Christmas: Are they shoving it down our throats too early?

[Schfifty]

Already the Sounds of the Season Music Choice channel is playing 24-hour Christmas music. Really, I mean, usually inbetween holidays, they default to what they call "The Pulse," which is techno music: trip-hop, nu jazz, house, that sort of thing, but it's like this year they went straight from Halooween music into Christmas music.

I don't think I would feel wrong for Music Choice playing Christmas music on Sounds of the Season this early, but they should certainly wait at least another week. Fifteen days after Halloween is done shouldn't be a bad time to switch over to Christmas songs 24/7.

Also, I saw at the grocery store today that they're selling those Christmas tree-shaped Little Debbie cakes. I like them, and they're sweet, but I think they'd be more relevant after at least a week from now.

 

[The Count]

Meh... That's why I like how MCR starts getting us ready by adding the specific Thanksgiving songs from Bear's Holiday Classics and sneaking in the songs from Emmet Otter now in November. Also, there's an actual Muppet Thanksgiving special to look forward to on Nov 21, The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow on the Lifetime Channel.

 

[Drtooth]

For years they've been selling Christmas stuff even before the Halloween stuff came out, so I'm almost completely desensitized by that. Plus the fact Halloween (sans those Big G cereals I look forward to each year) is dead to me essentially.

But then I heard something. The fact that a store was taking down a Halloween display and Christmas decorations were being set up along side it lead to the inspiration of a certain beloved animated film from the early 90's that became the staple of goths and emos back in the 00's and ever since. We all know what it is, so I don't need to name it.

But I agree. Thanksgiving doesn't have many songs, and the only special to speak of that even airs is the Charlie Brown one. There's also that Garfield one, but that's no longer on the air. Or in print on DVD for that matter. There's also like a lost Rankin/Bass one too, but that's about it.

While I'm on that subject, don't get me wrong. I love the Halloween Peanuts special, I love the Christmas one. But I think they're both overrated compared to the Thanksgiving one. Then again, that could do with my biased as Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Christmas don't feature two of my favorite characters while Thanksgiving does. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is known, but not well known. Certainly flimsy Christmas Trees and getting a rock for Tricks or Treats has become iconic in our pop culture, and unfortunately pop corn and toast for Thanksgiving dinner doesn't share that. I always loved that. They're killing themselves trying to get a Thanksgiving feast, and they give the only one kids that can't use the oven can.

 

[The Count]

Actually, that brings up another thing Thanksgiving-y that I miss. For years, on the ESPN show Mike & Mike in the Morning, they would do this bit called the Stone Cold Lead Pipe Locks, where both hosts would pick a single game either giving or taking the points (don't ask me to explain, that stuff goes over my math-loving mind, it's a loss for you in the pick standings if the team you picked won the game but lost you the pick because they won by four points instead of by seven?) and a third game going strictly head to head against each other. During the picks, which they would voice with a sort of cartoonish voice, you'd get video clips of popular shows and movies punctuating different moments throughout the segment.

So why am I talking about this here? Because they would do a special Thanksgiving segment on the Wednesday before T-Day, and it was filled with T-Day specific clips! It had whichever Peanuts character it is ranting "where's the mashed potatoes?!", "where's the pumpkin pie?!", "how can you have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?!" But moreso than just that, it always had the clips from the Turkey Drop episode of WKRP in Cincinnatti, which I always loved and looked forward to catching as part of the segment.

"With God as my witness... I really thought those turkeys could fly."

 

[D'Snowth]

And who could forget this nugget of gold that Davo (aka Vic Romano) did last year:

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well really, we're looking in the wrong places. Thanksgiving's real home is the super market, not the Hallmark store!

 

[Drtooth]

So why am I talking about this here? Because they would do a special Thanksgiving segment on the Wednesday before T-Day, and it was filled with T-Day specific clips! It had whichever Peanuts character it is ranting "where's the mashed potatoes?!", "where's the pumpkin pie?!", "how can you have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?!" But moreso than just that, it always had the clips from the Turkey Drop episode of WKRP in Cincinnatti, which I always loved and looked forward to catching as part of the segment.

To answer your question, the Peanuts character you're talking about is Peppermint Patty.

See, I told yah. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Highly underrated compared to its other more popular episodes.

Well really, we're looking in the wrong places. Thanksgiving's real home is the super market, not the Hallmark store!

Though not for the lack of trying. Hallmark does indeed have Thanksgiving Cards and sometimes some little acknowledgement. It's just...who gives out Thanksgiving cards? I'd imagine that family members that couldn't make it to a big family gathering. It serves some purpose, I guess. Then you look at Halloween cards and it's like, okay who are these for? Halloween is predominantly a kid's holiday. Outside of a grandparent giving one to a small child, or the not as rare as you'd think occurrence of a Halloween Birthday, I just don't see the point of those.

But all Thanksgiving sells is food, maybe some small decorations. There's no gifts to buy, there's no wacky enough paraphernalia to go further than paper Indians and Pilgrims, it's just there to be the pre-Christmas advertising Christmas. Even the Thanksgiving parade is mostly Christmas themed.

 

[CensoredAlso]

But all Thanksgiving sells is food, maybe some small decorations. There's no gifts to buy, there's no wacky enough paraphernalia to go further than paper Indians and Pilgrims, it's just there to be the pre-Christmas advertising Christmas. Even the Thanksgiving parade is mostly Christmas themed.

Well according to the History Channel, that's a good thing, because that means Thanksgiving is nearly impossible to commercialize.

 

[Drtooth]

That beings up the debate of Holidays existing to be commercial in the first place. Thanksgiving wasn't a major thing until last century, and even then when it started out the retailers were pushing to get it out of the way earlier. I remember writing up some whole thing about it a whole back after seeing something on PBS about it, but I can't remember which thread or the exact details.

There's so much things we take for granted was something relatively new that really wasn't. Profiting off of Christmas was old hat by the time Charlie Brown ranted against it.

 

[fuzzygobo]

One Thanksgiving song. Alice's Restaurant. You really don't need anything else.