Tonight at 9 p.m.* the PBS show American Masters will present Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, an hourlong documentary on the life of the famed Peanuts creator. Newsday has a story on the show:
CMS needs no introduction, nor does anyone need to be told why his appeal has endured for 57-years-and-counting (the first Peanuts comic strip appeared Oct. 2, 1950). But what’s interesting, terribly interesting, about Monday’s PBS “American Masters” film, “Good Ol’ Charles Schulz” (at 9 on WNET/13), is that it is etched in such dark and gloomy tones. (“It was a dark and stormy night,” began Snoopy’s unpublished masterpiece.) Schulz was a depressive who yoked melancholy, regret and sadness to an “extraordinary sense of optimism,” his biographer, David Michaelis (“Schulz and Peanuts”), says in the broadcast, on which he served as a consultant.
Yet how could someone like this create a body of work like that — 17,897 strips constituting one of the greatest contributions to American comic art? That question presides over tonight’s 90-minute special. The answers are elusive if only, perhaps, because the man was as well.
While you’re waiting for the show to come on, be sure to check out the official Web site (the first link above) which has an interview with the filmmaker, excerpt from Michaelis’ new biography and extra footage.
In related news, the Daily Cartoonist has a link to a podcast by Editor & Publisher editor Dave Astor on Michaelis’ controversial bio.
* Obviously the time may vary depending upon your local PBS station. You can double-check the air date here.
