Yes, this is about A Charlie Brown Christmas

Peanuts CHRISTMAS 

         When I started on this blog doing Peanuts lookbacks back during the 65th anniversary year of "Peanuts" in 2015. There also was a second anniversary that year, that being the 50th for "A Charlie Brown Christmas".    When I started the lookbacks my primary goal wasn't to look at holiday specials because one I assumed that people knew most of those already and would be retreading ground (which could be a wrong assumption) and 2, to give a look at specials that don't get talked about much.     This year while not doing look back's per-say I decided to talk about the holiday specials in their own special sub-section of my Peanuts topics. 

      This special is about Charlie Brown and Christmas (yeah yeah stay with me) his relationship with Christmas.  What does Christmas mean to him?  He goes through the special trying to answer that question.  There's no him explicitly telling the others they are celebrating wrong  he doesn't like that the holiday seems overly commercialized and wonders maybe he's doing something wrong because he's not feeling the same way as the other kids are feeling. 

       Backing away from Charlie Brown to overall talk about the special. This was the first Peanuts media on television that wasn't a commercial.   It first premiered on CBS on December 9th 1965, later cementing a relationship with CBS where every special until 1992 , premiered on the network. While , " A Charlie Brown Christmas" repeated every year from 1965 to 2001 then continued rerunning on ABC as of this writing. (in 2018)  Every thing about this special shouldn't have worked. CBS didn't like the idea of using actual children to voice the children, CBS didn't like the idea of the bible verse being stated , the music was jazz music which seemed to be annoying to someone.  They had only 6 months to make this special, this is with hand drawn animation,  no computers for help at all and  when even now it takes about 9 months to make cartoon episodes.   I am also glad Schulz rejected the idea of having a laugh track.  It shouldn't have worked , it should have been on the dust bin of history and I would be writing about a lost Christmas special right now instead of the most popular one.  Yet, even though it was a little rough on the sides,  and contradicted some popular trends of the time it  made it . Which  is a little like Charlie Brown himself.     The voices being genuine and mostly non Hollywood kids  gives it something more  because the little mistakes and way things are said are more fitting and less polished. In away fits the special even more that the simpleness of the story.

         The special also shows how good a friend Linus is to Charlie someone who doesn't mock Charlie Brown and goes along with him  when needed.  When Charlie Brown gets that famous Christmas tree the one that nobody else  would see as anything but some weird thing that was picked by accident.  Ironically to me, the Christmas trees in the background look awful compared to this little guy.  Linus comments , "Do they still make wooden Christmas trees, anymore?".  Fun fact : this special killed aluminum Christmas trees. (source) The tree is kind of like Charlie Brown not much to look and people might not see worth to him yet, there's is so much potential plus this shows shows us Charlie Brown's characterization as  someone who sees the best in things that others wouldn't. The other kids (though I will note that Linus and Schroeder don't) make fun of Charlie Brown for picking that tree.

     The other main point, is Linus doing the bible verse from Luke chapter 2, The place where it's written in and they way it's kind of central to the special means that it's edit proof. Though if a network tried they'd probably not have a good few days.   That is the simple core reason Christmas exits there would be no it with out it. (that's my kind of sentence)  Charlie Brown feels determined to have his simple Christmas takes the little tree with him. He's still Charlie Brown so when puts a heavy bubble on it , it does bends over in the weight leaving C.B slightly dejected. Linus comes by and sees it and puts his treasured blanket around the bottom and the other kids some how make the look like a nice little tree.  Charlie comes back and they all wish him a Happy Charlie Brown.

        Looking at the animation, it's simple works  and fits again with the them unintentionally. It's not a preachy special and doesn't say anyway you celebrate Christmas is wrong or right.  It criticizes the over commercialization of it  where people tend to lose the true theme of the holiday.  This is a great Christmas special and I am glad that it exists.  Glad it's been running each year non stop for over 50 years and  hope it runs another 50 more plus.

  Thanks for reading, tune in next time when we find out if Christmas trees can be made from wood.

CBS mid season for Realtiy and Comedy

CBS Midseason TV Winter 2019

    CBS is kind of being interesting with the releasing of midseason information. They have released details of their reality shows then details about their comedies separately.   I have decided to combine the two. Now,if CBS announces their dramas next , that will be its own post.

     
      Thursdays from January 10th
     8PM  The Big Bang Theory
     8:30pm Young Sheldon
     9PM     Mom
    9:30pm   Fam (New Series) (Premieres January 10th)
     10PMET S.W.A.T


Monday, February 4th and 11th
8PM  The Neighborhod
8:30PM  Man with a Plan (New Season -Premieres February 4th)
9PM  Big Brother Celebrity Edition
10pm Bull

Mondays starting February 18th
8PM The  Neighborhood
8:30PM Man with a Plan
9PM  Magnum P.I
10PM  Bull


Reality Show details
 
Monday January 21st to Friday January 25th
  8-9PM Big Brother Celebrity Edition (new season starts January 21st)

Sunday January 21st to Wednesday January 27th
8-9PM Big Brother Celebrity Edition

Saturday, February 2nd
8-9PM  Big Brother :Celebrity Edition

Sunday, February 3rd
7-10PM / 4-7pt  (starting at 6:30pmet Super Bowl LIII)
10pm/7-8pt  (whenever Super Bowl ends)  The World's Best (Series Premiere)

Monday, February 4th
9PM Big Brother : Celebrity Edition

Wednesday, February 6th
8-10pm  The World's Best (2 hours new episode)

Thursday, February 7th
9PM   Big Brother Celebrity Edition )

Friday, February 8th
8-10PM  Big Brother Celebrity Edition  (2 hrs)

Monday, February 11th
9-10PM  Big Brother Celebrity Edition

Wednesday, February 13th
8PM The World's Best
9-11pm  Bigh Brother: Celebrity Edition (2nd Season finale)

Wednesdays starting February 20th
8PM Survivor (new season)
9PM  The World's Best

Wednesday, March 13th
10-11PM  Seal Team (New Time Period )


Wednesdays starting March 27th
8PM  Survivor
9pm  Million Dollar Mile (series premiere)

Wednesday, May 15th
8-10pm  Survivor (season finale)
10pm Survivor Reunion Special

Wednesday, May 22nd
8pm  The Amazing Race (new season)
9pm  Million Dollar Mile



Press releases after the jump

The Lookback : The Grinch and Cat in the Hat together.

The Lookback 

            You know what? The Grinch and the Cat in the Hat are probably the most famous Dr.Seuss figures ever  so what do you do when you have two big figures?  Combine them!  That's what we are looking at this time.  The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat ,  also known as "The Grinch Vs. The Cat in the Hat  (or Grinch vs Cat Deathmatch! Well not that)  This is s 1982  Dr.Seuss special  that ran on ABC. It has the usual people working on it with  Friz Freleng and Dr.Seuss.  So, let's take a look at whatever this is.

        The narrator says that  it's morning time and that the Whitzling birds are whtizling and even the Grinch was Whitzling. (Well I'm scared)  So the Grinch talks to his mirror and the grinch in the mirror  is displeased that the Grinch is in a good mood and makes him take the Grinch oath. (I didn't know there were more than one grinch and or an oath. )  Max, the dog isn't happy with  the Grinch being un happied. (that's not word)  So, the Grinch goes out in his car (yes the Grinch has a car) and he decides to choke some birds with car exhaust. (The Lorax won't like that)

This car gets 3 mpg but it also shoots smoke so.../ Copyright Marvel Picutres

    Meanwhile, the Cat in the Hat is in a good moon as he sings making a picnic  and gets in his car. He sets up his picnic and prepares for an enjoyable time when guess who drives by?   The Grinch is not happy the Cat in the Hat blocked the path so he starts hitting the car with his because that was reasonable.  Cat (we are  shortening it to Cat because yes)  apologizes for blocking the way and tries to make it right by packing up his picnic.   Then Cat calls Grinch "Green Face" and this apparently, is  touchy term to the Grinch because he starts stalking Cat in a road rage.  Cat does get away and goes back home to relax.

Private Eyes are watching you/ Copyright Marvel Productions 

    Cat sings a song when some sort of lazer thing keeps stopping him. The Grinch found him at home and shows him his sound vacuum  machine that stops sounds from the next 50 miles. The Grinch states that he will control all the sounds that Cat can hear.   Grinch then goes home and decides to continue a war against Cat.  The next thing he uses is something called  a dark house and use this machine to make Cat not be able to see around because it blocks out all light. (this special got dark)   Cat wonders what's wrong with the Grinch and decides to psycho-analyze  the Grinch in a dream cloud.
             

On the next Dr. Cat/ Copyright Marvel 

   He figures the best way to figure out the Grinch is to go to him directly, and we get a chase of the dark light and Cat's car.  The Machine also doesn't just make things dark it has filter that makes things pink (because of course).  Also the Grinch has cameras than can follow the Cat everywhere. (creepy) He uses this to bother the Cat at dinner at a restaurant.   The Grinch plays around with color and really some physiological warfare on the Cat.  This part  also an amazing use of animated color and sound usage.

What did I drink?/ Copyright Marvel 

   Cat wonders if there's a weakness in the Grinch to make him soft.  So, Cat brings a group of people to sing at the Grinch to remember his mother.  (Woah Cat fights dirty)  The song makes the Grinch cry.  His mother speaks to him in his tear puddle because why not?  The Grinch decides to take apart his machines and everything is happy.

   That was a strange special  but, glad it exists.   The people at the Emmys felt the same way and gave it an award in 1982.  It's kind of interesting to see the Grinch have a force that wants him to do misery versus him just wanting to be happy. I am not sure what continuity this would be with any of the other Grinch specials (Written about "Halloween is Grinch Night" before)  and used probably don't want to over think that.  It also keeps the Cat in character too and he tries to figure out how to help stop the Grinch from grinching by finding something that would help him stop.  The songs are alright , and the animation is really good as per normal in these specials. It's a great cross crossover with a simple yet , effective story.

 That's our lookback, tune in next time when we see  Tom (from Tom and Jerry) vs the Cat in the Hat.

The Lookback : Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Fest

The Flashback  Thanksgiving  Nickelodeon 

     Last Christmas  , I talked about  Nickelodeon's first attempt at original animation , "Christmas in Tattertown" . Then I gave it away. (I quit)   So Nickelodeon dipped their toes into original animation now they were going to dip their whole foot in. (stop)  Anyway, We've had Christmas so now it's time to talk about the most famous holiday of all, Thanksgiving. ( You are really going all out on this)


      I think something important about this special and the one before it was that yes, Nickelodeon was looking for something different to do then it ever has done before.  These two specials were them trying to see how it worked and what they wanted to do. These are the linchpins into  what eventually became the Nicktoons.   So, now  to look at this special that came out on November 22nd 1989. (Unless someone else corrects this date)

        The special starts with a voice over telling us that Thanksgiving is a special holiday. Then the same narrator talks about Cranberry sauce  when he asks a person working at a factory and we get a joke about Cram berries. (get it get it?)  This special has mini segments as wrap-arounds with two main segments, which I will get to in this post umm now.   The first main segment is called  "Thanksgiving Nightmare"  this one starts with a family eating Thanksgiving dinner and there's a mouse who wants to steal the meal. There's also a cockroach that wants to steal the meal. The family decides to "three bears" it and go out and walk off the dinner.  This causes the mouse and roach to jump into action.  I've also learned that mice and roaches are mortal enemies.  The family has a cat because of course. One of lady family members sees the cat with a bone and she tells him that if she catches him so much as even a pea she's going to throw him out permanently. (bit harsh there)

No, please don't you see I am not an average cat! / Copyright Viacom 

       The mouse has a mouse gang and he talks about how bad roaches are (the great roach vs rat war hadn't begun yet) meanwhile the roaches also have a large meeting and talk about how bad the mice are. (So umm the people  in this house need to call an exterminator. )  The cat decides to watch TV. The mice decide  that this would be a good time to capture the turkey.  Meanwhile the roaches do their plan of attack  as well.   This has become a mouse versus roach war.  The cat sees all the mess and decides to use a vacuum cleaner to take care of it. (This cat is not from our Earth)   The rodents and roaches are sucked up except the head roach and mouse. 

Mice. Rodents want to the rule the world/ Copyright Viacom 

      The people come back and the house is a mess and guess who gets blamed for the mess? (Yep, the roach.) Yes, the cat and woman throws him out.  He seems alright since he has  a drumstick. I guess.  Back to a mini segment. There's a hunter he's shooting carrots because sure.  Now, it's time to see how animals celebrate Thanksgiving.  (We get a rabbit multiplies like rabbits joke here)
There's a second long segment called "Thanksgiving Dreams" I  see what they did there. It has an interesting animation start where it airs in like slow moving  still picture book animation. It starts with the Great Depression.   This one has a mom and her two kids ( a boy and a girl) and we talk about how it hard it is for food.  The kids names are Sam and Emily.   This animation style doesn't last too long because at least to me it feels like headache maker.  The kids awake over the night hearing a noise then they start shrinking.  They make it to kitchen where everything is dancing.

I think this is real/ copyright Viacom 

    The carrots even dance and have faces as they dip themselves into boiling water. A loto of the food starts preparing themselves. (food is weird)  I'm not going  through every single little thing.  This sequence is kind of like an old fashioned cartoon  with the movement of objects and dancing.   Anyway, there's a dough monster because when you add  to much yeast this happens. Sam gets pepper all of the kitchen and causes everything to sneeze. This does make the dough monster sneeze  and shrink back down.  Then Sam and Emily wake up and apparently food magically appeared.  The mother is confused but she's happy and it's a happy ending.

Where did this food come from? I don't question it! /Copyright Viacom 

    More wrap-around astronauts have dehydrated Thanksgiving.  Some older people watch some football. What do turkeys eat for Thanksgiving?    They eat man!!!!

   I think that was an alright Thanksgiving special. I liked how it talks about the traditions of Thanksgiving and does some light humor in  the wrap-arounds.  The first long segment was quite  fun though if you feel that cat got a real deal that might turn you off.  The concept was an interesting one.  I think the 2nd one was pretty fun too, though the start was a little much because of the animation the rest of it was a nice little story and was a nice hint of throwback to old style animation.    The animation in the special is well done and crisp so Nick wasn't cutting any corners here. 


 Tune in next time  when we found out that  the reason we eat turkey is because they'll eat us first.

Powerpuff Girls 20 : Every Superhero has an Origin Story

Cartoon Network  The Flashback 

       The Powerpuff Girls  first premiered in November of 1998 on Cartoon Network (though pilots for the series were featured a few years earlier).   Personal note : PPG is one of my favorite Cartoon Network series and was when it first ran too.  I have written about Powerpuff Girls Z when the remake series was starting in 2016 so, this time I decided to look at the Powerpuff Girls Movie that came out in theaters in 2002. (Yes I call this  a TV blog, but it's more than that it's just easier to say TV blog plus, this is based on a TV show)  This movie is an origin story of the Powerpuff Girls, even though the intro does explain how they were made this movie sets to explain how they became Townsville's  dedicated heroes.   As the title stays,  Superheroes do need origin stories. Apparently, this movie is the reason Cartoon Network seems weary of releasing anymore of their TV series to theaters.

    The narrator is in the movie too!  He starts with mentioning that Townsville is riddled with crime (why? no body knows)  and he asks if there's anyone in this town that can help make this better.  It brings us to the professor who does sciencey-science things.  There's also a monkey who's destroying his lab because the professor doesn't believe in cages for some reason.  The mixture in the open re-acts the intro of the Powerpuff Girls where chemical x is added to the mixture Professor Utonium was working on , and it explodes.   Bringing us the title card of the movie.

Woah I created life! / Copyright Warner Media 

     Three girls appear from the explosion and ask the professor what is his name.  They suggest that he gives them names.  He gives them names Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup.  He quickly decides to get them gifts because it's their birthday. There's something different about these girls- they have superpowers. (what?!)  There's a green money with his brain protruding out and dramatic music, that'll probably bring nothing later.  There's a montage of the professor and the girls getting to know each other and setting up their lives.  Since, they weren't born babies the next day is for school. Everyone at the Poke Oaks Kindergarten seems to like the girls.   There are somethings to learn about though, like what is tag?

That'll buff out/ Copyright Warner Media 

    This tag game goes wrong when the girls do  a long chase around the city causing some destruction.  This tag thing does take up a good long chunk of this 73 minute long movie (yeah it's not that long)  The mayor , who called Mayor in the series and movie sees that girls causing destruction actually, he wants  pickles. This is his favorite thing in the series too,  and the girls stop him from enjoying his pickle (that sounds wrong some how).  Professor  Utonium tells them when putting them to bed, that they should try not use their powers around town.

Girls. don't destroy the town next time. / Copyright Warner Media 

     The  next day, the girls go to school, which shouldn't be open because who runs a school while there's a river of water running through it with rebuilding work going on ?  There's some health and safety problems somewhere there.  The other kids don't like the girls anymore. (Also, this school has no electricity who does this?)  Meanwhile, the Mayor forms and angry mob because that's what mayors do , to arrest the professor.  Meaning he can't pick up the girls from school  and the girls start  to think the Professor hates them now.  The news media in the town call the girls freaks because bad people. Plot convenience time  : the girls see the TV videos calling them freaks , but don' t see the news report that the professor is in jail.

     The three of them try to walk home but get lost.   This is when they run into a gang called the Gang Green Gang but they are saved by a shadowy figure. It's the monkey from before. ( I'm shocked)   His name is JoJo.  He gets the girls to help him with his plan to "make the town better".   Will this  make the  town better?  Find out after the jump!

The Loud House Celebrates Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Nickelodeon 

    Usually, I do a post right after an episode or special comes out  with the last "The Loud House" special I covered, (the Halloween one) I waited a year after it aired, this time I am doing this post just after it aired so that's different. I thought it would be good to do this look now while I can.  Anyway this time we look an episode of the Loud House that is called "The Loudest Thanksgiving".

   For those that don't know what The Loud House is  in simple premise terms : it's an animated series that premiered in 2016 on Nickelodeon about a large family called the Louds with 11 children, 10 of which are girls. The middle child, Lincoln, also happens to be the only boy.  Most of the episodes focus on their  lives the things that happen. Also, for this episode there is more info.  there's  a character named Ronnie-Anne  Santiago she was introduced in the series back in season 1 , her brother is named Bobby and he is also the boyfriend of the oldest Loud sister, Lori.  In season 2 they moved away to a place called in the series as simply "The City" (not the old ABC soap series I hope) and they and their mother live with their extended family called the Casagrades.  This is also being made into a spinoff. That is my simple explanation for those who haven't seen the series at all.


 Now, here's a look at the special.

        It starts with Flip, the man who runs a convenience store, being our host for the story it's like a classic holiday special which I think is a nice touch.  It starts with the day before Thanksgiving where Louds and the Casagrandes are prepping for Thanksgiving.  Lori and Bobby explain to each other what their families are doing for Thanksgiving.   This part gives us a nice Thanksgiving prep feel of seeing how these two large families prepare for such a big  holiday.   Bobby and Lori both lament they wish to have  Thanksgiving together. 

Holiday separation is what happens/ Copyright Viacom 

    Lincoln overhears his sister and Bobby's  Grandfather overhears well Bobby, saying this and they get worried about their respective  family members that they will lose them for all the holidays.  Both families start doing things to convince not to leave without outright telling them.  This escalates  as much as you can probably can tell where it is going where both Lori and Bobby find out why their families are acting in such a way.

They got caught/ Copyright Viacom 

   I like how the episode kind of shows how similar they are to each other.  Anyway, their finding out brings us to next part of the plot. The two families decide to merge their Thanksgivings together after some contention a coin is flipped and dinner will be at the Louds.  Meaning these two families are still going to compete on making their Thanksgiving better than the  other so they won't lose their family member for the next Thanksgiving.  The Casagrandes show up  and bring all their stuff and make their Thanksgiving work.  The Louds put on a  trial (with the People's Court music) for Lilly, the baby Loud, who is dressed like a turkey to be pardoned. (Interesting tradition)  The Casagrandes put on a Turkey dance because of course.  Then comes the dinner where this goes where you are probably expecting this to go , well badly. It descends into chaos and a food fight.

Does save on leftovers , I guess/ Copyright Viacom 

    Lori and Bobby leave this chaos and end up  at Flip's where he tell us that's how they ended up there. The two families find their members  and Bobby and Lori tell them they don't wanna chose sides.   Flip offers the best and most obvious answer  that  Lori and Bobby could just alternate Thanksgiving.   The two families come together at Flip's and have dinner there.  Also a fun episode for Flip being kind instead of greedy.  The special ends with a song with Luna and  Bobby's grandfather doing a duet song it's a good song.

sweet harmony / Copyright Viacom 

    I think it was a fine Thanksgiving special it had one primary plot with no B plot meaning all it's energy was filled into this plot. Nothing felt too  dragged out either. You can feel that both families really just don't want to not have their member be there and are trying to do anything to  keep them with them.  It is kind of funny that Flip suggests probably one of the  most obvious suggestions ever yet, one that might have not been thought up so easily.  For people who want a Thanksgiving special but haven't seen the Loud House you don't really need to see the entire series to understand the special it pretty much works self contained.    I do think it really could  have been longer because it would have been nice to see more character interactions. but, this doesn't mean what we got wasn't good and it was quite fun.  

 That it for us tune in next time when we force two random families we found to have Thanksgiving together.  Something ensues. 

NBC Holiday programming 2018

NBC Thanksgiving  Christmas 

      NBC has released their holiday programming from Thanksgiving all the way to new year. Highlights include : "The Grinch" , "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" , a New Years Eve show and more.


   Here's the schedule

 Wednesday, November 21st
   
 8-9PM  Hollywood Game Night (repeating December 19th at 9pm)
9-11pm  A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving

Thursday , November 22nd
9-12pm (all time zones with same time)   Macy's 92nd Thanksgiving Day Parade  (repeating  2-5pm)
12-2pm (all time zones)    National Dog   show   (repeats Saturday November 24th at 8pm)

Friday, November 23rd
8-8:30pm How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)  (repeating December 25th at 8pm)
8:30-9pm   Dreamworks Trolls Holiday

Wednesday, November 28th
8-10pm 86th Annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center 
10pm    A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy (repeat December 12th at 10pm)

Thursday, November 29th
8pm  Lego Jurassic World : The Secret Exhibit Parts 1&2 (repeats Wednesday Dec. 19 at 8pm)

Monday December 3rd
10-11pm Deal of No Deal : Happy Howie Days  (Series premieres December 5th on CNBC)


Tuesday, December 4th
9-11pm  Saturday Night Live Best of Christmas (repeat December 13th at 9pm)

Tuesday, December 11th
9-10pm  Darci Lynne : My Hometown Christmas
10-11pm  Hollywood Game Night

Wednesday, December 12th
8pm  Ellen's Game of Games (repeat  Thursday, December 20 at 10pm)
9pm  Little Big Shots

Monday, December 17th
10-11pm  America's Got Talent (repeat December 21st at 8pm)

Thursday, December 20th
8-10pm Timeless  ( Series finale)

Monday, December 24th
8-11pm It's a Wonderful Life
11:30-1am  Christmas Eve Mass

Tuesday, December 25th
8:30pm -11 Movie :How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Monday, December 31st
8-10PM NBC NEWS Special : A Toast to 2018!
10-11, 11:30-12:30PM NBC New Year's Eve

Tuesday, January 1st
11:30amet/8:30am PT  130th Annual Tournament of the Roses Parade

Full press release  after the Jump

The Lookback : Alvin and The Chipmunks Thanksgiving

The Flashback   Thanksgiving 


      One long time ago, we've written about Alvin and the Chipmunks celebrating Christmas  but  they had a Thanksgiving special too.  That's our Lookback this time, a look at  "Alvin and the Chipmunks : A Thanksgiving Celebration" which first came out in 1994.  So let's see what chipmunks eat on Thanksgiving or something..

        The Chipmunks and Dave send invitations out to their relatives and Alvin wants to be the lead in a community play about pilgrims.  Simon has been made the lead  which he doesn't want to do, Theodore doesn't want to do lights but gets that and Alvin gets do  to costumes  which . well guess.   Dave tells them about a time he  had to do show as a kid and where it went bad.  He made up words to the song  to make up for the words he forgot and apparently, worked out.  That moment made him want to be songwriter.   Dave's  message to them is that they shouldn't let fear stop them form trying something new.

Young Dave/was not a rhinestone cowboy 

    Since this is an Alvin and the Chipmunks related piece of media, the are songs. In this case used for montage things.  The chipmunks work on their tasks to various effects.   Alvin has a nightmare where he gets attacked by costumes. (I hate when that happens)  Simon has a dream that  he fails at the play. Theodore has  a dream that he screws up with the lighting and gets arrested by his grandma (what?)  and all 3 run into Dave's room and tell him something that is too late to stop the relatives from coming.  (Some of their relatives are chipmunk people  and some are human people so that's a thing)  More montage with music time.

When costumes attack 

      Now, it's the play day.  Alvin has a plan that  we don't get to hear (thanks a lot special). The idea is to fake that a baby is stuck in a gorilla enclosure but never mind it's in a tree so the new plan  then it ends up in a gorilla cage for real.  Simon is dressed up as a mother also he scares a gorilla and gets a doll. (What kind of plan was that?)  A police man shows up and he ruins their plan to be late for the play because he gets them there in time. (Almost as if this plan was stupid)  The three of them are nervous.  Their grandmother tells them they did a great show at that park there with the baby and gorilla.   This gives them the confidence to do well with the play.  Then the family has Thanksgiving dinner.  Dave was entered into a golf tournament.

Happy Thanksgiving I think. 

  Quite a nice special to see. It's not center pieced with Thanksgiving in the normal sense that is used to give us a reason for the relatives to show up  and possibly the reason for the play.  The center message was don't be afraid to try new things it may work out. That's a good message and I like how the action  of the three trying to fake a baby needing rescue with them doing the things they were afraid to do.   There wasn't too much filler in this special either  which I though there would be but, was surprised that it wasn't long and most of the events that happened stayed for the plot.


 That's our lookback tune in next time when Alvin and The Chipmunks fight Tom and Jerry.