Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown & A Charlie Brown Valentine to air Friday, February 9, 2018 on ABC

Get together with your sweet babboo to watch the annual Peanuts Valentine's Day pairing on Friday, February 9, 2018:  ABC will be showing Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975) together with A Charlie Brown Valentine (2002) from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) that evening.

A Charlie Brown Christmas airs again Dec 21, 2017 on ABC

The holiday season truly begins when A Charlie Brown Christmas airs for the first time on Thursday, November 30, 2017, from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on ABC.

The classic special will air again on Thursday, December 21, 2017, also from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on ABC.

The show will be uncut and accompanied by Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales both nights.

Also coming in December 2017 on ABC:

I Want A Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown - Saturday, December 16, 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific)

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown + She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown - Tuesday, December 26, 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific)

Dark Hall Mansion's 2017 A Charlie Brown Christmas limited edition print

The good folks at Dark Hall Mansion know how to brighten up the season: they've announced another release in their long line of fine art prints celebrating the classic TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The prints feature a sweeping take on the special by artist Jeremy Pailler, who also created a matching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown prints for DHM a couple of months ago (which is still available from the Dark Hall Mansion webstore, along with some other recent Peanuts prints).

The prints are available in two versions - a standard and a "Christmas Moonlight" variant - and you can get both together in a smaller-sized pair as well.  See below for details and prices.

These limited edition prints go on sale Friday, December 1st, at 12:30 PM (Pacific time) at Dark Hall Mansion's webstore.

And be sure to keep an eye on on Dark Hall Mansion's social media sites in case they have more Christmas prints up their sleeve later in the month...

Standard edition

Variant edition

Edition runs, sizes, and prices
Standard Edition of 280 - 18" x  24" - $55
Variant "Christmastime Moonlight" Edition of 50 - 18" x 24" - $75
Gift Set of BOTH prints-Standard + Variant - in 9" x 12" format - $55

All editions are officially licensed by Peanuts Worldwide, strictly limited, giclee printed and hand numbered.

Visit Dark Hall Mansion's Facebook page, their Instagram feed, or their blog for more information, larger pictures of the artwork, and behind-the-scenes photos.

A classic Peanuts Christmas countdown on FiveCentsPlease.org for 2017

It's time again to join the Peanuts gang in counting down the days until Christmas. Starting Friday, November 24 and continuing every day through December 25, the FiveCentsPlease.org home page will feature a different, seasonally themed single panel.

Like previous years, we've visited the archives and selected a countdown from the past in order to continue this tradition. This time around we'll be featuring the panels from 2000 for your entertainment.

Please join us on our home page each day. We hope the Christmas countdown panels prompt a little smile every 24 hours, as they do for us.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving airs Nov 22, 2017 + Charlie Brown in Macy's Parade

ABC will show A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, together with This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers, from 8-9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on Wednesday, November 22, 2017.

And on Thanksgiving Day itself (Thursday, November 23), the "Charlie Brown and his kite" balloon is returning for the second year in the Macys' Thanksgiving Day Parade.  You can watch the parade from 9 AM - noon (all time zones) on NBC.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs Sunday October 29, 2017 + ratings note

Just a reminder that the full, unedited It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will air Sunday, October 29, 2017 from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on ABC. It will be accompanied by a shortened version You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, as usual.

As you know, this year as in the past several Octobers, ABC has shown It's the Great Pumpkin twice, where the first showing is an edited version of the classic Peanuts special, paired with the made-for-TV spinoff Toy Story of Terror (based on a property owned by ABC parent company Disney). You may wonder, which gets better ratings, It's the Great Pumpkin or Toy Story of Terror?

You'll be pleased to hear the answer this year, as in 2015 and 2016, is It's the Great Pumpkin, which has outshone Toy Story of Terror each time. (Sources: 2017, 2016, 2015.) The second Great Pumpkin broadcast also always does respectably in the ratings.  Which may lead you to wonder, as we do, why ABC doesn't just air the full Great Pumpkin to begin with!  Oh well, better late than never...

Warner releases 4K Ultra HD version of the Peanuts Holiday Collection video box set

On Tuesday, October 17, 2017, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is releasing a new version of the Peanuts Holiday Collection video box set, titled Peanuts Holiday Collection Deluxe Edition 4K Ultra HD.

This latest incarnation of the set includes 9 animated Peanuts TV specials, supposedly on regular Blu-ray discs, Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and digital copies. However, not all 9 specials are on all formats - see more below.  (DVDs are not included, but a DVD version of the set - albeit with fewer specials - has been previously released and remains available.)

If you're wondering what the heck 4K Ultra HD discs are and whether you need them, also see further below.

The 9 specials advertised as being in the set are as follows (each group appears together on one disc):

A Charlie Brown Christmas
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown
It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
It's Magic, Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown's All-Stars

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers
Play It Again, Charlie Brown

This would be the first time 3 of these specials have been released in high definition (although, again, see important warning below). The new-to-HD specials are It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown; Charlie Brown's All-Stars; and Play It Again, Charlie Brown.

Warning: despite the PR and the back box cover implying that all 9 shows - including the 3 that are new to high definition - are on both the Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs in the set, that is not the case. Only the A Charlie Brown Christmas Blu-ray disc includes 3 shows; the Great Pumpkin and Thanksgiving Blu-ray discs are copies of the old Blu-ray discs, with only 2 shows each.  Which means that the only way to see 2 of the 3 new-to-HD shows is if you have an Ultra HD disc player.  This apparently is the case will all sets currently shipping; I do not know if this is intended, or a mistake.  If I find out more, I will update this blog post.

The discs also include the "behind-the-scenes" featurettes that were created when Warner Bros. first released the specials on DVD in 2008.  (They have appeared previously on all other Warner DVD and Blu-ray releases as well.)  There are no new behind-the-scenes features.

The box set retails for $44.98 SRP.

Given the fact that the new-to-HD specials do not appear on the Blu-ray discs of this set, you should buy it only if you want the Ultra HD discs.

* * *

The three Ultra HD Blu-ray discs mark the first time that the Peanuts specials have been released in 4K Ultra HD with HDR, which theoretically has four times the resolution and better colors than regular HD and Blu-ray.

However, you need a 4K-enabled Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a 4K TV to take advantage of this. The Ultra HD discs will not play in regular, older Blu-ray players.

If you don't have a 4K Blu-ray player and/or TV, you could still use the three Blu-ray discs that are also included - but you will not get to enjoy the 3 new-to-HD specials this way (see warning above).

You might be wondering, can the Peanuts specials actually look better when viewed in 4K Ultra HD than in just regular high definition? It seems doubtful - the regular 1080p high definition picture on the Blu-rays already reveal pretty much all the details available in the source material.  Most of these shows were created on a budget in the 1960's and 1970's... so it is unlikely that, beloved as they are, they will be the best material to showcase the extra details of 4K resolution.

* * *

Each holiday special will also be released individually as separate releases containing an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, a regular Blu-ray disc, and digital copy. Although again, likely only the Ultra HD disc includes both bonus shows; the Blu-ray discs may only include 1 bonus show.  The individual 4K releases have a retail price of $29.98, so getting the set with all 9 shows is a much better deal. The individual releases dates are September 26 for It's the Great Pumpkin, October 24 for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and October 31 for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to air October 19 and 29, 2017 on ABC

ABC will be broadcasting It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown twice in October 2017:  first in an edited version on Thursday, October 19 from 8:00 - 8:30 PM, and then the full, unedited special together with You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown on Sunday, October 29 from 8:00 - 9:00 PM (all times Eastern/Pacific).

Dark Hall Mansion's 2017 It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown limited edition prints

This year Dark Hall Mansion are offering up two different It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown prints from two different artists, Shaunna Peterson and Naoshi.  As you can see, both are full of vibrant color and numerous scenes from the beloved television special.

Each print is available in two color variations and two different sizes, as described below.

These limited edition prints go on sale Wednesday, October 4th, at 12:30 PM (Pacific time) at Dark Hall Mansion's webstore.

Shaunna Peterson standard edition

Shaunna Peterson variant edition

Naoshi standard edition

Naoshi variant edition

Shaunna Peterson editions
Standard Edition of 180 in 12" x 36" $55
Standard edition of 100 in 6" x 18" $25
Variant Edition of 50 in 12" x 36" $85
Variant edition of 50 in 6" x 18" $25

Naoshi editions
Standard Edition of 100 in 18" x 24" $55
Standard edition of 50 in 9" x 12" $25
Variant Edition of 50 in 18" x 24" $85
Variant edition of 50 in 9" x 12" $25

All editions are officially licensed by Peanuts Worldwide, strictly limited, giclee printed and hand numbered.

Visit Dark Hall Mansion's Facebook page, their Instagram feed, or their blog for more information, larger pictures of the artwork, and behind-the-scenes photos.

Peanuts by Schulz: School Days DVD, with 29 more Boomerang Peanuts shorts, released Aug 29

Warner Home Video has now released a third DVD containing Peanuts shorts that aired on the cable channel Boomerang last year. Titled Peanuts by Schulz: School Days, the 2-disc set includes 29 more of the shorts, with a total runtime of 3 hours 27 minutes.

(The initial press release for this DVD incorrectly said it only included 19 shorts.  However, the front and back cover confirm that the actual number included is 29 shorts.)

The shorts were created by French animation studio Normaal Animation and first aired in France in 2014, and then in the United States in 2016; there are 104 in all. Each short is 6-7 minutes long, and is based directly on the comic strips by Charles Schulz. Drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, they were designed to be reminiscent of the printed comic page. The shorts were newly dubbed into English for the United States broadcast and DVD releases.

The 29 shorts included on the DVD set are as follows (note that the order of the shorts on the DVD is not the same as the Boomerang broadcast order):

Miss Othmar
Novel Idea
Have a Nice Day, Linus
Technical Difficulties
The Eye of the Beholder
A Friend Indeed
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Frieda
The School of Hard Knocks
A Little Nap
On the Campaign Trail
Leave Me in Peace
The Last of the Bunch
True or False
Beauty Contest
Best Friend
School Chums
Back to School
Sally
Go to School!
Marcie
It's Just No Good
Get Lucky
School Anxiety
Keep Your Chin Up, Charlie Brown
Too Cute
Colors
School Tomorrow
Problems

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

Between this and the previous two DVD sets (Peanuts by Schulz: Snoopy Tales and Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go), 80 of the 104 Boomerang shorts are now available on DVD. 

Peanuts By Schulz: School Days was released on August 29, 2017, has a suggested retail price of $18.94, and can be ordered now from on-line retailers such as Amazon.com, Walmart.com, or Target.com.

Looking further ahead, on October 10, Warner will be releasing a 4K Ultra HD version of the Peanuts Holiday Collection with 9 specials on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs. It will be the first high-definition home video release for three of those specials. Look for more details in future blog post.

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go! DVD, with 19 more Boomerang Peanuts shorts, now available

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go!, a 2-disc DVD set containing 19 more of the new Peanuts shorts that aired on the cable channel Boomerang, is now available from Warner Home Video. This is the second DVD set of the shorts Warner has released.

The shorts were created by French animation studio Normaal Animation and first aired in France in 2014, and then in the United States in 2016; there are 104 in all. Each short is 6-7 minutes long, and is based directly on the comic strips by Charles Schulz. Drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, they were designed to be reminiscent of the printed comic page. The shorts were newly dubbed into English for the United States broadcast and DVD releases.

The 19 shorts included on the DVD set are as follows (note that the order of the shorts on the DVD is not the same as the Boomerang broadcast order):

No Strings Attached
Snoopy the Superstar
Don't Worry, Charlie Brown
Show Dog
Good Sports
Doing It Right
Like Skates on Ice
Tennis
Even-ing the Score
School Is Out
Black and White
The Great Outdoors
Strike Out
Autumn Is Here
A Bad Mood
Amateurs
Team Spirit
Trust Me
Creepy Crawlies

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go! was released on April 25, 2017, has a suggested retail price of $18.99, and can be ordered from Amazon.com or any other online retailer (barnesandnoble.com, target.com, walmart.com, bullmoose.com, etc.).

"Peanuts: Through the Years" limited edition print from Dark Hall Mansion

Want to make sure more of the Peanuts characters are represented on your walls?  Then Dark Hall Mansion and artist Dave Perillo have a new limited edition print for you - "Peanuts: Through the Years" features 23 different Peanuts characters in an attractive, colorful layout.  Can you name them all?

The prints will be 12" x 36" in size, and you can choose from two different color variants or a very limited number of foil prints.  They'll all be available Tuesday, April 4, 2017 starting at 12:30 PM (Pacific).  Visit Dark Hall Manson's webstore at that time to place an order!

Prices and number of prints are as follows:

Standard edition of 280 printed on cougar natural paper stock - $65
Variant edition of 50 printed on bright white paper stock - $95
Standard edition of 10 printed on foil paper - $150
Variant edition of 10 printed on foil paper - $150

Visit Dark Hall Mansion's Facebook page, their Instagram feed, or their blog for more information, larger pictures of the artwork, and behind-the-scenes photos.

Click either of the images below for a larger version.

Standard edition 

Variant edition

Complete movie soundtrack for A Boy Named Charlie Brown now on CD!

[Update: the CD is now sold out, after just one week.]

Fabulous news for fans of Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts music!

On March 17, specialty soundtrack label Kritzerland announced the release of the complete Academy Award-nominated score from the 1969 animated film A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

The CD includes all of Guaraldi's tracks, together with all of Rod McKuen's songs and John Scott Trotter's supplemental orchestral cues, as heard in the film, and in glorious clear stereo sound. The disc also includes several bonus tracks of alternate takes and source music (such as the "Star-Spangled Banner" arrangement heard near the beginning of the movie).

This is the first true soundtrack release for A Boy Named Charlie Brown. While an LP was released by Columbia Records back in 1969, it was a "storybook" album - essentially an audiobook version of the movie, with dialog over the music. (That LP album is, of course, long out of print and was never released on CD.) Kritzerland's new release is dialog-free.

You can find more information and check out some audio samples at Kritzerland's website. Kritzerland is known for its prestige handling of expanded, long unavailable and/or previously unreleased scores. Note that the album is only available directly from Kritzerland (or other specialty soundtrack retailers, such as Screen Archives Entertainment and Intrada) - it will not be available from Amazon or brick-and-mortar stores.

Also be aware that this is a limited-issue release of 1,000 copies. Some previous Kritzerland soundtrack releases have sold out in a matter of weeks or even days, so if you're interested, don't delay ordering.  [Too late: the CD is now SOLD OUT.]  The CD costs $19.98 plus shipping, and is expected to ship by the first week of May. (This price is typical for limited edition specialty soundtracks.)

The CD comes with new liner notes written by Guaraldi expert (and FiveCentsPlease co-author) Derrick Bang; those liner notes can be viewed on Kritzerland's website. Derrick has also written supplemental track-by-track notes that you can read and enjoy on the web here. (There wasn't room to include a printed copy of them with the CD).

While two earlier albums also are titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown, neither was the score to the 1969 movie. The 1964 Guaraldi album (whose original, full title was Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown) is actually the soundtrack for an unaired TV documentary about Charles Schulz; and the 1970 Rod McKuen album with this title features new performances by McKuen of his songs from the movie, along with songs he wrote for several other movies.

This new Kritzerland CD is the true music from the feature film.

Peanuts fans, Guaraldi fans, and soundtrack fans have long wished for a soundtrack release of A Boy Named Charlie Brown's music - we've been waiting nearly 50 years! - kudos to the folks at Kritzerland, along with everybody else who worked to make this CD a reality. Now we all just have to wait impatiently for it to arrive in our mailboxes!

(Thanks to Derrick for helping write this blog post.)

Charles Schulz's vacation: a crucial archival detail

From Monday, October 2, 1950, until the final strip appeared on Sunday, February 13, 2000 — ironically, the morning after he died — Charles Schulz gave the world a total of 17,897 strips: 15,391 daily strips, and 2,506 Sundays.

This takes into account leap years, the fact that Sunday strips did not begin until January 1952, and the single vacation that he took, from November 27 through December 31, 1997 (inclusive).

Yes, it's true: Schulz took a vacation, no doubt to re-charge his batteries. During that time, the syndicate re-ran old strips ... a detail that Fantagraphics fails to mention in the 1997-98 volume of their Complete Peanuts series.

A casual reader thus would conclude, incorrectly, that the strips during 1997's final five weeks were new at the time, just like all the others that year. 

Sharp-eyed fans will note, however, that each of these repeated strips bears a three-digit date (i.e. 12/25/97) as opposed to the two-digit dates (12/25) usually placed each day.

And yes, anticipating the obvious question, we can tell you which reprints ran on which day:

11/27 — 11/25/92
11/28 — 11/26/92
11/29 — 12/28/88
11/30 — 11/27/88
12/1 — 12/3/87
12/2 — 12/8/89
12/3 — 11/29/90
12/4 — 12/1/90
12/5 — 12/4/90
12/6 — 12/5/90
12/7 — 12/18/88
12/8 — 12/6/90
12/9 — 12/8/90
12/10 — 12/10/90
12/11 — 12/11/90
12/12 — 12/12/90
12/13 — 12/13/90
12/14 — 12/3/89
12/15 — 12/10/91
12/16 — 12/8/92
12/17 — 12/21/89
12/18 — 12/22/89
12/19 — 12/23/89
12/20 — 12/29/87
12/21 — 12/20/87
12/22 — 12/13/89
12/23 — 12/9/89
12/24 — 12/24/87
12/25 — 12/25/91
12/26 — 12/13/88
12/27 — 12/14/88
12/28 — 12/2/90
12/29 — 12/15/88
12/30 — 12/17/88
12/31 — 12/31/92

We at FiveCentsPlease always try to go the extra mile!

Two Valentine's Day Peanuts specials air Friday, February 10, 2017 on ABC

It's the annual hour of love and heartbreak for the Peanuts gang: ABC will be showing Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown together with A Charlie Brown Valentine from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on Friday, February 10, 2017.