Western Animation / You're in Love, Charlie Brown

Poor little Charlie Brown!
Don't let love bring you down!
You'll have your day; she'll come your way
She'll take away your frown!

Linus: I know what's the matter with you.
Charlie Brown: You do?
Linus: Sure. You're in love, Charlie Brown!

The fourth Peanuts TV special, You're in Love, Charlie Brown originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1967.

In this special, Charlie Brown notices that he's starting to slip in class because of increased reservation, lack of sleep, and a heavy dose of bashfulness, and he wonders why he's become so foolish. Noticing that he starts to crack when in the vicinity of the Little Red-Haired Girl, Linus concludes that Charlie Brown is in love with her, and Charlie Brown makes it a goal to confess his feelings to her before the school year ends.

While these two details had been explored in the comic strips a year prior, this special is notable for being the television introduction of both the Little Red-Haired Girl and Peppermint Patty. From a technical perspective, this is the first Peanuts special to feature adults speaking through unintelligible trombone noises.

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You're in Love, Charlie Brown contains examples of:

• Axes at School: Implied. Charlie Brown asks Linus if he worries about what kids at school will say about him bringing his Security Blanket with him, and Linus responds with this.
  Linus: Do you have a nickel? (Charlie Brown pulls one out) Flip it into the air. (Linus whips the nickel far away) They don't say very much.
• Blind Date: Peppermint Patty sets up Charlie Brown and Lucy on one, with the former thinking he'll see the Little Red-Haired Girl, and the latter thinking she'll see Schroeder.
  Both: You?! BLEUGH!
• Continuity Nod: After Charlie Brown remarks that pretty faces make him nervous, Lucy angrily asks why her face never makes him nervous, even after she was crowned the Christmas Queen.
• Digital Destruction: On Apple TV+'s print, the audio cuts out right before Charlie Brown's final, "Good grief!" and remains muted for the remainder of the cartoon.
• Disproportionate Retribution: At recess, Snoopy partakes in jumprope with Violet, but because he gets swept away on a tetherball, she, Lucy, and Patty chew Snoopy out and kick him off of the school grounds.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Charlie Brown is too busy gazing at the Little Red-Haired Girl sitting at her desk to get to say his flirty line... or to realize that he's sharpening a pen instead of a pencil.
• E = MC Hammer: When Charlie Brown is called up to the board, he somehow manages to draw a ridiculously complex equation. When the teacher presses him on it, Charlie Brown admits he has no idea what he's writing. Humiliation ensues.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Linus is seen wearing a red cap in this special, which he typically doesn't wear elsewhere.
  • The Little Red-Haired Girl is not seen on-camera. While this is in line with the comic strip, later Peanuts animated works would show her, and give her the name Heather.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: During the credits, as Charlie Brown is swooning over what he and the Little Red-Haired Girl will do once the next school year begins, he suddenly has an epiphany right before the credits end.
  Charlie Brown: Good grief! How will I live until September?!
• "The Hero Sucks" Song: Lucy and Violet sing one parodying the special's theme when Linus tells them that Charlie Brown is in love.
  Poor little Charlie Brown, nya nya nya!
  No one could love that frown, nya nya nya!
  Who would love you? No one, that's who!
  Your face is too darn round, nya nya nya!
  Your face is too darn round!
• Innocently Insensitive: Linus attempts to call out Lucy and Violet for their insulting behavior towards Charlie Brown, but only manages to humiliate him further, resulting in him smiling awkwardly and walking off.
  Linus: There you go again! Always so inconsiderate to poor Charlie Brown! Charlie Brown is not as stupid as he seems! He's just upset, that's all! Charlie Brown is upset because of that Little Red-Haired Girl! For your information, Charlie Brown is in love!
  Charlie Brown: AAUGH!
• Late for School: On the last day of class, Charlie Brown stays up all night waiting at the bus stop, and falls asleep by the time it arrives. He chases it all the way to school, only to find that the front gate is locked, so he has to climb up and over the fence. He then explains why he was late by yelling "BECAUSE I MISSED THE STUPID BUS, THAT'S WHY!!" His reward for such an action is a one-way ticket to the principal's office.
• Loves Me Not: Charlie Brown picks flower petals to determine if the Little Red-Haired Girl loves him, but Linus stops him before he can finish, saying that picking a flower apart won't change the outcome.
• Rage Breaking Point: Lucy is fed up with Schroeder refusing to notice her, but she tries to keep it to herself. However, when Charlie Brown goes up to her psychiatry booth to talk about his repressed feelings for the Little Red-Haired Girl, Lucy explodes on Charlie Brown about Schroeder being Oblivious to Love.
  Lucy: My Aunt Miriam was right! Never discuss marriage with a musician!
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Charlie Brown may have missed the chance to talk to the Little Red-Haired Girl, but right before she boards the bus, she sneakily slips him a note saying that she indeed loves him back.
  I like you,
  Charlie Brown.

  signed
  Little Red Haired Girl
• The Unintelligible: This was the special that introduced the "teacher's voice is a Blah, Blah, Blah muted trombone sound" device that became a Peanuts hallmark.
• Wrong Assumption: Charlie Brown tries to explain to Peppermint Patty about his crush on the Little Red-Haired Girl, but before he can say who he's in love with, Peppermint Patty sets him up on a blind date... with Lucy.

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