried to convince his father to allow the local Vietnam vets to join the local VFW.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright tried to impress Nurse Gladys Emmanuel while Granville bitterly considered the pointlessness of his life.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

This week brought us another slowly paced episode of Walking Dead: World Beyond.  I guess the scientists and the main family are trying to break out of the paramilitary compound now?  Well, that’s probably a good idea.

A Scene That I Love: Snoopy Prepares Thanksgiving Dinner

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

I’m really disappointed that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will no longer be airing on CBS.  From now on, if you want to watch it or any of the other Charlie Brown specials, you have to subscribe to Apple TV+.  It really does feel like the end of an era.

I love A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  One of my favorite scenes is when Snoopy and Woodstock prepare Thanksgiving dinner for Charlie Brown and all of his unexpected guests.  I’m in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year and I’ve been thinking about this scene a lot.  I know that Thanksgiving is supposed to be a big meal but aren’t there times when we’d all rather just have toast and popcorn?

No matter what type of dinner you’re having tonight, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Lesson of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Every year, I watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and every year, I ask myself the same thing.  Why didn’t Charlie Brown just say no?

At the start of the special, when Lucy again challenges Charlie Brown to kick the football that she’s holding, why doesn’t he say no?  Why does he think that a national holiday would actually make Lucy hold the football long enough for him to kick it?

When Peppermint Patty decides to invite herself over for Thanksgiving dinner, why doesn’t he say just say no?  Peppermint Patty (aka Priscilla) may not take no for an answer but why not at least try?

When Peppermint Patty tells him that she’s invited Franklin and Marcy over for dinner, why doesn’t Charlie just admit that he only knows how to make “cold cereal and maybe toast?”

When Linus suggests that he could have two dinners and then Snoopy and Woodstock volunteer to cater the whole affair, why doesn’t Charlie Brown say no?  Doesn’t he know that anything he does is destined to go wrong?  Couldn’t he see Snoopy wrestling with the folding chair and just said, “No, this isn’t going to work?”

When Peppermint Patty yells about only getting toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans for Thanksgiving, why doesn’t Charlie just kick her off of his property?  No one would have blamed him.

And, when Peppermint Patty invites herself to go to Grandma Brown’s condo for Thanksgiving, why doesn’t he say no?  Why, after all she’s done to him, does he still want to give her a good Thanksgiving?

It’s all about faith.  All of the Charlie Brown holiday specials deal with faith.  Not just spiritual faith (though that was always present) but also faith in the goodness of humanity (even if it is sometimes hard to find) and optimism for the future (even if Charlie sometimes didn’t share it).

Just as Linus believed in the Great Pumpkin, Charlie believed in Thanksgiving, a holiday where we give thanks for and appreciate our friends and family, even if they are sometimes crabby or if they don’t realize that pretzels and jelly beans are a great meal.  Just as Snoopy believed that he could be a World War I flying ace and a published writer, Charlie Brown believed that a dog and a tiny bird could cater an entire holiday affair.  And, just like how he’ll never stop believing that the little red-haired girl will someday notice him, Charlie Brown will never stop believing that he’s going to kick that ball.  Charlie Brown never stops believing that things could go well even though they never do.  He never stops believing that the next day could be better than the last and even if his friends and his dog aren’t perfect, he never stops being thankful for them.

That’s the lesson of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Never stop believing.  Never lose track of what you have to be thankful for.  Never let a dog and a bird cater your Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!