Peanuts: Be My Valentine Charlie Brown [VHS]
"Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz retired from the cartoonist's life  early in 2000, and indeed left a few loose strings hanging among his  chronically dissatisfied characters. He never did, for instance, cut Charlie  Brown much slack in the romance department (or let him kick Lucy's football,  for that matter). Sympathetic readers might have taken note of a story in the  press just before Schulz said farewell, in which the inspiration for Charlie  Brown's unrequited love interest--the never-seen, too-distant, "little  red-haired girl"--was identified as a woman who turned down a marriage  proposal from Schultz a half-century ago. That bit of biographical detail now  adds poignancy toBe My Valentine, Charlie Brown, a 1975 television  special built upon years of Valentine's Day "Peanuts" strips. This  half-hour show finds Charlie Brown suffering, typically, the ignominy of  receiving no hearts-and-flowers greetings while the rest of the gang,  including Snoopy, spend their day sorting through piles of love notes. Worse,  Schulz's famous sad sack can't get up the nerve to approach his  unapproachable angel, though there may be--justmay be--a glimmer of hope this time around. It may be Valentine's Day,  but not much else is different in the "Peanuts" neighborhood.--Tom Keogh