New Peanuts shorts to air on Boomerang starting Monday May 9

From May 9, 2016 through March 3, 2017, the US cable channel Boomerang aired a series of 104 animated shorts starring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang are airing on the US cable channel Boomerang. The show was titled simply "Peanuts." After a 10-month run, the shorts are no longer being broadcast.

The new shorts, created by French animation studio Normaal Animation, first aired in France in 2014 and 2015. Each short is based on a comic strip by Charles Schulz, and are drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, unlike the recent theatrical "Peanuts" movie. According to the PR, the shorts were designed to feel like the comic strips they are based on, with "watercolor art style, textured backgrounds and framing." According to Normaal, they created 500 of these shorts (!!), each about 1-2 minutes long.

(Back in December 2014, the Los Angeles Times ran a nice article about the shorts, which you can read here.)

For the American broadcast, the shorts have been re-dubbed in English by child actors who auditioned for parts in 2015's "Peanuts" movie and who were rated highly, but didn't quite make the cut for the movie. Having watched the shorts, I can say they were up to the task!

The shorts were grouped together into 104 different approximately 7-minute "episodes;" all 104 aired at least once on Boomerang.

Unfortunately, good listings of which episodes will air each day can be difficult to find.

The broadcast history so far:

May 9. 2016 - May 13:  Two episodes, both new, aired each weekday from 11:30 - 11:45 AM (Eastern)
May 16 - June 24: One new episode, and one repeat, aired each weekday from 11:30 - 11:45 AM (Eastern)
June 27 - July 15: Six episodes, all repeats, air each day from 11 AM - 12 noon and again from 4 - 5 PM (Eastern)
July 18 - September 2: Six episodes, one new and the rest repeats, air each day from 11 AM - 12 noon and again from 4 - 5 PM (Eastern)
September 5 - September 30: Six episodes, all repeats, air each day from 11 AM - 12 noon and again from 4 - 5 PM (Eastern)
Oct 3 - Nov 4: Six episodes, one new and the rest repeats, air each weekday from 11 AM - 12 noon (Eastern); six repeat episodes also air Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM - 12 noon
Nov 5 - Jan 1, 2017: At least six episodes, all repeats, air each Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM - 12 noon (Eastern); on some days, more episodes air, starting earlier than 11 AM, but the schedule is irregular.
Jan 2, 2017 - Mar 3, 2017: Three episodes, all repeats, air each weekday (Mondays through Friday) from 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM (Eastern)
Mar 4, 2017: No longer being broadcast

Some of the individual 1-2 minute shorts also air sporadically whenever Boomerang has some time to fill.

For the first week only - Monday May 9 through Friday May 15, 2016 - the shorts aired as a "preview" on the more widely available Cartoon Network channel, from 10:00 - 10:15 AM Eastern (7:00 - 7:15 AM Pacific). But other than that first week, the shorts are airing only on Boomerang.

If you're setting up your DVR to record the shows, check the times carefully - the program guide information for Boomerang has often listed incorrect lengths for the broadcasts. Also, Boomerang sometimes starts the episodes several minutes early, so you may want to tell your device to start recording 5 minutes early (and to keep going for a few extra minutes later, too).

On YouTube, you can see Boomerang's 60-second promo spot for the new Peanuts shorts, and you can find several samples of the shorts themselves on Normaal's website.

Be sure to tune in and check out this latest adaptation of the Peanuts gang!

Even though the shows are no longer being aired on Boomerang, Warner Home Video has started releasing DVDs of them, under the title "Peanuts by Schulz."