It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown

This is what I heard my 7yr old daughter screaming from the TV room. I had received the Peanuts 70s DVD set, and I put on It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown for her to watch. When the screaming started I ran in to see what had upset her, and she was nearly in tears. "I hate this show!!! I don't want to see it any more!!! Lucy pulled the ball away but the other kids blame Charlie Brown for losing the game!!! All he wants is friends and they're all so hateful to him! Why are they so mean to him?" And y'know...I had no answer. Then I remembered back to the 70s when I first saw this, and I recall feeling EXACTLY the same way. So I gave the DVD set away since no one from my family will be watching it. All the Peanuts cartoons had an ample dose of hatred aimed squarely at Charlie Brown, but this one really pushed that angle way above and beyond, to the point where it just wasn't entertaining. I'd rather not try to explain to my daughter why the other kids are so evil towards Charlie Brown, especially when I've never understood it myself.

Since I am not American, I have no idea what a homecoming queen is and I am not familiar with their football rules. This Peanuts TV special is mainly about both so I was a little bit lost for most of it.

The story has Charlie Brown struggle (and unfairly lose) a football match and then finally get to meet his wannabe girlfriend (the little red-headed girl who finally see and is called Heather) at the Homecoming Ball (whatever that is). The build of dread as he approaches her is quite amusing and when he finally kisses her the reaction is brilliant. Too bad the rest of it is below par. Though the scenes with Woodstock pretending to be a TV cameraman and flying around on Snoopy (who's ear act as chopper blades) are typically surreal and undoubtedly the best moments.

I remember seeing "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown" when it first aired in the 70s and to me it was interesting to see the little red haired girl, who is named Heather but never, ever seen in the comic strip.

But unfortunately like many of the Peanuts cartoons, it suffers from predictability, especially in the football game scenes when Charlie Brown is the kicker and Lucy is the holder who pulls the ball away. The gag was funny in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving but becomes repetitive. And Charlie Brown, not Lucy takes the blame for losing the game. It just shows that I never liked Lucy in the cartoons. She's mean, bossy and a bully. It gets worse when she ridicules Charlie Brown at the homecoming dance.

However, the best scene is when Charlie Brown finally kisses the little red haired girl but unfortunately the next day, he doesn't remember anything that happened. It's a result of years of being bullied by Lucy and suffering from low self-esteem. It was something that he accomplished in his own life and he still felt depressed.

Of all the Peanuts cartoons that have aired, I would give it a major "Good grief!"

I saw this one in college. It makes the huge mistake of showing the Little Red-headed Girl. She is supposed to be a figure of mystery, the object of Charlie Brown's unfulfilled desires. Sparky should have made them change this.

The most amazing aspect of this is that Charlie Brown gets all of the team's ire, when it's that little b**** Lucy who keeps pulling the football away on every kick attempt. I don't advocate violence against women, but Lucy deserved a swift kick in the tuckus!

Stick with the classics, although it is fun to crank up the sound when Charlie Brown misses the football.

Okay. I'm not all that familiar with American educational traditions, but surely elementary school-kids don't have homecoming dances? From what I understand, it's more of a high school thing ... and the Peanuts gang are always supposed to be kids in elementary school. So right from the start, I'm jolted out of my enjoyment of this special by that.

Then we start adding other sources of incredulity. Charlie Brown has, for some reason, been picked to be the escort for the Homecoming Queen (the Little Red-Haired Girl.) Yahbuhwha? How did that happen? Was he wearing the sack again when the pick was made? And the peanuts gang are playing football -- against much bigger kids, I might add -- while wearing helmets over their usual clothes. Including Lucy in her blue dress.

Ah, yes, Lucy. Everyone knows that Lucy is going to pull the football out of the way when Charlie Brown goes to kick it. Everyone! She's famous for it! So who in their right mind would choose either of them as a place kicker and place kick holder? And then they blame Charlie Brown for screwing up? Doesn't anyone see Lucy holding the ball? Come on! Finally, we have the cheerleaders -- cheerleaders! -- doing a Snoopy cheer. While Snoopy is, in our world, a big time celebrity, in the milieu of Peanuts, he's just Charlie Brown's dog (and to a degree a neighborhood mascot.) While I can suspend disbelief enough to have him driving the kids in "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown", and being treated as human by most of the kids, the idea that he'd be the subject of cheers from people who probably don't know who he is strain my suspension to its breaking point.

There's one good moment in this special, that being of course the raptures that Charlie Brown flies into after he gives the Little Red-Haired Girl a kiss on the cheek. It's sweet but not cloying, but not enough to save this show, sad to say.