“Charlie Brown’s All-Stars!” (1966)
REVIEWED BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher
CHARLIE BROWN: “For one brief moment, victory was within our grasp.”
LINUS: “And then the game started.”
That verbal exchange pretty much sums up Charlie Brown’s baseball playing and managerial career and forms the basis of the Peanuts’ June 1966 TV Special “Charlie Brown’s All-Stars!”
Tired of loss after loss after loss after loss, Charlie Brown’s team – consisting of boys, girls and a second baseman who can’t throw (Snoopy) – quits. But then local hardware store owner, Mr. Hennessy, offers to sponsor the team. Uniforms will be provided and the team will be in a real league. Suddenly, everyone is excited to play again.
Then Charlie Brown gets the bad news: League rules prohibit girls and dogs from playing. He tells Mr. Hennessy he can’t accept his offer since he couldn’t possibly kick the girls and Snoopy off the team. (Charlie Brown, feminist?) However, he decides to wait to tell the team they won’t get uniforms … hoping they win their next game, which he thinks will soften the blow.
The game is actually close when Charlie Brown ends up on third base with two outs. If he can score, the game will be tied. If not, they lose. He gets overconfident and foolishly tries to steal home and is out by a mile. Now, not only is Charlie Brown “the goat,” but he still has tell his teammates about the uniforms. Predictably, when they hear the news, they blame it all on him and quit again.
Finally, when Linus explains to the team why Charlie Brown turned down the uniforms, they realize he was standing up for his friends. As a reward, they decide to make a uniform for Charlie Brown using Linus’s beloved security blanket.
“Charlie Brown’s All-Stars!” premiered six months after the first Peanuts TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and four months prior to “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Both of those shows were instant classics. “All-Stars” … not so much.
Five of the nine-card 1991 Ziploc Peanuts All-Stars set
Although still enjoyable, it lacks a certain charm and maybe it’s a wee bit too depressing. Plus, whereas, the other two specials had many varied scenes (for instance, the “Great Pumpkin” had Lucy pulling away the football from Charlie Brown, Linus writing a letter to the Great Pumpkin, trick or treating, Snoopy and the Red Barron, the Halloween party and Linus and Sally in the pumpkin patch), “All-Stars” is mostly focused on the ballfield. It’s almost too one-dimensional and lacks the humor of “Christmas” and “Great Pumpkin.”
Ever the optimist, the show ends with Charlie Brown proudly wearing his “uniform” while standing on the mound in a rainstorm … wondering why no one else is there for the game.
Good Grief.
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NOTE: To find out if this show is available in your area, use a search engine and type in: “Where to watch CHARLIE BROWN’S ALL-STARS” … In general, know that some television programs are currently only available on DVD, so check your local library … Others may not be available at all at this time.
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