Best TV Show of the Week

 Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown on ABC

By catherine Nailog

The summer is in full swing with children enjoying summer break.  One way to entertain the entire family is to view delightful TV shows like Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, which aired on July 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET, on ABC.  This show deserves the distinction of Best TV Show of the Week.  In this show, the baseball season began for Charlie Brown.  Charlie was saddled with managing his team, even Lucy, who was the worst player.  She did what she wanted, when she wanted, even when it was during a baseball game.

After eleven games, Charlie’s team had yet to win one.  With hopes of finally winning a game, Charlie decided to make a trade with Peppermint Patty. He wanted to trade Lucy, his right fielder, but Peppermint Patty was only interested in Snoopy, Charlie’s best player.  Charlie agreed to the trade, and Peppermint Patty made Charlie sign a trade contract.  Schroeder and Linus were horrified to find out that Charlie traded his own dog for five players from Peppermint Patty’s team just to win a baseball game.  Charlie was regretful and tore up the contract, and also learned that the traded five players would rather quit baseball than play on Charlie’s team.

Charlie and his team continued to play out the season with Lucy being even more problematic.   Schroeder suggested to Charlie that they needed to get rid of Lucy.  To get out of the heat during a game, Lucy told Charlie that she would be manning the field from underneath the shade of a tree.  Rather than doing that, Charlie told her to man the field from her kitchen while drinking lemonade and keeping the door open so that he could throw the ball to her.  Lucy obliged Charlie.  During another game, Lucy manned the field from a bench with her glove and a hot pizza laying right beside her.  Lucy mistakenly used the pizza to catch the ball, which made the ball gooey while covered in sauce and cheese.

Peppermint Patty also had difficulty with her right fielder, Marcie.  Marcie had asked her why she always played right field.  Peppermint Patty replied, “It’s traditional.  The worst player always plays right field.”  Peppermint Patty telephoned Charlie and asked if he’d be interested in trading right fielders.   He was very interested and agreed to the trade which included a bonus of a pizza.

Peppermint Patty could not handle Lucy’s lack of baseball skills, so she called Charlie and wanted to trade back. He agreed, though he already ate the pizza.  Charlie hoped that Lucy would play better now that she had returned to the team, but it wasn’t meant to be.  A ball intended for Lucy bounced off the umbrella that she set up and landed on the ground.  It then started to rain, leaving Charlie Brown alone on the pitcher’s mound.

This show is considered the Best TV Show of the Week because it explored ideas of loyalty, dedication and teamwork when playing a sport.  Charlie was challenged in facing a losing season.  He wanted to win to the extent that he surrendered a valuable player, his loyal dog, Snoopy and also traded his worst player Lucy for another horrible player, Marcie.  Whatever Charlie did, his team’s losing streak never ended.  To some people, winning means everything.  To others, it is the effort and the small victories of a child catching or hitting a ball for the very first time in his or her life that makes baseball worthwhile.          

Best TV Show of the Week

The Parents Television Council - www.parentstv.org