EASTER IS...

One of my many childhood obsessions was oddly enough Lutheran Television. Growing up Catholic, it seemed like our Protestant friends had better choices when it came to TV productions. They had the terrifically soapy THIS IS THE LIFE, we had SUNDAY MASS. They had the claymation duo of DAVEY & GOLIATH, we had SUNDAY MASS FOR SHUT-INS. They had EASTER IS... and we had EASTER SUNDAY MASS.

 EASTER IS...was an animated special about a boy and his dog from the early 1970s that was a sequel to CHRISTMAS IS... (which I also loved and will be covering in December). I recently found both these Lutheran TV classics unwrapped on VHS at a gay thrift shop in Palm Springs! It's an Easter miracle!

 Actress/singer/game show icon Leslie Uggams lent her talents to the production, a few years before her appearance in the disturbing exploitation film POOR PRETTY EDDIE, which also involved a dog.

 Our story focuses on Benjy, a young boy and his poor sense of what it means to be a good pet owner. His sheepdog Waldo wanders around the neighborhood without a leash, gets attacked by bees and is left sitting on the bus stop waiting for Benjy to come home from school. Probably doesn't get his shots either.

 At school, Easter season is in full swing - and everyone knows what that means : girls dressed as pink bunnies while boys point at them, colored eggs and baskets full of candy.

 Benjy's teacher (Leslie) tells the class that they are going to be competing against the other classes in an Easter decorating contest. Think of it as PROJECT: RUNWAY with lots of pastels.

 The teacher assigns Benjy the most important task of designing the poster for the classroom door. She doesn't want it to look like crap, so he's gotta really work hard on this. I mean real hard.

 As his hippie Jesus poster looks over him, Benjy begins to toil away night after night on his Easter poster, ignoring Waldo and becoming more and more obsessed with conveying the true meaning of Easter.

 The following day, Benjy scolds Waldo for being too co-dependant and the poor dog wanders off in a state of distress, only to be attacked by a magical (yes, I said magical) Siamese cat on loan from LADY & THE TRAMP.

 Waldo ends up spending the night on the streets, in a dump, and drinking polluted water.

 Meanwhile Benjy's ignorant parents think that all the boy needs to do is put food outside and Waldo will turn up.
They don't even offer to drive around and look for the dog. Out of sight, out of mind. I really want to smack these two smug assholes.

 Benjy prays to God to bring Waldo home. Maybe he should have thought about getting Waldo a leash and harness at some point and treated him better?

 But God doesn't listen - and Waldo ends up getting captured by a red-headed brat. It's always a red-head. Even Lex Luthor was ginger before he lost his hair.

 Red decides to hold Waldo hostage, thinking that his owner actually cared about him.

 Benjy is told that he needs to come up with FIVE DOLLARS in ransom otherwise he'll never see Waldo again. Great orange phone by the way.

 Rather than going to his stupid parents for help, Benjy decides to steal $3.05 out of the family piggy bank. Luckily his African-American friend is around to help him.

 Benjy and his friend confront the read-headed kidnapper, but its too late-Waldo was attacked by rats during the night and escaped Red's garage...leaving behind a trail of blood!!!

 Oh Hippie Jesus - what is Benjy going to do? What will become of poor neglected Waldo? Where did you get that awesome vest? PROJECT: RUNWAY, perhaps?

 Well, the next day Benjy's dumb-ass parents convince him to go to church for Easter - and Waldo just shows up. All dirty, but not bleeding. The two are happily reunited and all is forgiven. Did Benjy learn his lesson? Did he learn anything at all? I really don't think so.

 Benjy's stoned Sunday school teacher lets him bring Waldo into the classroom. "Like, that dog is so intense!"

 The creepy Sunday School students listen as Benjy and the teacher tell the miracle of Waldo's Christ-like return.

 The next day at Albrecht PUBLIC SCHOOL. (I typed it in all caps for a reason).

 Tim Gunn shows up to judge the Easter-decorating contest - and guess who's class wins?

Turns out that Benjy's Hippie Jesus collage is just what a PUBLIC SCHOOL wants hanging on a classroom door! I guess maybe Tim Gunn thought it was the Brawny Man or some other hunky dude and not Jesus. Well that's where Benhy's story ends...but actually I have a confession...

When this show aired in the 1970s, I loved it so much I mailed away for an EASTER IS...Hippie Jesus poster, which I proudly displayed on my closet door for years, until it was replaced by Lynda Carter. Amen!

It's the Easter Beagle (again) Charlie Brown

Premiering on CBS in April 1974 - this popular Peanuts holiday special, like all in the series, features several subplots: Peppermint Patty tries to teach Marcie how to decorate eggs; Snoopy dances with the popular and adorable Bunny-Wunnies,Yes, the Bunny-Wunnies; Woodstock gets a new birdhouse; Lucy decides to throw her own egg hunt; and Linus, not defeated by the disappointment of the Great Pumpkin - tells Sally she doesn't need to color eggs because the Easter Beagle will bring them.

IT'S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN moved to ABC in 2000,

where it has aired more or less every year. I believe it's padded with newer, inferior material to fill an hour timeslot. Not sure if ABC is even airing it this year, but you could always buy it on DVD.

Random TV GUIDE Ad - Valentine's Cartoons

Thanks for Tooning In (Again)

Everybody has seen A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING at least once. While not as popular as the other Peanuts holiday specials, it stands out as the most memorable animated Thanksgiving program ever created.
Since 1977, when the show premiered on CBS, we have all enjoyed the exploits of the Peanuts gang as they gather for the annual parent-free feast of popcorn, toast and candy. I've always loved pushy Peppermint Patty and her entourage and how they invade Chuck's holiday meal. Maybe it's because I've known a few people like Patty over the years - but she has always been my favorite Peanuts character. The one disturbing aspect of the show is that Woodstock, clearly a bird, carves and ingests a turkey - therefore becoming a cannibal before our eyes. Yikes!

Some other not-so-well-known specials include: THE THANKSGIVING THAT ALMOST WASN'T - not to be confused with THE CHRISTMAS THAT ALMOST WASN'T! This syndicated special first aired in 1972-and hasn't been seen since. It told the tale of Jeremy Squirrel who helped orchestrate the first Thanksgiving feast. Who knew? This special came from the guys over at Hanna-Barbera.
Another critter tale, THE MOUSE ON THE MAYFLOWER was first broadcast in 1968. It's a Rankin-Bass classic that was narrated by Bing Crosby. You can read all about it here.

Comic strip cavemen from Before Christ came to life in B.C. THE FIRST THANKSGIVING, which premiered on NBC in 1972. THE FLINTSTONES it's not. You can watch it in three segments here on YouTube.
Another comic strip came to TV in 1989. GARFIELD'S THANKSGIVING was one of the sourpuss cat's many CBS specials. I've never been a fan.
In 1980, NBC aired a compilation of old Warner Bros. cartoons mixed with a new Duck Dodgers episode and called it DAFFY DUCK'S THANKS FOR GIVING.
This was after CBS debuted the similar BUGS BUNNY'S THANKSGIVING DIET a year earlier to big ratings.
In 1980's THANKSGIVING IN THE LAND OF OZ , Dorothy Gale is carried back to Oz by a green turkey balloon to spend the holiday with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who are moving to a nursing home! Along the way she meets Jack Pumpkinhead, a and Tic Toc, and must battle the evil Tyrone the Terrible Toy Tinkerer. Oh boy! This CBS Special should not be confused with the live action atrocity called THE WONDERFUL LAND OF OZ.
Also, it should not to be confused with 1974's JOURNEY BACK TO OZ, which was a theatrical feature from our friends over at Filmation (that actually took ten years to make it to the big screen). Liza Minnelli takes over her late mom's role and she's joined by such talents as Ethel Merman, Paul Lynde, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Danny Thomas and Margaret Hamilton! With special guest Bill Cosby as the Wiz! (A little Filmation cross-promotion there). It premiered on ABC in 1976.

So there you have it - my quick overview of that rare bird, the Thanksgiving special.

Enjoy!

Random TV GUIDE Ad Week - Day 5

Who raised you, wolves?

Apparently the answer would be "yes" if you were Mowgli, the little naked star of MOWGLI'S BROTHERS, a half-hour animated special from the legendary Chuck Jones. Based on a tale from Rudyard Kipling's THE JUNGLE BOOK, this family program was aired by CBS numerous times throughout the 1970s. Why the advertising department chose to run an ad with "baby ass" in it is beyond me. I know that Mr. Jones' adaptation was intended to be more faithful than the Disney musical, but there is just something off-putting by the depiction of the mop-haired jungle boy looking like a cross between Joan Jett, Cindy Lou Who and a wrinkly Coppertone baby. Can't imagine a network using an ad like this today, the Parents Research Council would be crying "pornography" the minute it hit the newsstands. Times have changed.

The Network That Slept Through Christmas...

Please enjoy this rerun from Christmas 2008. When I think of the classic Christmas TV specials of my youth, I usually associate most of the classics with CBS. RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964), FROSTY THE SNOWMAN (1969), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966) and A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965) all aired on CBS for most of the 1970s and 80s, even though ABC now airs THE GRINCH and CHARLIE BROWN. (How could the suits at CBS let those go???). ABC had it's own stable of regulars back then including the RUDOLPH'S SHINY NEW YEAR and FROSTY'S WINTER WONDERLAND (both 1976) sequels, the SANTA CLAUS double-header (1970's ...IS COMING TO TOWN and 1974's THE YEAR WITHOUT A...) and other cool stuff like Chuck Jones' A VERY MERRY CRICKET (1973).NBC, on the other hand had THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY (Books 1 and 2-1968 and 1976, respectively) and, um...
THE BEAR WHO SLEPT THROUGH CHRISTMAS (1973)! I remember watching this - and loving it, after all I was 9 years old.
 
But why did it fade away like so many other NBC holiday specials? I know that RUDOLPH actually premiered on NBC, but found a home on CBS. My all-time favorite MISTER MAGOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1962) also first aired on NBC, but it found a lasting legacy as a syndicated special. This is one of my favorite scenes:

Some of the other NBC "lost classics" include THE TINY TREE (premiered on NBC in 1975 - then rerun on ABC and CBS!), B.C.: A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS (1971), THE FAMILY CIRCUS CHRISTMAS (1979) and THE LITTLE RASCALS CHRISTMAS (1979). Most of these aired once or twice and then disappeared forever.Some others like JACK FROST (1979), THE STINGIEST MAN IN TOWN (1978), A FLINTSTONES CHRISTMAS (1977) eventually made it to cable and home video. So where is the vault that holds all these great animated shows - and how do we get it to open??? Yes - aside from the few that are now avialable on dvd (Notably the Rankin-Bass productions) - where have all the others gone? And so, now you know the sad tale of The Network That Slept Through Christmas.

Lost Christmas Specials

There's a whole bunch of animated holiday specials from the 1970s and 80s that seem to have vanished from the face of the earth. Here's a few of them:

A VERY MERRY CRICKET from the brilliant Chuck Jones is a sequel to A CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE (both from 1973) that ran on ABC in the early 1970s and later entered syndication before turning up on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. I remember loving it as a kid, but have not seen in about 30 years. Wonder if holds up.

Like most Saturday-morning favorites, The Pink Panther came to prime-time for the holiday season in a brand new special called A PINK CHRISTMAS in 1978. In this show for some reason the Panther has been time-displaced in the 1890s and is homeless and desperately trying to find food and shelter. The ABC marketing department decided that this depressing scenario is "the funniest yuletide" ever. Hmmm...

Talk about depressing, THE TINY TREE (from 1975) told the story of a sad, lonely, handicapped girl who spends christmas in the park with a bunch of animals and a tiny tree. After NBC reran the show in '76, it showed up on ABC in '77 before finishing up on CBS in for a few years. The show has not been seen again since, and that truly saddens me.

Not to be confused with the film of the same title, A CHRISTMAS STORY is a Hanna-Barbera confection from 1972 that told the story of Goober and Gumdrop's efforts to deliver Timmy's letter to Santa. Out of circulation for over 20 years, this one turned up on TNT and Cartoon Network in the 1990s. I don't think I've ever seen it, but hopefully one day I shall. This is just a small sampling of the many holiday treats that are lost to today's audiences, I may uncover more in the next few days if you are all good.