It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

TV. A holiday-defining classic that is simply not to be missed, full of funny original bits (Snoopy vs. Red Baron, Great Pumpkin, "I got a rock"). I pity the adult or child who does not "get" and love this show. (The need to teach character in the midst of adversity does not go away because society has become politically correct.) Some complain that the characters' challenges are ominous and depressing while others complain that the name-calling ("Blockhead," "Stupid") only encouraged the same in their children. Charles Schultz had a keen and abiding sense of what is human, including our deepest emotional and spiritual yearnings, and this show presupposes that its viewers are familiar with the milk of human kindness. (A child who starts acting like a brat was predisposed to do so -- or not predisposed not to do so. Don't blame the show, train the child.) The point is to empathize with poor put-upon Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Linus -- not the bullies -- because to think bullies no longer exist in modern days is a greater fantasy than Snoopy's heroic delusions. 5 stars.