So that means preparing for that sweet THANKSGIVING DINNER.....
That is for the U.S....
Anyway, before we start to stock for our THANKSGIVING festivities later in the month,
COMMERCIAL TIME!!!
What do we have here?
Keep in mind that these Commercials aired before KERMIT gained his signature FROG COLLAR and this was back when he we still a LIZARD....
But anyway,
I've only discovered these Commercials in the recent years as they were added to KERMIT's WIKIPEDIA page.....a few years ago.
These are Commercials starring Kermit alongside a secondary Muppet called MACK where...
MACK asks whether KERMIT eats MCGARRY'S SAUSAGES.
And often at times, he's treated like MACK's own CHEW TOY.
Here are the commercials if you may
They're actually quite hilarious especially for the 1965-1968 timeframe from which they were on the air.
KERMIT doesn't like being treated like he's some plaything but I guess getting hit in the arms or having a gunfire wake him up is much better than being threatened with amputation just so that the late CHARLES DURNING can serve FROG LEGS as a delicacy.....
At least NATIONAL LAMPOON Magazine knows that eating FROG LEGS is wrong...
Last year, I did a retrospective of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS......
Sort of.....
I just compared the similarities of the inaugural PEANUTS TV Debut
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS from DECEMBER 1965
& the DISNEY'S DOUG episode DOUG DIRECTS from NOVEMBER 1996
Mainly the scenes where both CHARLIE BROWN & DOUG FUNNIE have directorial duties assigned to them hosting the school plays during the winter season of all things.
Anyway,
This post is just going to focus on the PEANUTS by the late great
CHARLES M. SCHULZ.
There may be some instances of DOUG involved but it will be limited.
Anyway, after the Surprising Success of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS in 1965,
CBS decided to commission another Holiday Special.
But this time, have it made for...
And this CBS HOLIDAY SPECIAL is to be titled:
So..... What is it all about?
Well.....
It's HALLOWEEN!
What do you expect?
Kids going out in COSTUMES asking for CANDY to put in their PILLOW SACKS......
Or getting scared out of their wits due to the associations........ etc.
But in this episode, LINUS has gotten himself into an egregious situation
Yup... that's right.
LINUS VAN PELT, the BLANKET CARRYING KID,
Has decided to forgo his HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES,
and is instead waiting to see the presence of THE GREAT PUMPKIN.... IN PERSON...
Quite the odd U-TURN of his character from the previous CHRISTMAS SPECIAL where he recites a passage from the BIBLE to reignite confidence in CHARLIE BROWN......
Anyway,
Quite an unusual U-TURN indeed.
And it's getting to a point where even CHARLIE BROWN thinks that LINUS' decision to forgo his HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES for waiting for an entity is a stupid idea.
Are you serious?
LINUS, this is HALLOWEEN!!!
Not CHRISTMAS..... or BLACK FRIDAY.... or CYBER MONDAY...
Speaking about Charlie Brown,
Man, the kid can't seem to catch a break even in this special.
As if LUCY VAN PELT's Service as CHARLIE's personal SHRINK didn't do things too well for his CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE back in the previous special in 1965,
This time however since the weather is more permitting to allow it,
Yup.....
CBS finally allowed LEE MENDELSON FILM PRODUCTIONS
& BILL MELENDEZ PRODUCTIONS
to animate the FAMOUS FOOTBALL GAG...
And this is the third CBS special since they couldn't pull off the gag in the previous special which was CHARLIE BROWN ALL-STARS.
Even though it's Halloween, there are things to discuss that I call padding it out.
For example, We finally see an ANIMATED TAKE on SNOOPY imagining himself as going up against the infamous RED BARRON
And even SNOOPY can mess around with pretty much everybody...
Just like in CHRISTMAS, SNOOPY can mess with LUCY whether she likes it or not.
Or when he's dancing on top of SCHROEDER's Piano
And I was surprised to see that even despite LUCY's general crabbiness to others,
She does care about those to a point that she can worry.
Such as when she worries about LINUS staying out alone in the cold
Even LUCY feels she cannot allow LINUS to develop HYPOTHERMIA.
Another thing that sets this special apart is the fact that SALLY BROWN's voice has a little more..... professionalism involved.... Sort of.
Both Specials, SALLY BROWN was portrayed by KATHY STEINBERG,
But in CHRISTMAS, Kathy, Who was 6 years old back in 1965, couldn't read any form of writing even if it was typed.
So the producers had to feed KATHY her lines phonetically so she could at least copy them....
Which I guess adds to the charm of her character which is INNOCENCE.
This time in GREAT PUMPKIN,
KATHY, who was 7 years old back in 1966, She's able to read so that meant she can read her lines and memorize them.
Though in my mind, that kind of takes away from the charm of her character since that meant she's able to memorize her written lines which takes away some of the ADLIBBY nature of her 1965 portrayal....
Though I did read that KATHY's tooth was loose and the producers feared her performance would be ruined if she suddenly had a lisp caused by a Fallen Tooth so....
They rushed to record her lines.
And when she finished recording her final lines, her tooth finally flew out.
Quite an interesting turn of events.
Also, just like with A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS from a year prior
IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN was also sponsored by COCA-COLA
Does this mean both these specials are funded by
WAGA-TV, predecessor to CBS ATLANTA)?
Just saying since that's where COCA-COLA is bottled.
But unlike with CHRISTMAS, GREAT PUMPKIN also got another sponsor
Though as usual,
The SPONSORS were removed from future airings of them specials in the early 1970s after CBS got in trouble with them FELLAS AT THE FREAKING FCC over the use of ADVERTISING PRODUCTS in Children's Medium....
More like the FCC should have monitored how them 80's Saturday Morning Cartoons should have self-regulated how to distribute shows like TRANSFORMERS, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, MY LITTLE PONY, etc.....
But they had to wait until 1990 under GEORGE HW. BUSH's ADMINISTRATION
before they could regulate them properly with the CHILDREN'S TELEVISION ACT of that year.
And therefore, allow NICKELODEON to thrive with their own original NICKTOONS.
DOUG
(1991-1994 at NICKELODEON and later 1996-1999 at DISNEY)
As the 40th ANNIVERSARY of THE SIMPSONS approaches in APRIL 2027,
Let's take a step back in time to when THE SIMPSONS was just about to start it's 2nd Season in fall 1990.
The Then-FIRST LADY of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BARBARA BUSH
A remarkable first lady who was known for her GRANDMOTHERLY CHARM,
Published on an article for PEOPLE MAGAZINE where she called
THE SIMPSONS as "the dumbest thing she saw on television."
This provoked the anger from the writers who'd went out of their way to even make a Second season of their show after the hurdles they went through in the first season.
But they also had a plan,
That plan was to write a letter to BARBARA but instead of using their names or the names of anybody who produced the series,
They instead used the name of one MARGE SIMPSON
And here's what the...... er..... SHE wrote
Almost immediately after the writers sent MARGE's letter to the WHITE HOUSE,
BARBARA BUSH sent a letter back to FOX.
Quite the apology.
And nice compliment to HOMER SIMPSON there.
But then 16 months later on JANUARY 30 1992 in the build-up for the re-election campaign of BARABARA's husband GEORGE H.W. BUSH,
It got to the point that the letter that was sent had no effect.....
Well it had an effect on BARBARA but not to her husband GEORGE who was unfazed...
so to bite back,
The writers told FOX to they're going to have a little surprise for the viewers during a rerun of the now banned STARK RAVING DAD but this time, it was a little different.
It now opened with THE SIMPSON FAMILY watching BUSH's re-election speech, though reusing animation from the HAIR TONIC episode where an edit of the speech was overlaid on the TV.
Well..... as predicted by SIDESHOW BOB in BLACK WIDOWER, also from 1992,
"YOU CAN'T KEEP THE DEMOCRATS
OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE FOREVER!!!"
BUSH lost the election to ARKANSAS Governor BILL CLINTON
but it wouldn't be the last time the SIMPSONS WRITERS got the last laugh.
Later on in 1996, FOX aired the episode TWO BAD NEIGHBORS where the SIMPSON FAMILY have the Elder Bush Family move into SPRINGFIELD for their retirement as well as get away from POLITICS.
While MARGE and BARBARA still remained on GOOD TERMS
The same unfortunately could not be said about HOMER and GEORGE
But I don't want to spoil the episode for you.
Go watch it on your own time either through your SEASON 7 DVDs
or on your DISNEY+ Accounts.
Both BARBARA and GEORGE H.W BUSH passed away back in 2018.
I remember reading on APPLE NEWS on my iPhone 6S that year reading about the loss of the ELDER BUSH's.
I think both times, I read the news of their passing while I was eating at McDonald's at 41st and Victoria St.
I should have been saving this post for 2027 but I got impatient.
And besides, it's MID-TERM season so it's all the more fitting.
Speaking about mid-terms,
When the U.S had their 2006 midterms, MATT GROENING briefly changed the name of his comic from LIFE IN HELL into LIFE IS SWELL
He later reverted the comic back to it's original name before he decided to drop the comic from NEWSPAPERS in 2012.
At least NATIONAL LAMPOON Magazine knows that eating FROG LEGS is wrong...
