Commercial crossover
ABC offers curious and contradictory messages about the holidays tonight. But when corporations grow big enough, they can ignore any irony.
Arguably America’s favorite Christmas special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (8 p.m., TV-G) is shot through with sentiments about the holiday being too commercialized. Charlie Brown and Linus spend most of the story worrying about the tinsel aspects of Christmastime and the fact that the day had been taken over by a big “Eastern Syndicate.”
Charlie Brown’s miseries are compounded by the fact that he knows he’s supposed to be happy. The small miracle of this special is that, along with jazz and Beethoven, it celebrates psychiatry (Lucy’s booth) and self-awareness. Even these grade-school students wrestle with tensions between being thoughtful and being neurotic. Or as Linus puts it, “Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.”
It’s funny that Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and Schroeder spend their first television special decrying the “commercial.” The animated “Peanuts” characters were first seen in just that: a TV advertisement for the 1960 Falcon, Ford’s new “compact” car. But even that two-minute spot (viewable on YouTube) seems selfaware. At one point, Linus turns to the camera and asks, “Is this a commercial?” and turns bright red in embarrassment.
After “Peanuts,” ABC-Disney goes into full-throated cross-promotional mode, hyping stars of television, movies and theme parks.
Julianne Hough and Nick Lachey host “The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration” (9 p.m., TV-PG), a two-hour event from Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Festive events include coverage of “castle lightings” at Disney theme parks around the world, from Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and Anaheim, California, to Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong. A special treat for those without a castle of their own to illuminate.
Temperatures may vary from the winter norms, but Disney keeps things “Frozen.” Idina Menzel joins fellow “Frozen” star Kristen Bell to perform “When We’re Together” from the new Disney featurette “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”
Also in the spirit of Christmas corporate synergies, viewers will get a peek at “Star
Wars: Galaxy’s
Edge,” the new attraction coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World.