A Post About Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown: Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown

Peanuts 

            After a long debate that caused 402 injuries and 3 wars, and somebody to lose a tooth, we are doing this blog post. What is it? Well, this time we are doing a post about something Peanuts related (there's no way that caused that much problems, this place is very much doing Peanuts stuff)  about a graphic novel ( that's it bring in the tanks!). So why? Well this graphic novel that came out this year, 2021 AD, is based off storyboards for a special that went unproduced (yet, they made It was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown, this world is sad) that was maybe called "Will Ye No Come Back Again, Charlie Brown?"  I say maybe because we don't know if it was ever going to have a different name and that was a developmental name. The graphic novel is called "Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown". 

  

      The graphic novel was written by Jason Cooper, the art was done by Robert Pope and Hannah White. The idea was to take some of the original storyboards and make a story out of them. Let's take a look at this undone special now. 

        It starts with Franklin visiting Lucy's  booth which is something we really don't see much, and interaction is funny and leads into the plot of Charlie Brown who has a pen pal, something we see in the strips, and he's exited it's from his Scottish Pen Pal from Scotland, Morag.   (Fun fact: Morag is a Gaelic name meaning great; the story mentions that it's the Gaelic equivalent  of Sarah)  Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown has fallen smitten with her. While the story is based off story boards the writer put his own work into this story and Cooper did a great job capturing the Peanuts character's characterizations. Anyway, in the letter Morag mentions that in a few months there's an annual international arts and music festival and that it would be fun to see him come some time. Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown takes that as he should go right now. 

  

           Charlie decides he wants to go so he has to make money and starts with a car wash. This turns into a bike, roller skate, etc wash.  It's kind of cool to see Charlie Brown's optimism and never give up sprit work through this arc as he tries to figure out ways to get money to go to Scotland; after Lucy gives him an idea, he inspires Lucy, Schroder, and Linus to help him and encourages them to come with him. Lucy with golf at St. Andrews,  Schroder playing at the festival, and Linus apparently is interested in the Loch Ness Monster because Great Pumpkin.  (what?)  Also Charlie Brown is trying to write a poem to preform.

        Since the story is called "Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown" and not "Charlie Brown doesn't make it Scotland, after failing a few times" he and his friends made enough money to fly on an airplane to Scotland. This being Charlie Brown we need something to bring his high down slightly, on the airplane he opens his latest pen pal message from Morag and finds out that she won't be there because she's in Mexico City, visiting a different pen pal of her thirty pen pals. (30? My writing hand is tried) 

      Anyway, at the airport in the great city of Edinburgh, there's a girl holding a sign that says "Charles Brown" (I like how a) Lucy mentions when Morag wrote to him as just Charlie and this girl as Charles, as they aren't getting his name right, and b) it's the same thing Marcie calls him) Anyway this girl is Nell, her family is hosting the Peanuts gang. 

         Nell is fun character to be introduced, the Scottish girl has a nice optimistic attitude to her. In the interview about the novel (that's included in the novel) the original storyboards were going to have a love triangle thing with Linus/Nell/ Charlie but Cooper decided to not have that in the story and I'm glad he didn't go with the love triangle thing.   Since this is a story in Scotland, let's talk about Scotland in the book. I like that how they depict the Edinburgh airport's distinct tower,  and the welcome sign those were nice touches. 

      Back to Nell, she provides a way for the Peanuts characters which are in a nice paired down basic amount of characters ,including Snoopy, to get to know things around Scotland and the festival plot line as well. She also provides a nice balance to the cast, by helping Charlie Brown when plans don't go the way he was expecting. She doesn't seem to mind Linus' odd quirks, even gets on well with Lucy.  There are some nice hints of Nell and Charlie Brown crushing splashed in. 

   

                   "Life's not really about what you wish were happening. It's about what  is happening.--Nell

                  We get to meet Nell's family's farm with Coos, which are like hairy cows. I like how Lucy takes  a liking to the creatures, it shows her sentimental side that's not seen too much and I'm glad they had that in this story.  There are some fun jokes and gags that'd you expect in Peanuts, but I'm happy the didn't do a football gag or something we'd expect.  

            

                   They go to different things like Lucy's golfing at St. Andrews (Peanuts characters have that power to visit exclusive golf clubs), then seeking out Loch Ness Monster.  There's a sweet moment of them thanking Charlie Brown for the fun trip, before something goes wrong, weirdly it's a Linus reason not a Charlie Brown reason. Linus thinks he saw the monster and gets too excited and cause the boat to fall over.  They are safe, but Schroder's piano is ruined.   He feels stressed about using a real piano for the show but he gets some encouragement thanks to Lucy  which provides another great moment. 

               

                    Charlie Brown who has been very confident this whole thing is up next, and he presents his poem (he's even wearing a kilt) and finds a creative way to present his poem to make it work out for him and the audience. It was creative and a cool tie in from an earlier scene. 

                 The story ends with Charlie Brown back at home writing to Nell,  and now I want a sequel.

    The art work is befitting a Peanuts media. The coloring and shade allow things to pop out well and provide a nice feeling of warmth when needed. There's also the classic feeling of Peanuts Sunday comics (since it's in color) with the simple backgrounds, but the detailed stuff is well done. The character expressions are well done and bring out their emotions.

               "Scotland Bound" is a great novel, I kind of would love to see it be animated as a special, it's a great story  and a fun ride. 

  This was pretty fun to read, and I'm kind of sad that it wasn't a special, maybe they should get on that. There's some good stuff with Scotland in it with out it feeling stereotypical , minus Loch Ness monster stuff, but you know.  It's all the great fun of Peanuts well told in a  great story. 

   That's it for now, tune in next time when the Peanuts go to Wales.  

 

 

I don't know, but MTV is 40 years old

One Shot Posts  MTV 

     I think that early cable is one the most interesting things in television history besides early television itself.  Streaming hasn't really interested me as much it's movement from interesting to novelty to weird cash grab as accelerated in a way I wasn't expecting and honestly it feels too over the top. That's not the post.  Early cable had the idea of "What the heck are we really doing here?" I mean you had space for different ideas that really (back then) couldn't work as an over the air station and you also had less  restriction from the government over board than you did on OTA. 

        On Saturday, August 1, 1981, MTV: Music Television.  It's kind of weird that people out there wouldn't know that MTV ever meant  Music Television or why the heck MTV airs a yearly Video Music Award show. That's because MTV has long gone off their original focus.  Launched by Warner and American Express (Warner Amex) the idea was the concept of a radio station but you could also see it being done with your face and eyes. A total assault of the scenes.   

      Radio has (had before...that's a different story) Disc Jockeys, MTV has Video Jockeys.  They played music videos because this is television and watching music videos is probably the  only way listening to music on TV could at least be entertaining. They played them 24/7  like at 3:49AM on July 9th, 1992, you could turn on your TV and see them playing a music video.

            Single concept channels were made for cable. Back in 1979, someone somewhere said "I'm tired of not being able to watch sports on a Tuesday afternoon in November" and ESPN was launched. (Though most of ESPN is actually people balthering than live sports you get the idea)  Warner had made an all children's channel so now  local UHF channel 57 could be slowly killed off by cable TV in fun ways, and kids could watch programming on  a sick day at 11:35AM instead of watching "The Price is Right".  In 1980, Ted Turner decided that society needed a 24/7 news channel ( I wonder if he regrets this since the news channels seem to do less of that)   So a radio station but TV is also an idea. 

       MTV launched at Midnight Eastern Daylight Time (since it was August) on August 1, 1981 with the 1979 hit song by The Buggles , "Video Killed the Radio Star"  Ironically a song about the change,  between the idea of people listening around the radio for programming and now watching it on TV.  MTV didn't kill music radio because well TV wasn't portable, but that wasn't it's purpose, it still was a change to television in the era of change.   (Funfact: The song/video came out 2 years prior to MTV) 

The future you want ?  

        

         MTV was originally styled like a rock station but instead of radio it's on TV.   They had big ideas they knew they were a big new idea, they introduced their channel as a rocket launching into space, landing into space with astronauts planting the MTV flag in the moon.  MTV's design was put together by Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert and you should thanks these two legends for many things.  If you were a Nickelodeon kid, they are part of that so much that it wouldn't even really have made it without them (them and Geraldine Laybourne)  One of the big things about radio back then was the jingles and presentation they made cable presentation and television presentation different than it ever had been before. 

MTV was in someone's loft? 

 

        That's the idea, MTV was an innovator. I'm not doing a history of MTV post, I really would have to use tons of documents and really be repeating stuff found in other places. MTV is essentially part of television because of it's core, it's still on the air now. Maybe sadly. MTV now is mostly there just on the cable system, withering.  

  

           MTV was built to be the NOW channel, a channel that tapped into the current trends, it had some bumps but made it. I'm sure if the internet was there in 1994 the way it is now, you'd have people complaining about how MTV playing the current video is nothing like the MTV they were growing up with in 1984. That's how things are really, the ages of time. I know the complaint now is that MTV doesn't play music videos  and really if they did tomorrow, they wouldn't play ones you remember MTV Classic does though. The school of common thought now is that MTV playing  music videos would  be like well a radio station airing dramas in 1980. (Look at that) 

               Since the marketing genius who said "cable is dying"got their phrase into the common lexicon it seems that maybe it is, whatever that means.  People have been told that newspaper and radio have been dying for decades. (It changes and morphs might be more suitable) Music videos are probably not really a business to have on TV anymore in the current state. Music Videos were like marketing, MTV helped sales of records, like radio used to as well. 

           I remember a Disney Channel Original Movie starting where the main characters were running to the TV set to see a new music video premiere. A perfect snapshot of society at that moment of time for teens at the time, you didn't know when they were going to show it again. Now you can see it on Youtube. (Ironic you can find many of the old MTV music videos there too)  In a strange way, streaming killed music videos on TV before it was called streaming. 

          Now if you look deep in your cable line up, if you have that, you'll see channels that run music videos still, I'm not sure who's watching Nick Music or CMT Music but run on little channels, run on!   MTV later gave society some reality shows, I mean everyone was doing it, so why not? MTV has lessened up on that even because the target audience they've always wanted probably doesn't even know where they are on the line up if they have cable in the first. Now they've found other things to air multiple hours a day. 

More after the jump

Fox Releases Fall Premiere Dates

FOX TVLookFall2021  Primetime 

     FOX has released their fall primetime premiere dates. They are sticking with a tradition premiere week format.  The only thing that will start out of premiere week will the start of the final season of Thursday Night Football on FOX.   Here's the premiere dates, all times ET/PT unless otherwise noted. 

      Monday, September 20 

  8pm 9-1-1 (Season 5 Premiere) 

  9pm The Big Leap (Series Premiere) 

      Tuesday, September 21 

  8pm  The Resident (Season 5 Premiere) 

   9pm  Our Kind of People  (series Premiere) 

   Wednesday, September 22 

  8pm  The Masked Singer (Season 6 Premiere) 

  9pm   Alter Ego (Series Premiere) 

  

    Thursday, September 23 

  8pm  The Masked Singer (Season premiere, part 2) 

  9pm  Alter Ego (Series premiere, part 2)

   Fridays (ongoing) 

8pm  Friday Night SmackDown

  Saturdays (on going) 

7pm  Fox Sports Saturday 

Sunday, September 26

8pm The Simpsons (Season 33 Premiere) 

8:30  The Great North  (Season 2 Premiere) 

9pm  Bob's Burgers  ( Season 12 Premiere) 

9:30pm Family Guy (Season 19 Premiere) 

Thursdays  (Beginning October 7 ) 

8pm/5pt  Thursday Night Football 

Press Release after the Jump

Into the Twilight: Evergreen

The Twilight Zone  The Flashback

           We've not looked at an episode of the 2002 Twilight Zone series since 2016, with a look at a sequel episode of the 1959 series "It's a Good Life", we are back with a look at the 2002 series that ran one season on UPN (America's favorite network!.  So anyway, the best way to look at this is why not start from the very first episode? That's right, "Evergreen". 

           The episode starts with a family moving into a new gated community and the episode is focused on  a teenager who has dyed hair, nose ring and stuff that was to scare early 2000's parents. The father, Mr. Winslow, is annoyed with his older daughter and feels that she needs to not act this way.  There's also a noticeable look to the neighborhood where the kids are in uniforms for example.  (It's going to be one of those episodes huh?)     

I don't even know/ Copyright Paramount 

        It's morning and the girl notices that her nose ring is gone, her hairs is not dyed, her tattoos are gone  (Usually those don't go away overnight, ) her CD's are gone too, anyway she's angry and yells at her parents and her sister had to take out her earrings. The head of the homeowners' association is at the house and tells Jenna, the girl, that her parents gave up almost everything for them to be there. (Which I think how most terms of service go for things too) The idea is to have them be in a safe world. 

The true moral is that homeowners'  associations are bad/ Copyright Paramount 

        Jenna thinks about running away, but a boy from the neighborhood, named Logan tells her it's hard to get away. (Maybe it's a trick, it might be a trick, I think it might be a trick)  Later on, she's outside and waiting for Logan and sees that he was taken away and zapped. The next day, they tell her he attacked a security guard with a hunting knife.  Jenna is suspicious about this place when she founds out the military school they threaten kids with doesn't exist.  Logan is seen again being sent on a truck that says ARCADIA on the front. There's also a meeting that was going on at the same time where I think they decide that kids die when they aren't conforming to their system. 

       Jenna runs home and tells her sister, Jules, that what she saw and that's she leaving, and later tells her sister where's going to be and later the sister turns her in and she gets put into an ARCADIA truck. 

The Shot shows that Arcadia is a fertilizer company, meaning they turn bad children into fertilizer. There was a shot at the start where a family was planting a tree and crying, which was a good clue.

 

         This episode is a standard "creepy" and authoritarian  dystopia story. The thing that makes it work a little more here is that it's parents who are willing to sign away everything to have their kids conform to a perfection.  I think the other thing that gets me is the ending because of how close the sisters seemed to be, it makes it more surprising what happens.  The episode leaves good clues of what happens to those don't conform that makes a good thing to see in hindsight. 

    

      Being the first episode of a new "Twilight Zone" series it has a lot to live on and it's an alright episode.  The hard thing it has going for it is that these kind of stories aren't as new as they were in the original series time and it's hard to be really creative with it, but it does work, the twist was still a surprising one, and it works that reveal in well, the episode had some mystery to keep investment.  

      Anyway, that's it for now, tune in next time when we wonder who is our mulch. 

NewsNation Expanding Programing in September

News Nation   Cable News 

      

        Nexstar Media Group's  news channel, NewsNation, is expanding its programming from September 27th.  

        Beginning on September 27, NewsNation' adds a new morning show  Morning in America airing  from 7 to 10am ET, hosted by former ABC News anchor, Adrienne Bankert.  Replacing NewsNation's current morning programing of religious  infomercials and an hour of "Jag".  

  Meanwhile, in primetime, veteran journalist and analyst, Dan Abrams, will be hosting Dan Abrams Live  will be airing from 8 to 9pm ET.   This is latest change to the news network's line up, which launched a programming block on WGN America in September of 2020.  In March 2021, WGN America rebranded as NewsNation and expanded news programming live from weeknights 6pmet to 11pmet (repeating 11-3amet)  and weekends 7-9pmET.  (repeating 10-1amet) . 

  

   Earlier this month, Newsnation announced slight changes to their line up starting for today, July 19, with the 6pm newscast "Early Edition" being rebranded as "Rush Hour" and evening newscast "Prime" be cut to 1 hour at 9pmet, with a new show "On Balance with Leland Vittert" which starts at 8pmet. Its currently unknown what will happen with this new program and the 9pm "Prime" with these changes coming in September. 

Full Press Release after  the Jump 

NBC Announces Fall Premiere Dates

NBC TVLookFall2021  Premiere Dates 

                    

     NBC has reveled their fall line premiere dates. With note that almost everything will be coming out around the same "premiere week" with less staggering. They have also released premiere dates for late summer shows, including the final season of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"   Also,  NBC has decided that new "Law & Order: For the Defense" will not be going forward  and "The Blacklist" will be taking the slot. 

A replacement for The Blacklist's Friday night slot has not been announced as of yet. 

  Here's the full premiere dates all times ET/PT unless otherwise noticed 

Sunday, August 8

10:30pm  Friday Game Fight (regular slot 9pm, Wednesday 11th) 

Monday, August 9

10pm The Wall 

Thursday, September 9

8:20pm/5:20pt   NFL Kick Off 

Sunday, September 12

8:20/5:20pt  Sunday Night Football

Monday, September 20

8pm  The Voice 

10pm  Ordinary Joe

Tuesday, September 21

10pm  New Amsterdam

Wednesday, September 22

8pm Chicago Med

9pm  Chicago Fire

10pm  Chicago P.D. 

Thursday, September 23

8pm Law & Order : SVU (two hours)

10pm Law & Order: Organized Crime 

Friday, September 24 

9pm  Dateline 

Tuesday, September 28

9pm La Brea 

Thursday, October 21

8pm The Blacklist 

Press Release after the Jump 

ABC Announces Fall Premiere Dates

ABC  TVLookFall2021  Premiere Dates 

        

        ABC has revealed their fall premiere dates.   Their premieres start on Monday, September 20 with Dancing with the Stars.  

       Here's the full line up; all ties are ET/PT; unless otherwise noted) 

  

  Monday, September 20 

   8pm  Dancing with The Stars (Season 30 Premiere) 

  

   Wednesday, September 22

  8pm  The Goldbergs (Season 9 Premiere) 

 8:30pm   The Wonder Years (Series Premiere) 

 9:01pm   The Conners   (Season 4 Premiere) 

9:31pm   Home Ecomics (Season 2 Premiere; new time) 

10pm   A Million Little Things  (Season 4 Premiere) 

Sunday, September 26

8pm  Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (Season 2; new day) 

9pm   Supermarket Sweep  (Season 2; new time) 

10pm The Rookie (Season 4) 

Monday, September 27

10pm  The Good Doctor (Season 5 Premiere) 

Thursday , September 30 

8pm  Station 19 (Season 5 Premiere) 

9pm  Grey's Anatomy (Season 18 Premiere) 

10:01pm  Big Sky (Season 2 Premiere; new night) 

Sunday, October 3

7pm  America's Funniest Home Videos 

Friday, October 8

8pm Shark Tank (Season 13 Premiere) 

9:01pm 20/21  (Season 44 Premiere) 

Tuesday, October 19 

8pm  The Bachelorette (Season 17 Premiere) 

10:01pm Queens (Series Premiere) 

Press Release after the jump

Into the Twilight: A Nice Place to Visit ( From The Original Series)

Twilight Zone  The Flashback 

        Back to the original series for our "Into the Twilight" series, this is an episode coming from season 1 it's episode 28 called "A  Nice Place to Visit".    This happens to be our second look at the something from the original series, and we really should dip into it more.  

         This episode about a man named Henry Francis Valentine but goes by the name Rocky.  He was robbing a pawn shop and when he's running from police he gets cornered and lets out a shot and starts to climb away and gets shot.  Anyway later on, he gets woken up by a man named Pip.  Pip is a man in an all white suit (played by Sebastian Cabot). Now Rocky is a little confused because he does remember getting shot and etc. (Fun thing to remember)  He also wonders how Pip knows his name and stuff about him like his likes.   Pip says his job is to give Rocky anything he wants  and Rocky is of course suspicious because this doesn't happen.  Rocky asks for Pip's wallet and Pip gives him $700 in cash. ( I said wallet!, oh well anyway) 

Money? I wanted your wallet!/Copyright ViacomCBS 

        Pip takes him to a fancy home and says that it's Rocky's house.  Rocky is a little suspicious since people don't normally get free fancy houses with fancy stuff. (Usually) The episode wants to make us invested by also making us wonder what's going on here, when saw this guy get shot and now he's getting these rewards. We can already infer some things that could have happened, but the episode is not showing its hand too much to give us a conclusion yet.   When the food comes Rocky gets suspicious again and wants Pip to eat it, but Pip says that he hasn't eaten in centuries,  Rocky decides to start shooting Pip but nothing happens to the guy  and he figures out that Pip isn't of this Earth.  

In heaven, you have guns some how/ Copyright ViacomCBS 

        Rocky figures out that he's dead and figures out the place he is in heaven. He thinks Pip is an angel and this makes him happy and starts asking for stuff.  He starts to have fun and goes to casino (they have guns and casinos in heaven? Interesting)  

More after the jump