Arrrrrgh!

So we've been waiting to hear when ABC was going to air the Charlie Brown "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" this year, as we've missed it for the last few years.  Except for one year when I had to work, and the three years we were overseas, I've seen that show every single Halloween Season. So has the Daughter. It's become a part of the tradition....

ABC sold the rights to Apple TV, who is streaming it. Only. No over-the-air network broadcast. People without smart tvs are screwed. People with smart tvs who don't want to have so download/subscribe to Apple TV are screwed. 

Seriously, I've watched this every year since I was like 10 years old.....

Not a good year for them to do something like this.

So we've been waiting to hear when ABC was going to air the Charlie Brown "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" this year, as we've missed it for the last few years.  Except for one year when I had to work, and the three years we were overseas, I've seen that show every single Halloween Season. So has the Daughter. It's become a part of the tradition....

ABC sold the rights to Apple TV, who is streaming it. Only. No over-the-air network broadcast. People without smart tvs are screwed. People with smart tvs who don't want to have so download/subscribe to Apple TV are screwed. 

Seriously, I've watched this every year since I was like 10 years old.....

Not a good year for them to do something like this.

DVD?

Not the same experience. 

The Daughter spent some time online and finally found a used copy for us. Supposedly in good condition. We'll see. But it's not the same thing as getting ready for the broadcast, and then watching it together.

I guess it's sorta like the Queen's Speech in the UK kind of thing - yeah, you could buy a recording of it and play it back later, but then it wouldn't be the same as waiting for it on Christmas Day and all that goes with that.

Make it your new tradition?

Normality has gone out of the window this year & for the foreseeable future. So time to adjust and make do as best you can now.

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So many worse things can happen than having to watch a recorded show.

I watch a DVD of Planes, Trains and Automobiles with my son every Thanksgiving. Used to watch it on TV with him every year when we lived in the USA. My life hasn’t degraded too badly watching a DVD instead instead of on TV.

My friend went and bought the DVD because of this. Now they can play it when they want without relying on streaming services!

Good they could find a copy! We found a used copy, finally. And we still have our old DVD player.

Seriously, though. It's a tradition. Not just for my family. There are going to be a lot of disappointed people, since none of the Charlie Brown stuff will be broadcast this year - no Christmas special either. No Linus explaining "what Christmas is really all about....".

Yes, in the grand scheme of things it's a little thing.

But it's the little things that provide continuity and are really the important things in life. Halloween is pretty much cancelled. For some of us that is THE holiday of the year. This is not the year for corporate America to be dicking around with traditions - especially when not everyone can afford to pay $75 a month to have internet to  stream it or to go out and buy a CD player, and then find a copy of the CD to play.  For people for whom Christmas is THE holiday, they're going to lose that, too.  No midnight mass. No going to see Santa. No family gatherings. If they travel home, as is the tradition here in the States in a massive way, for Thanksgiving, they risk bringing the gift that keeps on giving and killing grandma with it, so Thanksgiving is pretty much a no-go, too. Yes, the holidays and all the trappings are things that can be survived without. They are "fluff" in the great cosmic scheme of things. But they are important to a lot of people on an emotional level - quite often more than they realize until they aren't there.

I can remember many years when broadcast TV was all we had for entertainment and to connect to "the outside world". Of course, that was  when I hadn't had to hock the TV and when it wasn't broken again. The climate was harsh,  so there was no "going outside for recreation" - as if watching tumbleweeds blow through that dried up patch of nowhere was any place you'd want to be outside in. No money, nowhere to go (and no way to get there), and nothing to do. Two TV stations in town. Right about this time of year they would have harvested all the cotton, so the dust would be blowing all the time making life even more tedious.  Broadcast TV specials made things just a little more tolerable. Little bright spots to mark on the calendar and look forward to. There was always Charlie Brown at Halloween and at Christmas.  And the "parting of the jello" (DeMille's Ten Commandments) at Easter. It's the little things, the little constants in the universe....

There are a lot of people hurting right now for cash. It'd be pretty crass of me to tell them, if they said they were disappointed the specials weren't airing, to just divert some of the grocery money to buy a DVD player and a DVD, really. Or even go buy the DVD. $15 for a used DVD could be the difference between putting milk on the table for the week or not. Of course it would be out of the question, and of course they'd just say "we can't afford it" and "it's no big deal". But all the little "no big deals" add up over time. Why on earth take away any of it at a time like this?

So yeah, we can make other arrangements. We had a copy of the Christmas special someone gave us and watched it every year in Scotland. What's one more bootl.... uh, previously used DVD, anyway.  Right? Thankfully (knocking on wood) so far our finances are ok. So no big deal. Just a little one. But then, if it's not something that's always been a part of your holiday tradition, it probably wouldn't seem important at all, would it.

I can remember many years when broadcast TV was all we had for entertainment and to connect to "the outside world". Of course, that was  when I hadn't had to hock the TV and when it wasn't broken again. The climate was harsh,  so there was no "going outside for recreation" - as if watching tumbleweeds blow through that dried up patch of nowhere was any place you'd want to be outside in. No money, nowhere to go (and no way to get there), and nothing to do. Two TV stations in town. Right about this time of year they would have harvested all the cotton, so the dust would be blowing all the time making life even more tedious.

Cue the four Yorkshiremen

hah.hah.

We passed the line snaking out from the foodbank the other day. It wasn't terribly amusing. The people in the line didn't look terribly happy to be there.  I would imagine it's the same, if not worse, in the UK right now.

But hah.hah. (Really?)

I repeat my premise: People are losing all the little markers of "normality" left and right, involuntarily. Why on earth would anyone destroy unnecessarily some that are particularly beloved by a large number of people, and do it at the holidays?

Oh, wait. For a profit. Silly me, how could I forget that basic premise. 

Way to go, Apple.

Note to self: do no business with Apple, ever.

Ah Ha!  Now we get to the true crux of the matter. 

DVD?

What's a 'DVD'?   

What's a 'DVD'?   

That technology passed unnoticed I think 

I can remember many years when broadcast TV was all we had for entertainment and to connect to "the outside world".

Nan!  Are you secretly writing for the Detroit Free Press as Julie Hinds?
Article came out in our papers today.
Although I know you are adverse to downloading anything Apple, they will be
streaming "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for FREE from October 30 to November 1.
Additionally, there are plans for ABC to air the show as a Special.

You have to download their proprietary software and set up an account, I believe.  They don't need to be mining my data for a "freebie."

I found it on YouTube.