Yahoo Lifestyle The One Thing You Never Noticed about 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'
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When it comes to Thanksgiving traditions, one of our favorites has to be the annual viewing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Along with carving the turkey, watching the Macy's parade, and taking a football nap, it just isn't Thanksgiving without the Peanuts special.
But even if you've watched it every year since its 1973 debut, you may have missed this detail: Lucy is only in it for one scene! Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown is one of the most iconic scenes in the Charles Schulz franchise, but after her appearance before the opening credits, she's not seen again.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
In her usual bit, Lucy tells Charlie Brown, "I'll hold the ball, and you kick it." He retorts, in dramatic fashion, "Hold it, ha! You'll pull it away and I'll fall flat on my back and kill myself."
Lucy explains, "One of the greatest traditions we have is the Thanksgiving Day football game. And the biggest, most important tradition of all is the kicking off of the football...
Come on, Charlie Brown. It's a big honor for you. "
Charlie acquiesces and agrees, "Well, if it's that important, a person should never turn down a big honor. Maybe I should do it. Besides, she wouldn't try to trick me on a traditional holiday."
Spoiler alert: Charlie Brown does not kick the ball "all the way to the moon," as he anticipated. Instead, Lucy pulls the ball away and he falls on his back.
Then Charlie Brown finds himself in a predicament: Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, Franklin over to Thanksgiving dinner, but Charlie Brown is going to his grandma's house. With help from Snoopy, Linus, Woodstock, and Sallie, he manages to pull off an outdoor dinner of popcorn, toast, and pretzels for his friends, but Lucy is not included.
Then the party relocates to Charlie Brown's grandmother's house for a proper Thanksgiving meal, but still no sign of Lucy. If she was a part of the Thanksgiving Day football game, why wasn't she at dinner?
A viewer on Reddit pointed out the characters absence, writing "What I want to know is why she's totally absent for all of it, except the cold open. We never see her after that. Where did she go?" One commenter replied, "She was kind of a last second inclusion... They realized that they can't have a Fall Peanuts special without the football gag." Another speculated, "My hypothesis is they felt having having Lucy along would spread the others too thinly. I believe Peppermint Patty and Marcy who were not on the Halloween and Christmas shows— took Lucy’s place in the Thanksgiving program. As far as adding the Lucy football routine, some people might believe, it’s just not Thanksgiving without football."
If you want to continue the holiday tradition of watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and see what else you may have missed, there's only one way to do it. Unless you thought ahead and purchased the DVD, the special is only available to stream on AppleTV+.
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