The Lookback : Kids of Degrassi Street: Ida Makes a Movie

The Flashback  Joshuaonline Canada 

     "Degrassi" is an interesting show, depending on who you are, invoking this name might mean different things.  Degrassi is a franchise from Canada that being 1979 with a four short films akin to the after school special.  These films became part of the series   "Kids of Degrassi Street". The basic premise of is really just kids being kids and it focuses on kids who live on Degrassi Street. The show was mostly realistic and dealt things like honesty, death, divorce, and other issues kids could face in their lives.  It got popular and spawned a spin off series "Degrassi Junior High" and later "Degrassi High"   All these series ran in Canada on the CBC and PBS had in a America.

     It came back in a new form with "Degrassi:The Next Generation" which ran on CTV in Canada and The N in the US. It began in 2001 and ran long enough that the next generation were gone and they dropped that name and called it just Degrassi. Then as of this writing, there was Degrassi: The Next Class, which is apparently the shortest lived Degrassi series. 

    It was created by Linda Schuyler, who was school teacher and worked on short films that insipired the idea of Degrassi.

    Anyway, this blog post is going to be talking about the very very very first piece of Degrassi media that ever existed, this is "Ida Makes a Movie" that first aired September 12th 1979.


            The movie starts with Ida and her friend Cookie at the park and there's a sign for a movie competition. Ida decides she wants to make a film but finds that the camera needs a little work, but her mother encourages her to at least check to see how much it would cost to fix and to get some film for it. 

   
         The quality of the short does have this style of someone making like a low cost movie, it kind of just feels like we're watching a film of Ida trying to make a film, it's kind of a nice presentation really.  Ida doesn't have enough money to fix her camera. She tries asking her brother,Fred, for the money ,but he is of no help.  So, Ida decides to sell some of her old junk.

this must have been a good garage sale, they sold the garage! 

          This works and she figures out how to make record things.  She wants to make a movie about garbage and Fred helps her and Cookie.  I will point out that Fred is wearing a helmet that he purchased from Ida and uh this will play into this film soon.  Poor Cookie's doll got lost up in the action into a garbage truck.

       Two weeks later, Ida found out her film has selected as a finalist in the film festival. Oh, the film people think that the movie is about war and its effect on children. ( Yep, that's what I got from the movie too) Cookie says they might get made when they find out the movie is about garbage and not war.  Ida's not going to let this get out. (scandal)

           Finally, it's the awards night and she did let the guilt eat at her.  After a roundabout way of asking her mother, she decides to go to the awards show.  Ida wins the thing and they show the film, first before anything else. Yep, and I can see how the movie can be seen as like war.   Ida Lucas gets called up to the stage.  Ida explains that the movie wasn't about war, it was about garbage and she hands back the award.   The man explains that there was more to the movie than just the idea of it being about war and still felt it had merit so, Ida gets the award anyway.

   

Better than the Oscars

          You can the tell the moral is about honesty. It does have that feel like they would play this in a class then ask the students questions. (who would do that?) I do like depicts a childhood situation naturally, even the lines feel natural, and the film style does feel like someone was recording Ida's moments and just following her, that's kind of great style.  Maybe it's because were so used to polished stuff it feels like this might been an intended style and it might have been but, I'm not going to let that stop my sentence.

       It is based off a book of the same name.  But from the cover, Ida wasn't a cat in this film. (Hollywood, uhhh Toronto always trying to make things more flash)

     It's kind of an interesting way to see how Degrassi got its start with focus on normal kids doing normal things and presenting  a moral for it's audience to think about without forcing it.   It was a nice bit of slice of life. 

    That's our lookback, and we've now go to tell someone that this blog isn't about the dowers of war, I'm still confused on how they got that confused. 

    If you are interested in this series and are in the United States, PBS has it for sale on their site. https://shop.pbs.org/the-kids-of-degrassi-street-complete-collection-dvd-3pk/product/WG31169  They didn't pay us to say that, we just wanted to pass it along.  I've also seen it on Amazon in the US and Canada, I wish I could say where else in Canada it's sold.  

   

     

     

But First These Messages : Post AT&T

Commercials 

          Many of our readers (I hope we have older readers too, please?!) may have been around when there was really only one telephone company. We mean when telephones required a cord and had to be in your house or on the side of the street to work.   To put history short,  AT&T was brought to court and 1982 agreed to be broken up into seven regional companies. These companies were :  Ameritech. Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell, and. US West.  

       This time we are be going to be breaking our normal format to look at ads from these post AT&T companies with  some history tidbits thrown in for effect.  If you like our more wackier format , that's not going away , I just wanted to try something a little different.   

    But First These messages....

       

         Ameritech , alphabetically, is the first company to arise out of the break up of AT&T in 1983, it embosed Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell,  Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell, ,and Wisconsin Bell. 

      

    Wow an early ad from the company's existence.  They play off the tech part of their name here by talking about their modern 1984 tech.

 This company was so powerful they merged these states in one 

         

Ahhh pay phones. I like how the lady broke down near a pay phone very convenient .

   For the first few years , The other bell names stayed so that's why this says Indiana Bell with the tag line of "An Ameritech Company" In 1993 they dropped those names and just went with Americtech,

They put this pay phone in the sky! 

    In 1999 Ameritech merged with SBC, a company we'll get to later.  More after the Jump

WGN America to Have News Once Again

TV NEWS 

    Nexstar Media the owners of over 170 local stations in the United States, announced Wednesday that come summer they will be launching a new 3 hour national prime time newscast on cable network owned by the company , WGN America.

     For those that might not remember , WGN America was launched in the 1970's as cable repeater of WGN-TV Chicago it brought the nation, programming relayed from the independent station in Chicago. This is how much the nation was able to see Cubs game, along other Chicago mainstay teams.  Also WGN's newscasts aired nationally on the station. At one point, the station was called Superstation WGN  aired WGN Chicago's Midday and 9pm newscasts.  Even after the station stopped being a full national relay of WGN-TV In 2014,  the station had dropped airing these simulcasts in the idea of moving to full national general channel.

        In 2019, Nexstar Media completed a purchase of the Tribune Company (named after the Chicago Tribune, which started WGN-TV in 1948) the owners of WGN-TV and WGN America. WGN America has tried it's hand at original and original to the channel programming, but now it seems they want to go a news direction.

       Nexstar announced Wednesday, they will be launching "News Nation" will be broadcast from WGN-TV's home in Chicago, a 3 hour prime (7-10 PM CT) newscast on WGN America.  This will be Nexstar's first attempt at working in the national news casting realm , as they normally only broadcast in local news. They have the resources to do such thing with a mass over over 170 local stations, stretching across the nation.

      The primetime idea is interesting  to note as the US cable news channels fail to provide news in those hours , as they focus on politics and opinions, it may provide an oasis for an audience looking for something different.

   From the press release:

Nexstar’s Sean Compton, Executive Vice President of WGN America, believes News Nation will fill an important void in the current television news landscape.
“No one else is delivering news in prime-time,” said Compton. “Others are airing entertainment programming, sports programming or opinion shows, which creates a great opportunity for WGN America to provide an alternative in this daypart with News Nation. Across our markets, we consistently hear from viewers who are seeking straight-ahead, unbiased news reporting that is grounded in fact, not opinion. News Nation will deliver exactly that.”

       WGN-TV's  current presidential/  news director, Jennifer Lyons, will be overseeing the task.   News Nation is also set to be launched as an app called newsnationnow.   The program is set to launch in the summer.

More after the jump

2020 Oscar Nominations announced

Oscars 

        The 92nd annual Academy Awards nominations have been announced we have the full list for you here : and the awards air on Sunday, February 9th at 8pm/5pt on ABC


Here is the list


Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“Parasite”

Lead Actor
Antonio Banderas “Pain and Glory”
Leonardo DiCaprio “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Adam Driver “Marriage Story”
Joaquin Phoenix “Joker”
Jonathan Pryce “The Two Popes”

Lead Actress
Cynthia Erivo “Harriet”
Scarlett Johansson “Marriage Story”
Saoirse Ronan “Little Women”
Charlize Theron “Bombshell”
Renee Zellweger “Judy”

Supporting Actor
Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”
Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”
Scarlett Johannson, “Jojo Rabbit”
Florence Pugh, “Little Women”
Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”

Director
Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”
Todd Phillips, “Joker”
Sam Mendes, “1917”
Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”

Animated Feature
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” Dean DeBlois
“I Lost My Body” Jeremy Clapin
“Klaus” Sergio Pablos
“Missing Link” Chris Butler
“Toy Story 4” Josh Cooley

Animated Short
“Dcera,” Daria Kashcheeva
“Hair Love,” Matthew A. Cherry
“Kitbull,” Rosana Sullivan
“Memorable,” Bruno Collet
“Sister,” Siqi Song

Adapted Screenplay
“The Irishman,” Steven Zaillian
“Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi
“Joker,” Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
“Just Mercy” Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham
“Little Women,” Greta Gerwig
“The Two Popes,” Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay
“Knives Out,” Rian Johnson
“Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
“1917,” Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
“Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han

Cinematography
“The Irishman,” Rodrigo Prieto
“Joker,” Lawrence Sher
“The Lighthouse,” Jarin Blaschke
“1917,” Roger Deakins
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Robert Richardson

Best Documentary Feature
“American Factory,” Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar
“The Cave,” Feras Fayyad
“The Edge of Democracy,” Petra Costa
“For Sama,” Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

Best Documentary Short Subject
“In the Absence”
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone,” Carol Dysinger
“Life Overtakes Me,” Kristine Samuelson, John Haptas
“St. Louis Superman”
“Walk Run Cha-Cha,” Laura Nix

Best Live Action Short Film
“Brotherhood,” Meryam Joobeur
“Nefta Football Club,” Yves Piat
“The Neighbors’ Window,” Marshall Curry
“Saria,” Bryan Buckley
“A Sister,” Delphine Girard

Best International Feature Film
“Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa
“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov
“Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly
“Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar
“Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho

Film Editing
“Ford v Ferrari,” Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland
“The Irishman,” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Jojo Rabbit,” Tom Eagles
“Joker,” Jeff Groth
“Parasite,” Jinmo Yang

Sound Editing
“Ford v Ferrari,” Don Sylvester
“Joker,” Alan Robert Murray
“1917,” Oliver Tarney, Rachel Tate
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Wylie Stateman
“Star Wars: The Rise of SkyWalker,” Matthew Wood, David Acord

Sound Mixing
“Ad Astra”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Joker”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Production Design
“The Irishman,” Bob Shaw and Regina Graves
“Jojo Rabbit,” Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova
“1917,” Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh
“Parasite,” Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee

Original Score
“Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir
“Little Women,” Alexandre Desplat
“Marriage Story,”Randy Newman
“1917,” Thomas Newman
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” John Williams*“The King,” Nicholas Britell

Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”
“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”
“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen 2”
“Stand Up,” “Harriet”

Makeup and Hair
“Bombshell”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”

Costume Design
”The Irishman,” Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson
“Jojo Rabbit,” Mayes C. Rubeo
“Joker,” Mark Bridges
“Little Women,” Jacqueline Durran
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Arianne Phillips

Visual Effects
“Avengers Endgame”
“The Irishman”
“1917”
“The Lion King”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

Arthur: Season 22 The Longest Eleven Minutes/ The Feud

Arthur   PBS 

  

   I've not written about anything "Arthur" related in a while.  So, let's get back into that.  I'm writing about some Season 22 episodes.  This season is short it's only 4 episodes, or 8 segments.  It premiered on May 13th and ran to May 16th 2019. (Using the PBS airing dates, other country airings may vary). 

   Season 22 Episode 2b : The Longest Eleven Minutes 

        I picked this episode because it stuck out to me in a few ways.  Some of it has to do with the context of the show itself and the content of the episode at a strange dissonance. 

       

          I always start these "Arthur" posts with the monologue, the thing they do at the start of episodes. 

  

      The Monologue :  Arthur is doing a school presentation talking about inventions people have come to rely upon. It shows how life was like before the wheel (lots of people being killed by mammoths apparently) Before the printing press, and life without the telephone being invented.  Ending with the question: I wonder what invention in our day, we wouldn't be able to live without.  (The toaster?) 

    The Episode:  It shows Arthur, Muffy, Ladonna, and Buster all on laptops, mobile phone, and a tablet doing internet stuff.  D.W comes into the living room and is bored and wants Arthur to play with her. Then internet goes down. This is weird question, how does Muffy's phone lose internet? Like is she connected to Arthur's wi-fi? But wouldn't it go to her carrier's service internet then?  I'd think the rich girl would have carrier internet as well. Are the mobile phones in this world the same as the internet carrier?  Are we asking a lot of questions and diverting too much? Well,yes. 

COMMENTARY / copyright WGBH 

         Buster is like hit refresh, but that doesn't work. So, the internet is down.  Now the kids are confused as to do with their lives. Then D.W says try restarting  the router. (This episode was written when someone's internet went down and they went through the stages wasn't it? )  They find out the internet is out on the block. (If people have the same service , I guess)  

        The episode gets weirder. Like, they apparently don't know what a radio is because they wonder if Arthur's dad is streaming music. (Umm what?)  Ladonna seems to know something about the radio. Then, Muffy finds an instant camera and they don't know what it is either.  Also Encyclopedias (fine, they win this one)  Since encyclopedia's go by a one to three letters they  made a joke, that I at least liked.   

They might have internet in Argentina/ Copyright WGBH

         Okay earlier this episode they have fake Google, called Boogle but Wikipedia gets name dropped,so apparently, what? They save a bird.  This episode used the terms selfie, and IRL so, I'm out.   They seem to be getting along without the internet; oh it comes back on and it was eleven minutes. 

      What's funny about this episode in the context of this show is that this show as on the air before the Internet was really more mainstream. (1996) With the books coming out before even that. The kids on this show have been shown to know how to use an instant camera, encyclopedias, and radio. It's funny on the meta level that they forgot all this because of how long this show has been on the air and how they need the newer episodes to fit in for the modern audience.  If a PBS station was airing this episode then a season 3 episode after this than it's even funnier. There's even an episode where Arthur messes up a computer all the way back from 1996.   

    

    The other meta thing, I really like is this episode is real time, it's eleven minutes long and internet is out for eleven minutes. Implication is there's no time skip (though, we don't see them calling Brain on the phone with dialing or something), yes land lines still exist in the Arthur world.  That's really amazing.     

     

    The opening shot of the episode is a great touch, there's cobwebs on the outdoor playground and ball in Arthur's yard, making it seem like they've not not used the stuff in sometime. 

    It would be really easy to say this episode was bad because look how modern society has fallen or Arthur has fallen but, that has nothing to do with this episode. It's a fun episode, you do see how much the internet has become part of our lives where it is part of everything, and we do get kind of lost with out it.  Not just kids, but adults too. It's like when the power goes out, it's a strange experience because we depend on electricity.  (There's an Arthur episode that mentions this)  The episode was fun to watch, it made me laugh  at times.  They some good stuff in current "Arthur". 

      More after the Jump

TVLOOKFALL 2020 : What's New, What's Renewed, What's Ended?

TVLOOKFALL 2020  ABC  CBS CW  FOX  NBC 

           It's our annual list of network TV moves either shows being renewed or canceled /ending. Also what's new? For disclosure, we are going to count reboot or one of those shows that are returning after ending as new , just to keep this list consistent.

       Also to be determined is our list for shows that haven't been officially given a status so, it's constantly changing. (red font shows are shows that have moved to or are summer series meaning they are in a different rule)

      Last updated : June 10 3:15 PM MT

ABC

Renewed
20/20
The $100,00 Pyramid
A Million Little Things
America's Funniest Home Videos
American Housewife
American Idol
The Bachelor
Black-ish
Card Sharks
Celebrity Family Feud
The Conners
Dancing with the Stars
For Life

The Good Doctor
The Goldbergs
The Good Doctor
Grey's Anatomy
Holey Moley
Match Game
Press Your Luck
The Rookie
Shark Tank
Station 19
Stumptown
To Tell the Truth
Who Wants to be A Millionaire

New Series 

Big Sky
Call Your  Mother
Supermarket Sweep

Reality/Summer shows  (Determined in their own time) 

Celebrity Family Feud
Dancing with the Stars
Family Food Fight
Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Possibly moving to Fall 
United We Fall

Canceled 
The Baker and the Beauty
Bless This  Mess
Emergence
Fresh off the boat
Grand Hotel
How to Get Away with Murder
Kids Say the Darndest Things
Marvel's Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D
Modern Family
Reef Break
Schooled
Single Parents

CBS 

Renewed 
48 Hours
60 Minutes

All Rise 

The Amazing Race
Blue Bloods
Bob Hearts Abishola
Bull
Evil
FBI
FBI : Most Wanted
MacGyver
Mom
NCIS
NCIS : LA
NCIS : New Oreleans
The Neighborhood
SEAL Team
SWAT
Survivor
Undercover Boss
The Unicorn
Young Sheldon  (was renewed back in 2019 for two seasons) 

New Series 

Summer and reality series (Determined in their own time) 
Big Brother
Big Brother : Celebrity Edition
Blood & Treasure
Love Island

Canceled 
Broke
Carol's Second Act
Criminal Minds
God Friended Me

Hawaii  Five-O (ending April 3)
Madam Secretary
Man With A Plan
Tommy

CW 

Renewed 
All American
Batwoman
Black Lightning
Charmed
DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Dynasty
The Flash
In the Dark
Legacies
Nancy Drew
The Outpost
Pandora
Riverdale
Roswell, New Mexico
Supergirl

New Series 


To Be Determined 
Katy Keene

TBD/ Summer Series 
Burden of Truth
Penn & Teller : Fool Us
Whose Line is it Anyway? 

Canceled 
The 100 (ending in Summer)
Arrow
Supernatural

FOX

Renewed 
9-1-1
9-1-1 Lone Star
Beat Shazam
Bob's Burgers
Bless the Harts
Duncanville
Family Guy
Hell's Kitchen
Last Man Standing
Lego Masters
The Masked Singer
Masterchef
Mental Samurai
Prodigal Son
The Resident
The Simpsons
So You Think You Can Dance

New Series

Summer/ Reality Show (determined at own times)
Ultimate Tag

Moving to Fall/The next season instead 
Filthy Rich
The Great North
NeXt

Canceled 
Almost Family
BH90210
Deputy
Empire
Flirty Dancing
Outmatched

NBC

Renewed 
American Ninja Warrior
The Blacklist
Brookyln Nine-Nine
Chicago Fire (3 seasons)
Chicago Med  (3 Seasons)
Chicago P.D  (3 seasons)
Ellen's Game of Games
Good Girls
Law and Order SVU (3 Seasons)
Manifest
Making It
New Amsterdam (3 seasons)
Superstore
This is Us
The Voice
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist

New Series 

Summer/Reality Series (TBD) 
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent: The Champions
Little Big shots
Songland
The Titan Games
The Wall
World of Dance

To Be Determined 

Council of Dads

Canceled 
Blindspot
Bluff City Law
The Good Place
The In between
Indebted
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector
Perfect Harmony
Sunnyside
Will & Grace

It's a Lookback Charlie Brown: Someday You'll find her, Charlie Brown

Peanuts  The Flashback 

 
         
           Some of the plot lines in Peanuts is love. It's a common theme that pops up alot. Either Charlie Brown fawning for "The Little Red-Haired Girl", Peppermint Patty and Marcie both crushing on Charlie Brown, Sally with Linus, Lucy with Schroeder.  This special does something a little different with Charlie Brown but still keeping him  normal.    This is "Someday You'll find her, Charlie Brown" a special that originally aired on October 30th, 1981. 
       
          Charlie Brown seeks love.  So Charlie Brown is watching football with  Linus , not in the direct sense, because Linus is reading a book.  Charlie Brown sees a pretty girl that makes him pine for her now. (Love at first sight?)  The main plot for this special is Charlie Brown going out and seeking her. (Like a stalker?)  (Also was this football game a USFL game or something because it's spring as heck outside)  Charlie Brown lets his obsession with the girl drive him. Linus is mostly drafted into this nonsense.  (Also Charlie Brown says his lucky number is 13)

I'm Linus / Copyright Peanuts 

         Linus is a good friend mostly working with Charlie Brown , even though this is insane. Snoopy and Woodstock do some football gags. (I'm glad this is the old days when you could walk inside football stadiums with no troubles, I guess)  Snoopy and Woodstock even go to the restricted areas where the players exercise.

This is where where the ghost train comes out/ Copyright Peanuts 

              It's subtle but it comes together later. Charlie Brown makes Linus do stuff for him, this will bite him in the back later. Anyway, they go check the downtown records to see who the girl was. (dang so easy to get information on people)  I mean it was really easy to get people's phone numbers and addresses. (the heck)  The people behind the information were glad that some random kids got their info too wow!.(My last last bit of injecting modernism into this post)   Charlie Brown makes Linus go the first house (yes there's more than one). Linus does tell CB that maybe he should go up and it himself, but CB says no he can't because of his nervousness. (Tap tap)  The first girl is not the pretty one that Charlie Brown said he saw, which is kind of mean Chuck.

Chuck thought she was ugly because he's rude/ Copyright Peanuts 

                 more after the jump

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!

New Year's Holidays 

 
             I could make a joke about the idea of their being a Peanuts special for everything because there kind of is one for almost anything.  New Year's doesn't have as many specials really, compared to Christmas and other holidays. It's kind of hard to think of an idea for a  New Year's special.  Peanuts has one because, sure alright.

        "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" first aired on CBS on January 1st 1986, ABC currently reruns it with  "She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown" .   Let's talk about it.

       It starts with Charlie Brown (and Linus ) waiting for Christmas vacation and the teacher decides to assign a book report, but not of any book. The teacher has chosen "War and Peace".  Which is the weirdest thing to assign to kids who are like what eight?   Charles Schulz did insert a lot of references to Leo Tolstoy into  Peanuts.  It's still kind of weird to give children a report on "War and Peace" not only because it's thick book, but it's also above the age range. 
 
            That is the main conflict of the special, Charlie Brown struggles with this huge book. It's something  that many people might have gone through themselves in childhood, or maybe even later.  Charlie Brown tries to read the book but it doesn't interest him in any way and it's a long dense read. I like the gag of him using a cart to wheel the book around.  I am confused as why Linus wasn't working on the assignment when he was shown to be in the same class. Now, he could have already known the book since, he seemed to know everything about Leo Tolstoy.

               The New Year's planning is in the background. Peppermint Patty is having a party and invites everyone. She still doesn't listen to Chuck on the phone, except when he mentions Heather/ The Little Red Haired girl. (Funnily enough)  There is a some light comedy like the Rerun blowing balloons in to square shapes. Peanuts isn't prominently comedy so, that's fine. 

          It is unfair to compare to the other Peanuts holiday specials, that proceeded it but, it does a good job with the holiday it was given to have fun with.  It was sad that Charlie Brown didn't get to dance with the little red haired girl/ Heather, even though he did ask her , for once. Linus for some reason didn't see him right over there on the bench sleeping in front of the house.  The songs are good, it was nice to see Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown practice dancing.  The musical chairs song was fun as well.

         The sense of stretching for time does happen, where you can really feel they were trying to fit it to the standard time. Charlie Brown reading pieces of "War and Peace",for example, does give it a drag. As  Peanuts special over all for ranking, I'd put it in mid-range, it's not the worst but, not in the best. It's an alright special to give your time to. If you watch it on television, watch the Peppermint Patty special after it too!


   That's it from us, have a Happy New Year!