During the 1960s, networks usually scheduled about five to six minutes of commercials per half hour, leaving the remaining 24 or 25 minutes for programming. As time marched on, however, the networks slowly but steadily began adding more commercial time. By the turn of the millennium, most half-hour shows were only given 21 minutes or so, with the remaining time taken up by commercials. That proved to be an issue with the annual rebroadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas, which, without commercials, runs 25 minutes. Rather than sacrifice four minutes of commercial time, CBS, during the last few years it had the right to the special, would simply cut out scenes and lines that were largely gratuitous to the plot. When the special moved to ABC in 2001, the new network decided not to sacrifice the commercial time, either, but instead, scheduled for a one-hour timeslot. Of course, even with the nine minutes of commercials, Christmas would be over by 34 minutes past the hour, meaning something would be needed for the remaining amount of time.
For the special's first ABC broadcast, the network commissioned a documentary, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, about the making of the special, complete with interviews with producer Lee Mendelson and members of the cast, took up the remaining time. As ratings presumably dropped during this, the network decided to commission a new special to fill the remaining time. And thus, in 2002, Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales began its annual run, always starting at 35 minutes past the hour.
There is no overriding plot to the special, as it is a series of vignettes, drawn from various storylines from the strip. It is divided into five separate sections, each one focusing on a different character. Up first is "Happy Holidays from Snoopy", in which the dog tries to convince Lucy to figure skate with him, and later dresses up as Santa to be a charity bell-ringer. "Yuletide Greetings from Linus" has him becoming frustrated with a female classmate, who is constantly changing her name and thinks that Linus (who is all of two months older) is too old for her. "Seasons Greetings From Sally" has her setting out to acquire a Christmas tree, which she obtains from a random front yard after the kid who lived there tells her it's hers if it just falls over (which it promptly does).
"Peace on Earth from Lucy" has her trying to convince Schroeder and Linus (who is fed up with her bullying) that she should get a Christmas present from them, and "Merry Christmas from Charlie Brown" reveals the origins of "Sweet Babboo" and sees Sally convinced that Santa has arrived, only for it to be a callback from the first segment.
It is surprising that the special even exists at all, given that ABC could have just cut down the decade-old It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, which was also a series of vignettes, to fit the timeslot. If they chose not to do so because the 1992 special, which was more gag-based and humor-driven than the more melancholy Charlie Brown Christmas, was a bad fit, then I'm not sure how Christmas Tales, which is just as gag-based and humor-driven, would be seen as any better. My best guess is that ABC, being the new franchise owner, wanted something fresh for the slot rather than a warmed-over special that no one much liked at the time.
That said, Christmas Tales is actually pretty funny, particularly in the segments focusing on Linus and Sally. Despite being the title character and getting the last segment devoted to him, Charlie Brown gets short-shrifted, barely appearing until Sally's segment and even essentially being a supporting character in his own. Still, even if this might be better titled Sally Brown's Christmas Tales, the lack of Charlie Brown isn't really a big deal.
Charles Schulz is given full writing credits, even though he had been dead for roughly two years when this entered production. Larry Leichliter, who had been an animator with the franchise since You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown nearly three decades earlier, and had also worked on Don Bluth-directed film projects and various Nickelodeon animated shows, including Hey, Arnold, of which he directed numerous episodes, directed his first Peanuts special, the only one he got solo credit for (his others would be co-directed by Bill Melendez). Most of the voice cast from A Charlie Brown Valentine, including Wesley Singerman, Corey Padnos, and Chrystopher Ryan Johnson, but there are a couple of new voices, including a new Sally, played by Megan Taylor Harvey, who would go onto a long career as a voiceover artist, mostly working on English-language anime dubs, and Serena Burman as Lucy. The prior Lucy, Lauren Schaffel, also appears in the special, this time voicing the girl who is constantly changing her name.
For a special that was designed to be literally filler, and which has the shortest run time of any special, Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales is certainly not bad. It may pale in comparison to the special it accompanied for two decades, but on its own, its cute and amusing. And, given how dire many of the specials from the late 80s onward have been, that's pretty much all we can ask for at this point.
Next week: There might be one player on the baseball team that's worse than the pitcher/manager, which is why Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown.
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