Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas online at Hulu and ABC.com

If you want to see A Charlie Brown Christmas sometime before it airs again on ABC on December 18, 2012, you can watch it online for free at hulu.com or ABC.com . As on TV, the classic special is accompanied online by Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales.

Update: as of January 2013, the show is no longer available online for now - but will probably be back in December 2013.

Peanuts Vol. 2 No. 4 in comic book stores now

Peanuts Volume 2, Number 4 is in stores as of Wednesday, November 29, 2012.  This installment of Boom! Studio's Peanuts comic book features the all-new stories "Food for Fraught," "How to Draw Violet," and "Do the Math," together with a few classic Peanuts Sunday strips and the "From the Drawing Board" feature.

You can purchase this issue at your local comic book store or order it directly from Boom! Studios, and view a preview at Comic Book Resources.

After this issue, the Peanuts comic book will once again be taking a few months of vacation before returning early in 2013 - so don't worry when you can't find a new issue next month!

FiveCentsPlease.org presents classic Peanuts Christmas countdown panels for 2012

It's time to join the Peanuts gang in counting down the days until Christmas, starting Friday, November 23, on the FiveCentsPlease.org home page. A different single-panel comic with a holiday theme will appear each day through Christmas.

FiveCentsPlease.org has featured the Peanuts Christmas countdown panels for several years, and we didn't want this year to be an exception. Unfortunately, Universal Press, the syndicate that distributes the Peanuts comic strips, didn't provide new countdown panels for 2012. (Worse yet, it's possible that this delightful seasonal feature may have been discontinued for good.)

We've therefore reached back into the archives to bring you the countdown panels from 2001 instead (a year when Thanksgiving also fell on November 22).

We hope you'll visit our home page each day and enjoy revisiting these panels with us, as the holiday approaches!

Peanuts TV specials broadcast schedule for Thanksgiving 2012 and the following week

The Peanuts gang is going to be showing up on television quite a few times this week and next; here's a complete list. All times below are for the Eastern and Pacific time zones.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be broadcast both Wednesday, November 21 (the day before Thanksgiving) and Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving day itself). The special will air from 8 - 9 PM on ABC both evenings. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be shown uncut, together with an abbreviated version of "This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers."

The "Charlie Brown and the Elusive Football" balloon will be making a return appearance in the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22. The parade will be shown on NBC from 9 AM - Noon.  (The Snoopy balloon is not being retired, as some news reports might have you believe - Snoopy's just letting Charlie Brown have a turn this year, as he has in some previous years.)

On Friday, November 23 (the day after Thanksgiving), FOX will broadcast Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, the most recent Peanuts animated special, from 8 - 9 PM .

Then the cable channel ABC Family will be showing A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, the first two Peanuts theatrical movies, on Monday, November 26. Snoopy Come Home airs from 5 - 7 PM, and A Boy Named Charlie Brown airs from 7 - 9 PM (all times Eastern/Pacific).

Finally, A Charlie Brown Christmas will receive its first broadcast of the year on Wednesday, November 28. It will air from 8 - 9 PM on ABC. The special will be unedited, and accompanied by a shortened version of Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales and the non-Peanuts short Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa.

(Don't worry, if you prefer to see A Charlie Brown Christmas closer to the actual holiday, it will air again on December 18.)

Happy viewing!

Charlie Brown balloon returns to the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

It wouldn't be the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade without a Peanuts balloon, and 2012 will be no exception.

This year's balloon will be "Charlie Brown and the Elusive Football," which first appeared in the 2002 parade and has made several appearances since then.

The Charlie Brown balloon will be accompanied by a float featuring the Peanuts characters on the ground. Macy's says, "As Charlie Brown returns to the sky over the Macy’s Parade, his Peanuts pal Woodstock helps guide the way down the route. Snoopy’s famous doghouse is air traffic control headquarters and Woodstock is the official in charge. Checking out the scene to watch Charlie try to catch that elusive football will be the Peanuts gang including Snoopy, Lucy and Linus."

(The Snoopy balloon is not being retired, as some news reports might have you believe - Snoopy's just letting Charlie Brown have a turn this year, as he has in some previous years.)

You can watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC from 9 AM - Noon (all time zones) on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22.

Two Peanuts movies on ABC Family, Monday, November 26

The cable channel ABC Family will be showing A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, the first two Peanuts theatrical movies, on Monday, November 26.

Snoopy Come Home airs from 5 - 7 PM, and A Boy Named Charlie Brown airs from 7 - 9 PM (all times Eastern/Pacific).

This is slight change of schedule from the past few years, when ABC Family has broadcast the two movies on the weekend following Thanksgiving.

The Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show: The Complete Series coming to DVD on November 20

On Tuesday, November 20, 2012, Warner Archive released The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show: The Complete Series, a DVD set containing all 18 episodes of the Peanuts Saturday morning cartoon show from 1983 and 1985.

While a few episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show have been released individually on the various "Happiness Is... Peanuts" line of DVDs, this is the first time most of the episodes have been released on DVD in the United States, and also the first time they have all been released together as a set. (5 episodes have been released previously; 13 are new to DVD in this set.) Peanuts fans have been waiting some time for such a box set, so it's great to see it arrive at last!

The 18 episodes are on 2 discs with a total running time of 402 minutes.  The set can be ordered for $29.95 directly from Warner, or it can also be ordered from Amazon.com (although at the time of writing, it cost several dollars more at Amazon, so be sure to compare prices).

The full list of episodes included on this set is:

Disc 1

Episode 1 - Snoopy's Cat Fight
Episode 2 - Snoopy: Team Manager
Episode 3 - Linus and Lucy
Episode 4 - Lucy vs. the World
Episode 5 - Linus' Security Blanket
Episode 6 - Snoopy: Man's Best Friend
Episode 7 - Snoopy the Psychiatrist
Episode 8 - You Can't Win, Charlie Brown
Episode 9 - The Lost Ballpark

Disc 2
Episode 10 - Snoopy's Football Career
Episode 11 - Chaos in the Classroom
Episode 12 - It's That Team Spirit, Charlie Brown
Episode 13 - Lucy Loves Schroeder
Episode 14 - Snoopy and the Giant
Episode 15 - Snoopy's Brother Spike
Episode 16 - Snoopy's Robot
Episode 17 - Peppermint Patty's School Days
Episode 18 - Sally's Sweet Babboo

For more details about each episode, see the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show section of the Peanuts Animation and Video Page.

It's worth noting that Warner Archive DVDs are not the manufactured, pressed DVDs that you typically find in stores; they are recordable DVD-Rs that are burned on demand as customers order them. While they should play without problem in any DVD player produced in the last 10-12 years and the video quality should be as good as a regular DVD, they may not be quite as durable or long-lasting as regular DVDs. For more information, see the Warner Archive FAQ.

However... it turns out that for the first batch of discs of any box set, Warner Archive actually makes pressed DVDs instead of recordable DVDs.  So if you order this set within a month or two of its release date, you're likely to get "real" DVDs instead of DVD-Rs.  (I can verify this - the set that I ordered on release day is pressed DVDs.)  But eventually they will switch to using DVD-Rs instead.

It's likely that this will be the only box set of the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show that's ever released on DVD, and certainly it's more economical (and space efficient!) than buying the individual "Happiness Is... Peanuts" releases.  Plus there's no guarantee that all the episodes of the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show will be released individually (consider that after two years, only five episodes have been released that way). So if you're interested in getting these episodes on DVD, this set is the way to go.

A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts holiday special broadcast dates for 2012

A Charlie Brown Christmas will air twice on ABC this year.  The first broadcast will be on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific time); the second broadcast will be Tuesday, December 18, 2012, also from 8 - 9 PM.

The classic Christmas special will air unedited both times. The hour-long time slot will be filled out with a shortened version of Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales and the non-Peanuts short Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa.

ABC will also be showing I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown on Thursday, December 20, 2012 from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific); and finally Happy New Year, Charlie Brown on Thursday, December 27, 2012 from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific).  Happy New Year, Charlie Brown will air unedited together with a shorted version of She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown.

ABC adds second 2012 broadcast of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

ABC has announced A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will now air Thursday, November 22, 2012 (Thanksgiving Day itself) in addition to the previously announced broadcast on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 (day before Thanksgiving).  The special will air from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific time) both nights.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be shown uncut, together with an abbreviated version of This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers.

Related news:

• Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown returns to TV on Friday, November 23, 2012
• A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts holiday special broadcast dates for 2012

Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown returns to TV on Friday, November 23, 2012

The FOX television network has announced that they will broadcast Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, the most recent Peanuts animated special, on Friday, November 23 from 8 - 9 PM (Eastern/Pacific time).

Happiness is a Warm Blanket first aired on television in November 2011, after being released on DVD earlier in the year.  Last year it was broadcast at the same time as the classic special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; thankfully, that won't be the case this year - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be shown the day before Thanksgiving (November 21) and Thanksgiving Day (November 22), but Happiness is a Warm Blanket will be shown the day after Thanksgiving (November 23).

FOX will also air Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown on Monday, December 17, 2012, from 9 - 10 PM (Eastern/Pacific time).

New A Charlie Brown Christmas limited edition prints coming November 9

Dark Hall Mansion are back with two fabulous new limited edition prints based on scenes from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Laurent Durieux's two creations each have a distinctive style and feel while remaining true to the spirit of the television special, and are full of fine details and nifty small touches - be sure to click on the images below view them at a larger size (or visit Dark Hall Mansion's website for even larger versions); the small thumbnails don't do the artwork justice.

Standard edition

Variant edition

Both officially licensed, numbered editions measure 18" x 24".  The standard edition of 300 prints are hand-pulled screenprints, and the variant edition of 50 prints are glicee prints on Moab Entrada Bright White 290 gsm.

There will also be a 10-print wood edition of the standard artwork on maple wood, and a 10-print canvas edition with the variant artwork.

The prices will be as follows:

Standard: $65
Variant: $100
Wood Edition (Standard artwork): $250
Canvas Edition (Variant artwork): price not yet announced

The new A Charlie Brown Christmas prints go on sale Friday, November 9, 2012 at 9:30 AM (Pacific time) at Dark Hall Mansion's webstore. Dark Hall Mansion's limited edition Peanuts prints sell very quickly, so make your orders promptly.

Update: These prints are now sold out.

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

(Note: while Dark Hall Mansion also offered limited edition A Charlie Brown Christmas prints in 2011, these 2012 prints are completely new and different.)