Charlie Brown, Lucy and Footballs

Picture 15

I was watching television yesterday, and saw a commercial for MetLife insurance. For some reason the agency that does their advertising seems to have sold them on using the Peanuts characters–Snoopy most prominently–as their spokes characters. I suspect that this was done with the idea of making an insurance company seem less distant, and more accessible to people–most of whom I suspect would rather choose Darth Vader as better representing a large insurance corporation.

Here’s a YouTube clip of the Peanuts shilling for MetLife:




Perhaps the oddest thing about the commercial is that I could see such behavior from Charlie Brown and Snoopy, but Schroeder always seemed somehow above such antics.

The worse things is that, for me, the Peanuts were like comfort food for the brain. Their consistency (let’s be honest. When Charlie Brown finally kicked that football, didn’t your spirits soar as high as it did), is something that’s often missing from our hectic lives today.

As an aside, this is also probably why shows like Law & Order have lasted so long. It’s a reassuring despite the fact that it is a crime show and–essentially–is the same from one episode to the next.

If there was a holiday, there was a Charlie Brown special for it. When Halloween rolled around, so did ‘It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!’

As you ate turkey with your family during Thanksgiving, you probably watched ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’

Christmastime? Charlie has you covered with ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’

Even as a child, one subtly picked up on the fact that Charlie Brown was a bit morose, as well as somewhat of a loser. And as if that weren’t bad enough, his greatest dream, to kick that damn football, was for too many times literally pulled out from underneath him by Lucy van Pelt, who was as close to a nemesis any of the Peanuts gang could claim to have.

I submit as evidence this clip of Lucy, Charlie Brown and the Football, via YouTube:

Part of the charm of the Peanuts is that that they were not on all the time (as much as I liked the characters, I never got into their animated series when I was younger), so they never wore out their welcome like many other cartoons. This made them special.

They remind me of a friend that you see only a few times a year. When they appear you immediately recall the great time you had during their last visit. Strangely enough, because part of you knows that the visit will be relatively short, you take advantage of every moment you have.

Now, while I still enjoy seeing the Peanuts gang, and find the commercials interesting, I am wondering when this friend is going to wear out their welcome.