Category: Television

A Charlie Brown Christmas – The Dancers

Thanksgiving Week is here…when Mrs. B and I acknowledge Christmas is not that far off. I have mentioned previously my dislike of Christmas “moving back” in the calendar. We love Christmas. We just don’t love it being promoted during the summer. I love me some Halloween first…and Pumpkin Spice…and leaves. But I digress…

One of my earliest and most cherished childhood memories was seeing the Charlie Brown Christmas special each year. To this very day, I consider no Holiday season complete unless I watch it again. If you feel the same, you may be interested in hunting down a copy of the most comprehensive book on the show I know of, “A Charlie Brown Christmas – The Making Of A Tradition,” which was first published back in October, 2000. It is a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at the genesis, production, and presentation of this historic piece of television born from the legendary comic strip, “Peanuts.”

On the morning of Christmas Day 2015, the data-themed website known as FiveThirtyEight posted a feature entitled “The ‘Charlie Brown Christmas Special’ Dancers You Most Want To Party With.” It was co-written by Walt Hickey and Leah Libresco. These two really put a fun spin on this classic episode of television that day, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it being replicated here.

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It’s a debate as old as time — or, at least as old as 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special.” Of the many revelers throwing down sick moves to “Linus & Lucy” by The Vince Guaraldi Trio, who would you most like to party with? So as part of our Christmas Special Thunderdome, we set them up in a series of head-to-head battles and asked voters to decide the winner. Here they are, ranked by the percentage of matchups each won:

11. Sally (30 percent)

Walt: Sally is trying.

Leah: She’s kind of in her own space, having a good time but not drawing me in.

Walt: Nice little one-two step, you know? Basic moves, trucking right along. Go Sally. We have all been there.

10. The Girl In Green (30 percent)

Leah: These are pretty hesitant moves, but if she did this with a little more force, she could be rocking a bullfighting/paso doble thing.

Walt: Right, so I have a specific love for the girl in green, mainly because I, like most people, have been to a middle school dance. This is the dance that you do before your friend in the eighth grade tells you to stop using your arms so much.

Leah: My default in those moments was the Twist.

Walt: My default was “I want to punch the air, but the air right above my head, in particular.” I don’t really disagree with this ranking, but I admit I see far too much of my younger self in the girl in green.

Leah: Just so you know, the usual instruction for stage punches is “Punch a parrot on the shoulder of your scene partner.” You’re pretty close.

9. Pig-Pen (33 percent)

Leah: On the one hand, you get joyful abandon (plus he’s a musician). On the other hand, you get a dirt cloud even worse than when I hang around smoker friends.

Walt: I worry Pig-Pen may have been disadvantaged by the question.

Leah: How so?

Walt: We asked, “who would you most like to party with?” And the answer is never the filthy bassist, you know?

8. Schroeder (41 percent)

Leah: I mean, it’s clear Schroeder doesn’t want to party with us, so this 41 percent must be the ones who like ‘em coy.

Walt: “I’d never join any club that would have me as a member” is Schroeder’s motto. As far as he is concerned, he’s just playing a bit of piano, the party just comes to him.

Leah: Personally, I’d leave him to Lucy.

7. Linus (48 percent)

Walt: Now we’re getting somewhere. Linus knows what’s up. This is exactly how I dance to “Get Low.”

Leah: Gotta say, I think there are some good opportunities for partner dance with the blanket. I have some swing moves I could adapt.

Walt: Unpolished, but going for it. I think Linus is underrated.

Leah: I’ll party with him if our readers won’t.

6. The Girl With Red Hair (49 percent)

Leah: I am, of course, in favor of Frieda, because like her I have naturally curly hair. Unlike her, I have (I think) other distinguishing traits.

Walt: She looks like she’s swinging a person around but forgot to get a person. Appropriately rated.

Leah: I am a fan of her exuberance. Minimalism is only for experts.

5. The Dude In Green (54 percent)

Walt: I love this dude.

Leah: Nice moves, but feels more like a soloist than someone I’m going to dance with.

Walt: Right, like when a random circle opens up on the dance floor, you know this guy would think “my moment has arrived,” and just slay it in the center.

Leah: Exactly. But not the guy I want to spend the whole party with.

Walt: No way. Michael Jackson was lost and alone in 1982, waiting for his next big dance, and then on comes “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special” and presumably the rest is Moonwalk history. True story that I just made up.

4. Snoopy (59 percent)

Walt: WAY OVERRATED.

Leah: I mean, not as great here, but he’s got a pair of aviator goggles.

Walt: Leah, listen to the song “Linus and Lucy,” there is not a guitar part.

Leah: He’s in deep cover to catch the Red Baron’s agents?

Walt: There are two strings on his guitar, Leah. This is a dog phoning it in. He shows up to your party and sits in the corner and says “Hey, do y’all know ‘Wonderwall’?” and drinks all your Bud Heavy.

3 and 2. The Girls In Pink (64 percent and 65 percent)

girl_in_pink

girl_in_pink2

Leah: So, twins, I guess.

Walt: I normally hate arbitrarily lumping twins together — they’re two separate people with rich and distinct inner lives! — but this is either some twin coordination or a hungover animator.

Leah: They’ve got my favorite moves on the floor, so if anyone was going to be copy-and-pasted.

Walt: There’s so much nuance in the moves! At first, you just think, “Oh, they’re waving their arms around,” but then you see the footwork.

Leah: The double taps!

Walt: This was “whip my hair back and forth” decades before Willow dropped the track.

1. This Guy In The Orange (75 percent)

Leah: See, this is the kind of dancer who can pull off minimalist moves.

Walt: The only reason I would not want this guy at my party is he would hook up with everyone.

Leah: So, are you against meritocracy, Walt?

Walt: Far from it, just intimidated by greatness. This man is a force of nature. Look at the footwork!

Leah: It’s great top to bottom. But not as aggressively showy as the guy in green. If only we knew the name of this background guy to send him an invite to the office bash.

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After looking over all these entries, I do think two best represent how I worked the floor during my peak dancing years. Early at the club or a party…my moves resembled Linus. By the end of the night…The Dude In Green.

Charles Schulz, the genius behind “Peanuts,” was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 26, 1922. His comic strip has meant so much to so many people of all ages over all these years…including this memorable Christmas classic. Happy Birthday, Charles…and thank you!

Pictures Courtesy Amazon/FiveThirtyEight

There Is So Much Good In Evil

 

I subscribe to several Entertainment news feeds, which makes perfect sense for someone who is so into shows and movies as myself. This week, I was pleased to see it was reported by multiple sources CBS has given a series order to Robert and Michelle King’s legal drama Cupertino for the 2026-27 season. I now have at least one new show to look forward to on “traditional” television come next season.

If you are not familiar with the Kings, they are responsible for the current CBS hit Elsbeth, as well as other shows such as Happy Face, Evil, BrainDead, The Good Fight, and their monster hit The Good Wife. This new project reunites them with Mike Colter, who was one of the stars of Evil, and worked with them on the two “Good” series.

Cupertino is named after the city in California that is home to Apple. The series is billed as a David vs. Goliath legal drama set in the heart of Silicon Valley, following a lawyer (Colter) who is cheated by his former employer, a tech startup. He then teams up with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech industry elites.

The Kings have worked with CBS Studios for over fifteen years now, and will executive produce Cupertino, lead its writing room, and serve as co-showrunners. Robert will also direct the series premiere. They always have their hands on most aspects of their projects, and this new show’s back -office structure sounds much the same. They are used to working on more than one show at a time, which will be good news to fans of Elsbeth in terms of maintaining the quality of that series.

Let us discuss BrainDead for a moment – a show I recommend you sample if you have access to it, and are looking for something quirky. BrainDead was a one-season-and-done series…but to be honest based on its premise I think the Kings constructed it as such. It was extremely “out there” for network television. Still, if you have never seen it, you are in for a treat, especially if you are a fan of shows that parody politics. If that does not draw you in, the show’s premise is a comedy-thriller where alien insects take over the minds of politicians in Washington. Oh, and it also features one of the most intrusive earworms ever unleashed.

The Kings have said the 2013 government shutdown inspired them to create the “Body Snatcher” government scenario. Acting legend Tony Shalhoub plays a Senator who is one of the very first pols infected…and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is just wonderful in the lead role, returning to D.C. to work for her Senator brother…navigating the strangeness and trying to figure out why some staff and Congress members are acting so…weird.

Speaking of weird, it is weird Evil was cancelled last year. In a June 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Robert King had a stronger feeling:

“I don’t f***ing understand why Evil was canceled, I still can’t. I lay awake at night wondering why it was canceled, and it all seems to come back to the new streaming model which is, “We have enough. We don’t need more. There’s no place for your show. What can you say except that it was stupid. And I think the business is stupid.”

Evil ran for four seasons before its series finale on August 22, 2024.

I happen to listen to a podcast where the host always asks his guest as the last question, ‘What hill are you most willing to die on?” It might be the drink or dish they swear by, their favorite movie or album…you get the idea. Something you will swear to everyone you meet…it is worth the taste, the watch, the listen.

I am willing to die on the hill of the television series Evil. There is so much good…in Evil.

Several of you know how I feel about this series (and are muttering to yourself “Evil…again?”). My wife and I started watching Evil in September 2019, when it debuted on CBS. Thirteen episodes later, Mrs. B was not quite sure how she felt about watching it going forward. I definitely wanted to see what was next, especially when it was announced the show was shifting from CBS over to Paramount+.

The Kings were now being given a much bigger canvas to paint upon. The broadcast censorship reins were completely taken off, and their characters could now live more realistic lives when it came to having no subject being off limits, using foul language, expressions of physical intimacy…as well as depicting more…pure…evil.

The show’s premise is easy to digest. Three diverse personalities come together to form a “dream team” of sorts investigating extraordinary events. The goal – to determine if there is a rational, scientific explanation behind the events…or not. A prospective priest wrestling with his career path, a cynical psychologist juggling work while serving as both parents for her children, and a no-nonsense contractor who offers an “earthly” reason for all he encounters.

That decision to move to a streaming service and engage with the full velocity of the Kings’ creative storytelling skill set paid off handsomely. I am sure you have heard this line from friends and relatives about their favorite TV series… “There is nothing like it.” Well, there is nothing like it.

God vs. Satan battle on cerebral and hand-to-hand levels alike. The show questions and challenges beliefs in religion, relationships…and reality. Twists and turns exist along the way. Sudden shocks and jump scares, but other frights proceed at a slow burn. Yet, there are guardrails built into the scripts which also ensure a balance between at least two…but often three…viewpoints on whether events, possessions, demons, miracles, etc. have explanations that are faith-based, science-based, or somewhere “in between.”

Several critics have compared it to The X-Files. I think that is fine if you are trying to give people familiar with that show a general idea of what the structure is, but there are more layers to the characters in Evil…as well as more protagonists.

Season 1 does start very slowly, and there is some real weirdness which will absolutely have you questioning your decision to even give it a go. If you do start watching Evil, give it time to produce a return on your investment. Get to Season 2.

The writing, editing, score, and direction are all top-shelf. The cast is stellar. In addition to the afore-mentioned Colter, there is Katja Herbers (The Leftovers, Westworld), Aasif Mandvi (The Proposal, Million Dollar Arm), Michael Emerson (Lost, Person Of Interest), Christine Lahti (Chicago Hope), Kurt Fuller (Psych), and Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

Colter, Herbers, and Mandvi come together to investigate, debate, and navigate all kinds of crazy. Consider one episode where the primary mystery revolves around answering an eternal question…”How much does a soul weigh?”

Emerson’s portrayal of forensic psychologist Leland Townsend remains a candidate for the most vile, evil television villain ever. Yet, this show also provides its fair share of laughs…especially with a family whose well-meaning kids have a habit of all talking at the same time. They are hilarious.

I encourage everyone to check out Evil if they have access to it. And, keep an eye out for Cupertino on CBS/Paramount+ in 2026. It won’t be insanely off-the-wall, outside-the-box gonzo as Evil, but based on the consistent viewing quality the Kings have produced for television recently it will likely be another wonderful watch.

Picture Courtesy Paramount+

 

Stranger Things – Finishing Up The Upside Down

(This comes with Upside Down Marshmallows, so did you really expect me to pass it up?)

Stranger Things Season 5 – its final season – is a triple-date release. Four episodes will be released on November 26, three more on December 25, and the series finale on December 31st. I am more than frustrated the Netflix brass and those Duffer Brothers apparently have collective egos so massive they decided to not only stretch out the final season in this three-way manner, but they took direct aim at America’s beloved holidays. The resulting Stranger Things Fear Of Missing Out will disrupt seasonal plans, sending family members dashing to their screens, all as spoilers race across social media. It’s downright sacrilegious if you ask me…as if the Upside Down infected Netflix.

Runtimes for the first four episodes of Season 5 were announced recently:

Episode 1 – One hour, eight minutes.

Episode 2 – Fifty-four minutes.

Episode 3 – One hour, six minutes.

Episode 4 – One hour, twenty-three minutes. (Mid-season “break”)

These are thankfully more in line with the first three seasons. Runtimes are of interest to me. Do they influence you when making a decision on whether to see a new film you might be unsure of, or do you ponder episode lengths… or even the number of episodes when you are considering giving a new show a chance? I know when I am proposing to go see a film she hasn’t heard of before, the first thing Mrs. B asks after who is in it…how long is it? I sometimes will look up how many episodes a show has or will have, as well as how long its episodes are or expected to be. Sometimes, I weigh that potential investment of time if I’m on the fence about viewing.

The Season 4 finale of Stranger Things was two hours, nineteen minutes long. That’s a movie to me, folks. And to be sure, Season 5 is having money lavished on it like its eight episodes will all resemble movies if only in their appearance. The reported budget those Duffer twins have been working with since production on Season 5 began back in January is $50-60 million per EPISODE.

Executive Producer and frequent ST Director Shawn Levy was quoted by Time Magazine recently on the scope of this final season:

“The sets were no less ambitious than the ones I used with Marvel.”

“It happens to be a television series, but it’s epic storytelling by any metric.”

It is.

(They have red filling in them…!)

The first season of Season 1 was released in its entirety back on July 15, 2016, but Mrs. B and I came to visit Hawkins, Indiana much later.  It was the summer of 2020 when we decided to start watching it…after the first three seasons of the show had already been released. I can’t really explain why we ignored it until that time…but I recall having discussions it just didn’t sound like we’d be a good match for it. We were wrong…and I respectfully submit if you have never watched Stranger Things because it just didn’t sound like your kind of show, you’re probably wrong as well.

Interestingly enough, each night that summer we alternated watching Stranger Things from its beginning with another series that had just completed its third season…Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Sabrina was a show we had a better heads-up on in terms of style and storytelling as it was from the same creator who was responsible for The CW’s Riverdale, a show we were already watching.

(If you want some more things stranger, we recommend Sabrina. It is funny, edgy, sexy, and dark. It ain’t always easy being a teenage witch, and trying to juggle being on the good side of darkness with staying on the good side of your friends does not always end in your favor. Kiernan Shipka – Sally Draper on Mad Men – portrays the transition of Sabrina Spellman to young adult perfectly)

We love Stranger Things pretty much for the same reasons others do…the 80’s culture and nostalgia, the different genres it touches upon, fully-developed characters, and a deeply-talented cast. It looks good, it sounds good, and it tells epic good stories. I think for the most part the series moved along at a decent clip, but more lengthy run times in Season 4 had me noticing moments and scenes alike that should have been more tightly edited in my opinion. Bigger is not always better.

Time also mentioned the process the Duffer Brothers use to write the show…seated across from each other with headphones on…working and editing the same Google document. It is referred to as their “hive mind.” Fans of Stranger Things can certainly identify with that description of their creative mentality.

Here’s hoping that process leads to Season 5 being tightly-edited, fast-paced, and loaded with more meaningful, memorable moments as the kids and adults of Hawkins try to shut down the Upside Down…once and for all.