''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' is the 29th

prime-time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

musical

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

based upon the comic strip ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...

,'' by

Charles M. Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...

. This adaptation of the 1967 musical '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' originally aired on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

network on November 6, 1985, and rebroadcast on June 14, 1988. The special was produced by Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates and Mendelson- Melendez Productions.

Plot

The program opens with the other ''Peanuts'' characters singing the title song to

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip '' Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American a ...

. In the next scene,

Schroeder __NOTOC__ Schroeder is a North German language, German (from Schröder) occupational name for a cloth cutter or tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Low German , "to cut". The same term was occasionally used to denote a gristmiller as well as ...

plays

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's "

Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name ''M ...

" and

Lucy Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...

sings along. She tries to tell him that they should get married. Schroeder ignores her, then Lucy says, "My aunt Marian was right; never try to discuss marriage with a musician." Charlie Brown hopes for the first time to be able to keep a

kite A kite is a tethered heavier-than-air or lighter-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create lift and drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have a bridle and tail to guide the fac ...

but he once again fails. Sally writes a letter to Ann Flanders about the

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

card she gets. Charlie Brown gives Lucy a Valentine's Day card and mistakenly says, "This is for you, Lucy. Merry

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

!" Charlie Brown sees

Marcie Marcie is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. Marcie is a studious girl who is sometimes depicted as being terrible at sports. She is friends with the ...

and thinks that she is going to give him a Valentine's Day card but she does not. Lucy comes up to Schroeder again and talks about saucepans, and, again, Schroeder cannot stand it. Snoopy imagines that he is a wild animal. Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Linus, and Lucy work on their book reports on

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...

("Book Report"). Lucy teaches Linus about nature in her own way while Charlie Brown tries to correct her, to no avail ("Little Known Facts"). Charlie Brown writes a letter to his pencil pal about his downfall at his

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

game. Charlie Brown pleads his baseball team to win the game by chanting "T-E-A-M" but fails. Lucy dreams of becoming a queen but gives up dreaming. Charlie Brown tries to get the Little Red-Haired Girl to know him better but fails. Schroeder's Sing Along has songs for the play in "The Concert" by singing "

Home on the Range "Home on the Range" is a classic cowboy song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873 ...

" with his friends. And the five friends sing while Lucy, Linus, and Sally argue. Lucy wanting her pencil back from Linus, and threatening to tell Sally what he said about her if he did not give back the pencil (Linus called Sally an

enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

). Snoopy sings a song devoted to "Suppertime" when he sees Charlie Brown serving him his supper. In the end, Charlie Brown and all of his gang learn all about "Happiness" and why it's all around them; the special ends with Lucy telling Charlie Brown that he is a good man.

Voice cast

* Brad Kesten as

** Kevin Brando as Charlie Brown (singing) * Michael Dockery as

* Jeremy Reinbolt as

* Tiffany Reinbolt as

Sally Brown Sally Brown is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles Schulz. She is the younger sister of main character Charlie Brown. She was first mentioned in May 1959 and throughout a long series of strips before her first appeara ...

* Jessica Lee Smith as Lucy van Pelt * David T. Wagner as Linus van Pelt * Robert Towers as

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

(singing/speaking) *

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials. Before ''Peanuts'', he p ...

as Snoopy/Woodstock (vocal effects) Note:

Peppermint Patty Peppermint Patty is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts''. Her full name is Patricia Reichardt, which is very rarely used in the strip. She is one of a small group in the strip who live across town from C ...

, Franklin, 5, and Frieda appeared in the special but had no lines.

Home media

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

released ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' on DVD for the first time on January 26, 2010, as a part of their Charlie Brown "Remastered Deluxe Edition" line. The DVD included a featurette entitled "Animating a Charlie Brown Musical".

References

External links

* {{Peanuts television specials Peanuts television specials Television shows directed by Sam Jaimes 1980s American television specials 1980s animated television specials 1980s American animated films CBS original programming 1985 television specials 1985 in American television Musical television specials CBS television specials