For someone who knows a little bit about Peanuts history, it can be frustrating to see a popular piece that expands little facts into bigger fictions, as with the Good Morning America piece ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ to Turn 50.

Yes, the original special did incorporate the Coca-Cola name on screen. No, the product was not invoked throughout the special as this claims – it was twice, once at the beginning, once at the end. Just the two times that they show in the story (which is the only reason I’d recommend this piece, for those of you who have not seen those clips.) Peanuts animation specialist Scott McGuire covers that well in this blog post.

And while it may have been cute to include a five year old to end the piece, you should not claim that the child knows the true meaning of the special when she says  “It’s about sharing!” No, it’s not. Really, about the only sharing that goes on is when Snoopy’s decorations get “shared” with the pathetic tree… and it’s not Snoopy that does the sharing (the gang strip his prize-winning house decorations and transfer them to the tree while he’s out of frame.)

If you want to know what A Charlie Brown Christmas is all about… ask Linus.

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