It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to air on PBS on Sunday, October 24, 2021

The classic Halloween Peanuts special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will return to broadcast television this year. PBS and Apple have announced that It's the Great Pumpkin will air from 7:30 - 8:00 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on Sunday, October 24, 2021 on PBS and PBS KIDS stations across the country. Check your local station's listings to confirm.

The show didn't air on television last year, due to the changeover of the Peanuts specials to become Apple TV+ exclusives, so it's great that it will return to free, broadcast television this year.

PBS and Apple also announced that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas will likewise air on PBS and PBS KIDS this year (as they did last year), on Sunday, November 21 and Sunday, December 19, respectively.

Unlike last year, there will be no free streaming period on Apple TV+ for non-subscribers for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or the other two Peanuts holiday specials this year. And the specials remain unavailable to stream or rent from other streaming services.

If you prefer not to wait for the broadcast, all three holiday specials are available to watch at any time on Apple TV+ for subscribers, and are also still available on DVD or Blu-ray.

Apple TV+ announces new Peanuts special For Auld Lang Syne to premiere December 10, 2021

Apple and WildBrain have announced that a new, original New Year's-themed Peanuts special will debut December 10, 2021 on the subscription streaming service Apple TV+.

The plot of the special, titled simply For Auld Lang Syne, is described in the press release as: "after the Peanuts gang experience a disappointing Christmas because Grandma can't visit, Lucy resolves to throw herself the best New Year's Eve party ever, while Charlie Brown struggles to accomplish just one of his resolutions before the clock strikes twelve."

(It seems like a poorly conceived break with tradition that the title of the show includes nothing to brand it as a Peanuts special.)

The new special will join a handful of the classic Peanuts television specials - including the original Happy New Year, Charlie Brown from 1986 - as well as the new series Snoopy in Space and The Snoopy Show, as exclusives to the Apple TV+ streaming service.

For information on how to watch and subscribe to Apple TV+, visit tv.apple.com and this Apple support page.

Take Care with Peanuts

Peanuts Worldwide has kept an oddly low profile with one of its more admirable campaigns: one of the best uses of our beloved characters in decades.

 

The “Take Care with Peanuts” initiative is a global, multi-year enterprise that encourages everyone to “take care” — of themselves, each other, and the Earth. The initiative draws on the themes of wellness, community and environmental engagement found throughout Charles M. Schulz’s revered comic strip; the ongoing campaign includes philanthropic outreach, social messaging, and educational activities. 

 

Children and communities are at the heart of each message. As part of the campaign, new 60-second social media messages have been produced, one released each month, each centered around a different theme to remind us to press “Pause” in order to appreciate ourselves, those around us, and this place — Earth — that we all call home.

 

Each video focuses on one of three vital messages: Take Care of Yourself (physical and mental wellness); Take Care of Each Other (community and philanthropy); and Take Care of the Earth (nature and sustainability). The goal is to help inspire a major worldwide philanthropic movement, via social messaging and educational activities.

Each video message is available in 10 different languages.

 

The campaign’s official Peanuts.com page is woefully insubstantial, and doesn’t even include links to the various videos. They’re easy to find via a YouTube search, such as this one.

 

Although Peanuts Worldwide has made zero effort to publicize other sorts of activities, we can report on a fabulous “Take Care with Peanuts” campaign taking place in Hong Kong, where it has partnered with the Singaporean-style restaurant chain Dignity Kitchen. The company, based in Singapore, is a social enterprise business with the goal of helping the under-privileged. 

 

Outlets go out of their way to hire special-needs employees. Diners can leave messages on a “Caring Tree,” via heart-shaped stickers. Pay-it-forward food coupons — $50HK (about $6.40 U.S.) — can be purchased and pinned to a board, where they’re available to be redeemed for free meals by food-challenged individuals.

Isn’t this way cool? Compassionate, charitable, selfless and public-spirited?

 

We sure could use a little of that, here in the States…

FYI for email subscribers

Greeting, loyal readers! If you receive updates from the FiveCentsPlease blog by email, this is a heads-up to let you know that the blog is changing to a new email delivery service. No action is required on your part. You'll be moved automatically to the new service, and will continue to receive email updates as usual. The blog emails will look slightly different, and you'll notice that the name of the service at the bottom of the email has changed, but otherwise it should be business as usual; this is just an FYI.

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The new service is called Feedblitz.

If you notice any problems or have any questions, let us know. But we've run some tests and expect everything to switch over smoothly.

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Thanks for continuing to read the FiveCentsPlease blog!

New episodes of The Snoopy Show arrive July 9, 2021 on Apple TV+

 Get ready for more adventures with Snoopy, his bird pals, and the rest of the Peanuts gang - Apple has announced that new episodes of The Snoopy Show will premiere Friday, July 9, 2021 on the subscription streaming service Apple TV+.

The new batch will add seven more episodes of the kid-oriented show based on the characters from Charles M. Schulz's comic strip. Like the first batch of episodes, each will consist of three, seven-minute stories.

For more information about the show, see this earlier blog post.

Apple released two promotional images for the new episodes:

For information on how to watch and subscribe to Apple TV+, visit tv.apple.com and this Apple support page.

New documentary Who Are You, Charlie Brown? premieres June 25, 2021 on Apple TV+

Apple has announced that a new documentary on Charles Schulz and Peanuts, titled Who Are You, Charlie Brown? will premiere Friday, June 25, 2021 on the streaming subscription service Apple TV+ .

You can view the trailer on YouTube.

According the press release:

Narrated by Lupita Nyong’o and hailing from Imagine Documentaries, the special is executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and features interviews with friends, family, cartoonists and famous fans of the comic strip, to create a heartwarming portrait of the late “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz.

Honoring the “everyman” creator, Charles “Sparky” Schulz, “Who Are You, Charlie Brown?” celebrates the significance and global multi-generational popularity of the comic strip and its timeless artistry and design to profile the man whose simple characters would touch the lives of millions through the decades and become beloved cultural icons. Featuring interviews with Jean Schulz, the widow of Charles Schulz, along with Drew Barrymore, Al Roker, Kevin Smith, Billie Jean King, Paul Feig, Ira Glass, Noah Schnapp, Miya Cech, Keith L. Williams, Chip Kidd, Lynn Johnston, Robb Armstrong and more, the documentary interweaves a new animated story that follows Charlie Brown on a quest to discover himself.

You can read the full press release here.

Other Peanuts content currently available on Apple TV+ includes the series Snoopy in Space and The Snoopy Show, plus several of the classic Peanuts holiday specials.

The Apple TV+ streaming service costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year (in the United States) and is ad-free, with a 7-day free trial when you first sign up.

You can watch Apple TV+ shows either by installing the Apple TV+ app on a supported device, or by going to the tv.apple.com website on any computer.

Devices that support AppleTV+ include: Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Macs; Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV streaming devices; select gaming consoles; and select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, or Sony. For more information about supported devices and setting Apple TV+ up on them, see this Apple support webpage.

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown premieres on AppleTV+ on March 26, 2021

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown will premiere on the Apple TV+ subscription streaming service on Friday, March 26, 2021.

No over-the-air television broadcast of Easter Beagle is scheduled for 2021, and there's no free viewing period like there was for the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials... it's only available to Apple TV+ subscribers.  (Although you can always watch or get it on DVD, too.)

Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown come to Blu-ray on May 18, 2021 in The Snoopy 4-Movie Collection

Paramount Home Media has announced that on May 18, 2021 they will release The Snoopy 4-Movie Collection on Blu-ray, containing all four classic Peanuts theatrical movies:

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

Snoopy, Come Home (1972)

Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)

Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (1980)

This will be the first time Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown have been released in high definition on Blu-ray discs. (A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home were released as individual Blu-rays a few years ago.)

Digital copies of all four movies will also be included.

No separate releases of Race for Your Life or Bon Voyage have been announced - so unfortunately if you want them on Blu-ray (and there are quite a few folks that do), you'll have to get this set and get duplicates of the first two films.

Even more unfortunately, the list price for this set is $44.99 - rather steep, especially considering most fans probably already own the previous two Blu-ray releases.

The set can be pre-ordered from some online retailers already, and no doubt will be listed at all retailers shortly.

The set will consist of four discs, one for each movie.

According to a picture of the back cover found in the Amazon listing for the set, the aspect ratios of the films will be 4:3 for A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, and 16:9 widescreen for Race for Your Life and Bon Voyage.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home were previously released on Blu-ray in the 4:3 aspect ratio, so it's not surprising they will still be in that format for this new set (Paramount is simply reusing the previous discs). And Race for Your Life and Bon Voyage were released in 16:9 for their DVD releases, and most digital versions of them are also widescreen, so it's not a surprise that widescreen is what we'll get for them.

While you might expect all the movies to be in the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the animation for all four Peanuts films was originally drawn in 4:3 and widescreen versions of these movies cut off the top and bottom of the image. At least for the first two films, this cropping makes them look quite cramped, so it's good that they will continue to be offered as 4:3 in this new set. While it would be nice to have 4:3 options for the 3rd and 4th films as well, widescreen isn't a bad choice for them and it's probably how most people saw them in the theater.

No bonus features were mentioned in the initial announcemtn, but the image of the back cover lists "Travels with Charlie: The Making of Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown" (a featurette that first appeared on the Bon Voyage DVD) and "theatrical trailers."

(Finally, we could gripe about the title Paramount has chosen for this collection... surely they should have included "Peanuts" or "Charlie Brown" in the title - it's not just Snoopy in these movies, after all!)

The Snoopy Show and Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown now streaming on AppleTV+

All six episodes of the new Peanuts animated series The Snoopy Show are now available to stream on the subscription service Apple TV+.  Each episode consists of three, seven-minute stories.  For more details, see our previous blog post.

The Snoopy Show has gotten a fair bit of press, here's a selection of the most interesting news articles:

‘Peanuts’ Steward Jean Schulz on Partnership With Apple TV Plus (Variety)

The Snoopy Show's Mark Evestaff Talks Bringing Peanuts to a New Generation (CBR.com)

Snoopy shines in Apple TV+ series that’s true to its roots (Associated Press)

'The Snoopy Show' on Apple TV+ pulses with the musical jazz of childhood (Mashable)

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Apple has also added the classic 1975 half-hour special Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown to Apple TV+ ; it premiered on the service on February 5, 2021.

There is no over-the-air television broadcast of Be My Valentine in 2021, and there is no free viewing period like there was for the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials, it is only available to Apple TV+ subscribers.

The Snoopy Show premieres February 5, 2021 on Apple TV+; see the trailer now

The Snoopy Show - a new animated Peanuts series - premieres February 5, 2021 exclusively on the subscription streaming service Apple TV+ . There will be 6 episodes, each one consisting of three, seven-minute cartoons.

Created together by Peanuts Worldwide and Wildbrain Entertainment, the press release describes the show as follows:

The Snoopy Show is an animated series for kids of all ages that stars the internationally beloved beagle and his feathered best friend Woodstock as they tackle all-new adventures. Snoopy may seem like just a happy-dancin', bone-lovin', doghouse-sittin' pup, but he's much more than that. He's Joe Cool: hippest kid in school. He's surfer king and famed arm-wrestler Masked Marvel. He's World War I Flying Ace who battles the Red Baron. All of his bold, beloved personas are on full display in this brand-new animated comedy.

Offering multi-generational viewing for children 4-11 years old and their caregivers, each episode of The Snoopy Show will consist of three, seven-minute cartoons based on the iconic comic series. Featuring the unique animation style that has entertained millions around the globe for seven decades, the nostalgic new series also showcases everyone's most cherished characters from Peanuts including Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Franklin, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty and more!

The titles of the six episodes will be:

• Happiness Is a Dancing Dog
• Never Bug a Beagle
• The Curse of a Fuzzy Face
• Happiness is a Snow Day
• Just Your Basic Beagle
• Bugable, Hugable, Beagle

Apple released a full trailer for The Snoopy Show on January 25, 2021, you can watch it on YouTube .

In addition to The Snoopy Show, AppleTV+ is home to the 2019 series Snoopy in Space and several of the classic Peanuts holiday specials; Apple has announced that other new Peanuts shows are also in the works.

The Apple TV+ streaming service costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year (in the United States) and is ad-free, with a 7-day free trial when you first sign up.

You can watch Apple TV+ shows either by installing the Apple TV+ app on a supported device, or by going to the tv.apple.com website on any computer.

Devices that support AppleTV+ include: Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Macs; Roku or Amazon Fire TV streaming devices; and select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, or Sony. For more information about supported devices and setting Apple TV+ up on them, see this Apple support webpage.

A Charlie Brown Christmas airs Sunday December 13, 2020 on PBS; will also stream free on Apple TV+ from December 11 - 13

On Sunday, December 13, 2020, A Charlie Brown Christmas will return to broadcast television for the 56th consecutive time since it first aired in 1965.

The perennial Peanuts holiday classic will be shown from 7:30 - 8:00 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on most PBS (public broadcasting) stations. The special will air uncut and without commercial interruption; check your local PBS station's listings to confirm for your area.

The special will also air on PBS Kids, which is a broadcast sub-channel available over the air or via cable in many areas as well. So if you don't see it listed on your main PBS station, check PBS Kids, if you receive it.

When Apple secured exclusive rights to A Charlie Brown Christmas and the other Peanuts holiday specials a few months ago, it appeared the show would not air on broadcast television. But after a large public outcry, Apple made a deal with PBS to broadcast the show. You can read the full press release from PBS here.

The Christmas special will also still be available to watch for free, without a subscription, via the Apple TV+ subscription streaming service for three days: Friday, December 11 - Sunday, December 13, 2020.

There will be no TV broadcast or free period closer to Christmas.  (In previous years, ABC would often show A Charlie Brown Christmas in the week before Christmas in addition to an earlier broadcast.)  Unfortunately, you'll need to watch it via a DVD or Blu-ray if you want to see it later on.

Also, unlike when ABC had the broadcast rights, neither I Want A Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown or Happy New Year, Charlie Brown will be shown on TV this year, nor are they available to watch on Apple TV+.  (Rats!)

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If you decide to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas via Apple TV+ instead of catching the PBS broadcast: you'll need to either install the Apple TV+ app on a supported device; or watch it via a web browser, on any computer, at tv.apple.com .

Supported devices include: Apple devices including the iPad, iPhone, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Macs; Roku or Amazon Fire TV streaming devices; and select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, or Sony. For more information about supported devices and setting Apple TV+ up on them, see this Apple support webpage.

You do not need to subscribe (or even start a free trial) to Apple TV+ in order to install the app on any of those devices and watch the specials during the free period. However, you will have to sign in with a new or existing account Apple account (such as the one you use for iTunes, Apple Music, or iCloud). Signing in does not subscribe you to Apple TV+.

Once you're in the Apple TV+ app, the show will likely be featured on the front page of the app, or can be found in the "Kids" section. At the tv.apple.com website, if you don't see the show listed right away, you may need to scroll quite a ways through the list of shows to find it.

See Apple's website for more information about the AppleTV+ streaming service in general.

A very classic Peanuts Christmas countdown on FiveCentsPlease.org for 2020

FiveCentsPlease.org's annual tradition celebrating the approach of Christmas with the Peanuts gang starts Friday, November 27. A different single-panel comic with a holiday theme will appear on our home page each day through December 25.

Like previous years, we're presenting a classic countdown from the past, since new ones are no longer being made.

However, this time we have something special:  a few months ago, dedicated research efforts by FiveCentsPlease.org co-host Derrick Bang uncovered 12 years of previously lost countdown panels, from 1985 through 1996.  (You can read all about his hunt in his blog post from earlier this week.)

So, this year we're reprinting the 1987 Christmas countdown panels, unseen (as far as we know) since their original run over 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, the sources for these panels weren't high quality and required a fair bit of cleanup, and as a result, they aren't as crisp or detailed as the panels from the late 1990's and 2000's that we've been running before.

We hope you'll enjoy visiting our home page each day to see these newly recovered bits of seasonal Peanuts history!

The Peanuts Christmas Countdown Panels: A (long-awaited!) complete history

[Authors’ note: 5CP posts generally are informal — and much shorter! — like newspaper press releases. But because of the way this particular saga unfolded, a first-person approach seemed best. As a result, Derrick is stepping out from behind the curtain.]

 

I spent almost two decades wondering about this.

 

Very little in the way of Peanuts and Charles M. Schulz lore remains untapped, at this late stage. Thanks to the Schulz Museum’s debut in August 2002 — along with Fantagraphics’ Complete Peanuts book series, David Michaelis’ biography of Schulz, and all manner of other books, articles and essays from numerous quarters — we’ve been blessed with detailed revelations about almost every possible aspect of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang.

 

Almost.

 

I first learned about the annual Peanuts Christmas countdown panels in late 1997, after signing on as a desk editor at my hometown newspaper. At that time, they were distributed on slick pages, multiple panels to a page, as shown at left:

 

The panels themselves were lifted from existing Peanuts newspaper strips, but the word balloons were amended with a holiday-themed sentiment; alternatively, “silent” panels were assigned holiday-themed “titles” above the artwork. (My understanding is that selecting and captioning each year’s panels was something of a contest among various United Feature Syndicate staffers; they were not done by Schulz.)

 

By the 21st century, the panels also were available digitally — in both monochrome and full color — via various Internet delivery systems. The panels were sent, at no additional charge, to all client newspapers that published the daily Peanuts strip. The idea was to add a bit of holiday cheer to the season, starting the Friday after Thanksgiving, and concluding on Christmas Day.

 

But our local paper didn’t use them, and — for that matter — I don’t recall ever having seen them in any of the newspapers that commonly came to my attention. They weren’t in the Los Angeles Times, or the San Francisco Chronicle; even the Santa Rosa Press Democrat declined to run them (which seems odd, given that Schulz lived in Santa Rosa for so many years).

 

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving & Christmas specials to air on PBS on November 22 and December 13, 2020, respectively

Great news - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas will air on broadcast television this year after all.

And no, that's not a typo in the headline - via an agreement with Apple, the classic holiday specials will be shown commercial-free on your local PBS (public broadcasting) station, a change from airing on ABC in previous years.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is scheduled to air Sunday, November 22, 2020 from 7:30 - 8:00 PM (Eastern/Pacific).

A Charlie Brown Christmas is scheduled to air Sunday, December 13, 2020 from 7:30 - 8:00 PM (Eastern/Pacific).

Check the listings of your local PBS channel to confirm; note that these broadcasts were just announced, so it may take a day or two for your station's listings to be updated.

The specials will also air on PBS Kids, which is a broadcast sub-channel available over the air in many areas as well - so if you don't see it on your local PBS station, check PBS Kids, if you receive it.

You can read the full press release from PBS.

The two specials will still also be made available for free via the Apple TV+ subscription streaming service, as previously announced.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be available free to watch, without a subscription, on Apple TV+ from Wednesday, November 25 - Friday, November 27, 2020; A Charlie Brown Christmas will be available from Friday, December 11 to Sunday, December 13, 2020.

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To watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or A Charlie Brown Christmas on Apple TV+, you'll need to either install the Apple TV+ app on a supported device; or watch it via a web browser, on any computer, at tv.apple.com .

Supported devices include: Apple devices including the iPad, iPhone, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Macs; Roku or Amazon Fire TV streaming devices; and select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, or Sony. For more information about supported devices and setting Apple TV+ up on them, see this Apple support webpage.

You do not need to subscribe (or even start a free trial) to Apple TV+ in order to install the app on any of those devices and watch the specials during the free period.  However, you will have to sign in with a new or existing account Apple account (such as the one you use for iTunes, Apple Music, or iCloud).  Signing in does not subscribe you to Apple TV+.

Once you're in the Apple TV+ app, the show will likely be featured on the front page of the app, or can be found in the "Kids" section.  At the tv.apple.com website, if you don't see the show listed right away, you may need to scroll quite a ways through the list of shows to find it.

See Apple's website for more information about the AppleTV+ streaming service in general.

Snoopy is back again!

Save the date!

On November 26th, the 94th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air from

9 am to noon, all time zones, on NBC-TV.

 

Due to COVID19, this will not be the typical crowd-filled, two-and-a-half-mile route starting at West 77th Street.  The balloons will not be flown by handlers; they will be driven by utility vehicles and joined by floats gliding just one city block down 34th Street, near the flagship department store, and without an audience.  Marching bands will not be included, but the casts of four currently shuttered Broadway shows will perform instead. 

A scene from 2019, when handlers were allowed to fly Snoopy.

 

Astronaut Snoopy will return, continuing his record as the longest-running balloon character.

For a complete history of the various Peanuts character balloons that have flown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, see here.