You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Out of all the Peanuts specials that are not Holiday specials, this is my personal favourite. Christmas, Great Pumpkin, and Easter Beagle will always be best, but besides those few, this is my favourite. The only one that rivals it is A Charlie Brown celebration, and that is only for it's sheer insanity. First off, the songs all absolutely rule. The kite flying song and the theme song are both among the greatest songs ever written for TV. But the greatest song from all Peanuts specials, is and will always be Happiness. Every time I hear it, I'm singing it for days. As far as story goes, there really isn't one. It's just really an animated version of highlights from the play. But, my what highlights they are. The baseball scene is one of the best ever. I finally taped the show when it aired on Nick-at-Nite recently, and now I can watch it whenever I want. Just two complaints- the classic theme song is not featured at all, and Snoopy talks (in a rather effeminate voice). But besides that, a classic from start to finish. This started out as a Broadway play. Sadly, I can only imagine Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown.

Peanuts is without a doubt, one of the greatest comic strips ever created. And the TV specials that were spawned from the strip are equally enjoyable to this day. But among the over forty specials created, there is one glaring special that should not have been made. The special, in question, is 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.' This special originated from an off-Broadway play. Yes, a musical. And it shows throughout the special. Charles Schulz did not create this one. Even if audiences didn't know off the bat that Schulz had not written this piece, it would become quickly evident that he hadn't. This special was originally created by a man named Clark Gesner, in the 1960's. According to the bonus feature included in the DVD, "Animating A Charlie Brown Musical", it wasn't even until roughly twenty years later this the play was made into this TV special.

The bonus featurette is about the only major positive to this DVD, sadly. While there are some funny jokes here and there throughout the different segments--this was not one continuous movie. It was just a bundle of separate skits--the fact that Gesner tried to literally adapt the comic strip to the stage, and then to the small screen, made this one of the lesser enjoyable Peanuts pieces.

The only thing that made the bonus feature worthwhile was that producer, Lee Mendelson did try to defend the strip. As a result, he gave audiences a little known fact in that Black Eyed Peas member, Fergie, (a.k.a Stacy Ferguson) was a member of the Peanuts gang in the 1984 special, 'It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown.' The reference was made in Mendelson's attempt to defend 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.' The bonus featurette included in this DVD made the DVD worth buying for true Peanuts fans and collectors. But unlike so many of the Peanuts specials that have been released in recent years, this is one of the few that lacks any bonus special(s). So all audiences really get with this new DVD is the one special, with no bells or whistles. Just Clark Gesner's off-Broadway play animated for television. So even if audiences are avid fans and collectors, this is a special that will sadly likely find itself spending more time on a DVD rack than in a DVD player.

When I first saw the Broadway musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, I thought it was based on the movie. However, after watching a behind-the-scenes look on my You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (the movie) DVD, I learned that it's actually the other way around. Last spring, the same high school I attended put on the same play. My family and I went to see it, and we all enjoyed it very much! It was the best play I've ever seen, and I was fortunate enough to get all the main characters' autographs. Although I finished high school 2 years ago and completed my second year in community college recently, if my high school had performed the play while I was there, I would have wanted to participate. I would have liked to play either Charlie Brown, Linus, or Snoopy. I already have the right attire to play Linus: the red and black striped shirt, the black pants, and even the blue blanket, so nobody would've had to create or purchase a Linus costume for me. Just to clarify, I first watched this before I knew about the play, and the play isn't the reason I like it.

The plot is a typical day in the life of Charlie Brown, with little moments from Valentine's Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed in the lives of his friends. This is a love letter to Charlie Brown, hence the title, which makes me like this even more! The other characters show more appreciation for him than usual, and they even sing about it at the beginning. To put more bread on the table, at the end he says it hasn't been such a bad day after all and how much better his friends have made his life. Above all else, Charlie Brown is resilient, persistent, and never fails to get up and try again.

If you've seen this before, you know that Snoopy talks in this, just like the play, but all his dialogue and singing is from his thoughts, and the humans can't hear him, so he's technically still nonverbal, which makes the idea of him talking even better. That, and he still does his signature laugh and growl, although some might argue that this contradicts his character. I don't know what else to say about it.

The play brings to life many favorite gags from the comic strip, such as Charlie Brown flying a kite, losing baseball games, Lucy's obsession with Schroeder, Snoopy's obsession with suppertime, and more, all presented through well-written songs with beautiful music that truly captures the essence of the original strip. My favorite song is "Happiness," the last song in both the TV movie and the play. It's a soft, relaxing, and beautiful song that always makes me feel emotional.

There is one thing I don't like about this: Lucy's song, Little Known Facts because the lyrics consist entirely of inaccurate facts that Lucy is trying to teach Linus, like we eat eagles on Thanksgiving and Christmas, snow comes up, bugs make grass grow, fire hydrants give us water to drink, and more. That's why I give this a 9/10. I can't blame Charlie Brown for scowling at her, trying to correct everything, and banging his head up against a tree at the end of the song. Overall, this is the best non-holiday Peanuts special, and if you're a big Peanuts fan like me, you should check this out, and the play too if possible.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown, is a funny and amazing special about the everyday lives of the Peanuts gang that is based off the broadway musical. I love broadway musicals and I love the Charlie Brown specials, which makes it one of my favorite specials, I also love this special because when I was a junior in high school, my school preformed this play and I played the part of Woodstock while my brother played Linus, so in a way, this special reminds me of one of the best few months of my life of how I had great times a practices, spending time with my friends, and making unforgettable memories. If you're a big fan of broadway musicals and Charlie Brown, then you'll love this special.

Plot In a Nutshell: The Peanuts gang are shown in a series of short, unrelated skits, which are peppered with songs of varying quality.

It should be noted, in fact it has to be said, that this Peanuts special is by and large a musical. It is filled with songs taken from the 1960s off-Broadway production of the same name, and as a result, what you have here is a rather atypical Peanuts product. "You're A Good Man" was NOT written by Charles Schulz, maybe the only Peanuts special not to be written by him.

Most of the reviews here are glowing, giving "You're A Good Man" either 9 or a full 10 stars; however, most of those reviewers also freely admit that they love musicals. So those reviews are heavily biased and that needs to be understood, as the reviewers are gushing about an art form they love. In other words, they are relatively unreliable.

I don't hate musicals, but I don't love them, either, so I feel I can be pretty open-minded here. There were a few songs within I did enjoy, like the title number and "Happiness." However, there were several others I thought were rather poor ("Home On the Range," Lucy's song about incorrect 'facts,' and a polyphonic headache about Peter Rabbit). Some of the reviews here claim every song is 'glorious' and that's just wildly overblown, at least to me.

There is also a song sung by the baseball team that is somewhat catchy. But there's a problem with it. They sing that the team is 'one win away from the championship'...well, anyone who knows Peanuts knows that simply can't be true. Their team rarely wins one game, let alone enough of them to be 'one win away from the championship.' The lyrics are totally out of step with what makes Charlie the lovable loser that he is.

So I found "You're A Good Man" to be very much a mixed bag. There are a lot of songs here and very little story. It's basically a collection of skits, sometimes taken right from the Peanuts strip, but then augmented (or dominated) by the insertion of songs into each skit. If you happen to love musicals, then you'll likely enjoy this as well. If you dislike or are indifferent to them, you're likely going to be pining for something else before long, especially as there is no over-arching story to follow.

5/10. Would I watch again: (Y/N)? Not anytime soon.