Sadly, Even Jerry Orbach is Replaceable
OK, next on our list is Peanuts. Peanuts is an American touchstone. Can you imagine a world without the Charlie Brown Christmas? Without Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin? Without the "WA WA WAWAWA" sound the adults make? Except, those are all from the animated holiday specials. What I'm talking about is actually called Classic Peanuts -- it's what's on the comics every day.
Why "Classic?" It's not like Coke. It's not like Charles M. Schulz came up with a New Peanuts that sucked and tasted more like Pepsi and everyone wanted the old Peanuts back except now it was called Classic Peanuts. Nope. It's called Classic Peanuts because it's all re-runs. See, in some other comics (Family Circus to name one), the creator teaches his son or brother or someone to do his strips. How sad is that, that you can teach someone else to draw and ink and make crappy jokes just like you so that no one can even TELL THE DIFFERENCE?
Anyway, Schulz had some pride, and when he went, the comic went with him. Sort of. Not really. See, the comic page editors were all, "ARGH! No Peanuts! Whatever are we to do?" Someone got the bright idea to just rerun old ones, and see, even though there are some great things about Peanuts (which I will get to), it isn't so bland that you can't just run some from, I don't know, 20 years ago, and no one will know the difference.
The characters on Peanuts are what makes it great. How finely realized art such folks as Charlie and Sally Brown? Linus and Lucy? Pigpen, Marcy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy? Lucy (the original bitchy little girl) selling psychiatric advice for 5 cents is pretty clever. Linus and his blanket? Schroeder the Beethoven playing little kid? These are great character vignettes.
You know who else was pretty funny, witty, original, and a titan in his field? Johnny Carson, who now shares another trait with Schulz -- both are dead. Carson was fan-fuckin-tastic. But, when I turn the TV to NBC at 11:30 at night, I don't want to see a Carson re-run from the '70s (like, I'm not interested in Watergate humor or Lee Majors or whatever); I wanna see . . . well, I don't really care all that much for Leno, but I mean, that's who I want to see before turning over to Letterman.
Now, folks may say, "What about the children?" Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown et al are American icons, and how can our children grow up without seeing them every day? Well, Howdy Doody was an icon, and I grew up just fine without seeing him every day (or ever, for that matter). Instead, I watched Mr. Rogers. My hypothetical future kids will have something else.
I think it just goes to show how absolutely stagnant the comic pages are that it is the one popular entertainment forum where we don't let what was once a brilliant character-driven strip die a dignified death. Let's just keep flogging it until everyone realizes that you can't tell one from the next. Screw you comic page editors!
Creepy Clown Rating: 2.5 Creepy Clowns
(1 C.C. = awesome comic; 5 C.C. = it sucks)
It gains creepy clowns for the fact that what I see on Peanuts every day is so bland that I can't tell if it's one I've even seen before, or if it was from before I was born or before I could read or what. However, I cannot hold it against the strip that the editors keep running it (so it doesn't get as many c.c.'s as it could). It loses creepy clowns for the fact that it's characters are pretty great, and a world without Pigpen is a sad world indeed.
Why "Classic?" It's not like Coke. It's not like Charles M. Schulz came up with a New Peanuts that sucked and tasted more like Pepsi and everyone wanted the old Peanuts back except now it was called Classic Peanuts. Nope. It's called Classic Peanuts because it's all re-runs. See, in some other comics (Family Circus to name one), the creator teaches his son or brother or someone to do his strips. How sad is that, that you can teach someone else to draw and ink and make crappy jokes just like you so that no one can even TELL THE DIFFERENCE?
Anyway, Schulz had some pride, and when he went, the comic went with him. Sort of. Not really. See, the comic page editors were all, "ARGH! No Peanuts! Whatever are we to do?" Someone got the bright idea to just rerun old ones, and see, even though there are some great things about Peanuts (which I will get to), it isn't so bland that you can't just run some from, I don't know, 20 years ago, and no one will know the difference.
The characters on Peanuts are what makes it great. How finely realized art such folks as Charlie and Sally Brown? Linus and Lucy? Pigpen, Marcy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy? Lucy (the original bitchy little girl) selling psychiatric advice for 5 cents is pretty clever. Linus and his blanket? Schroeder the Beethoven playing little kid? These are great character vignettes.
You know who else was pretty funny, witty, original, and a titan in his field? Johnny Carson, who now shares another trait with Schulz -- both are dead. Carson was fan-fuckin-tastic. But, when I turn the TV to NBC at 11:30 at night, I don't want to see a Carson re-run from the '70s (like, I'm not interested in Watergate humor or Lee Majors or whatever); I wanna see . . . well, I don't really care all that much for Leno, but I mean, that's who I want to see before turning over to Letterman.
Now, folks may say, "What about the children?" Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown et al are American icons, and how can our children grow up without seeing them every day? Well, Howdy Doody was an icon, and I grew up just fine without seeing him every day (or ever, for that matter). Instead, I watched Mr. Rogers. My hypothetical future kids will have something else.
I think it just goes to show how absolutely stagnant the comic pages are that it is the one popular entertainment forum where we don't let what was once a brilliant character-driven strip die a dignified death. Let's just keep flogging it until everyone realizes that you can't tell one from the next. Screw you comic page editors!
Creepy Clown Rating: 2.5 Creepy Clowns
(1 C.C. = awesome comic; 5 C.C. = it sucks)
It gains creepy clowns for the fact that what I see on Peanuts every day is so bland that I can't tell if it's one I've even seen before, or if it was from before I was born or before I could read or what. However, I cannot hold it against the strip that the editors keep running it (so it doesn't get as many c.c.'s as it could). It loses creepy clowns for the fact that it's characters are pretty great, and a world without Pigpen is a sad world indeed.
posted by big al at 11:09 PM
2 Comments:
Peanuts needs to go...if the Cubs can get rid of Sammy Sosa, then the newspapers can lose Snoopy and the gang.
John
I agree. There are other comic strips which should be given a chance to try themselves on the newspaper pages, if it weren't for the space taken up by Peanuts reruns.
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