December 20, 2022

A Charlie Brown Christmas streams for free from December 22 - 25, 2022 on Apple TV

Bah, humbug!  For the first time in 57 years, A Charlie Brown Christmas will not be shown on broadcast television.

Instead, in 2022, the beloved Christmas special will only be available to stream for free - without a subscription - via the Apple TV app from Thursday, December 22 through Sunday, December 25, 2022. (Lumps of coals to all the Apple executives, please.)

You do not need an Apple device to use the Apple TV app. It's also available on a variety of streaming devices, including Rokus and Amazon Fires, and on many different smart TV brands. You can also watch using a web browser on any device by going to tv.apple.com . See this Apple support page for a more detailed list of supported devices and how to watch.

While you won't have to subscribe to Apple TV+, you will need to either have, or create, an Apple ID to sign in and watch. After you sign in, search for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

(Subscribers can stream the show at any time, of course.)

The special remains available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray as an alternative to streaming from Apple TV+.

December 2, 2022

Christmas-themed episode of The Snoopy Show now available on Apple TV+

A new episode of The Snoopy Show celebrating the holidays is now available on the subscription streaming service Apple TV+. With the overall title of "Happiness is the Gift of Giving" (season 2, episode 13), the episode premiered December 2, 2022.

Like previous episodes, the 23 minute show consists of three different segments, described as follows by Apple:
  • 'Twas the Nest Before Christmas - Snoopy adapts a Christmas poem to help Sally sleep
  • Happiness is the Gift of Giving - Charlie Brown makes gifts for his pals
  • Do Not Open Until - Snoopy can’t wait to open his presents



In addition to the new episode of the modern The Snoopy Show, Apple TV+ has added two more classic Peanuts specials to the service - Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales (2002) and I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003) . They join A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, meaning that all four classic Peanuts Christmas specials are now available on Apple TV+.

And if you're not an Apple TV+ subscriber, don't forget that A Charlie Brown Christmas will be available to stream for free from Thursday, December 22 through Sunday, December 25, 2022.

November 25, 2022

Cartoonists honor Charles Schulz's 100th birthday with comic strip tributes

Saturday, November 26, 2022, is the 100th anniversary of Charles Schulz's birth.  To celebrate, Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell has organized a tribute with help from his fellow cartoonists - on November 26, more than 75 comic strips will feature tributes, Easter eggs and references to "Peanuts."  For more information and background, see this Associated Press article.

So be sure to buy a copy of your local newspaper and check out their comics page!  But of course, no one paper will carry all the strips.  Fortunately, the Schulz Museum has set up a webpage that will showcase the entire collection of strips.



Needless to say, there have been quite a few news articles and other items on the subject of Charles Schulz's 100th birthday.  Here's a sampling of them:

  • A nice article from Sonoma Magazine about Charles Schulz's contributions and legacy in his home county of Sonoma, California.
  • The Washington Post ran an article titled Schulz at 100: How ‘Peanuts’ lifts those on stage, on ice and in space .
  • The Santa Rosa Press Democrat - the local newspaper of the town where Schulz lived, and where the Charles Schulz Museum is located - had a special section celebrating Charles Schulz; see this post from The Daily Cartoonist for the links.
  • A short video tour of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in honor of Schulz's 100th birthday, hosted by curator Benjamin Clark, courtesy of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
  • As part of their celebration, the Schulz Museum has published a new book titled Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects.  "This heavily illustrated volume reveals the art and life of Charles M. Schulz through 100 objects from the Schulz Museum's expansive collection—from Schulz's childhood drawings to NASA's Silver Snoopy Award that is still used today.  Alongside commentary by Curator Benjamin L. Clark and Peanuts historian Nat Gertler, Schulz's family, friends, and colleagues share their favorite objects and provide an intimate look at the cartoonist's creative legacy."  For a limited time, if you order the book directly from the Schulz Museum, you'll get a copy signed by Jean Schulz, widow of Charles M. Schulz and also president of the museum's board of directors.
  • Check out this BBC article about the recent Artemis I spacecraft, which features a video titled, "Can you see Snoopy moving around inside the Orion capsule?" - a brief look at the Astronaut Snoopy zero-g indicator in action.  Also see this NASA Photo of the Day,  this CollectSpace article with more info about Snoopy's mission.

November 24, 2022

A classic Peanuts Christmas countdown on FiveCentsPlease.org for 2022

Christmas is coming, and so is FiveCentsPlease.org's tradition of counting down to the Big Day with the Peanuts gang. Starting Friday, November 25 and continuing every day through December 25, our home page will feature a different, seasonally themed single panel.

As long-time readers will know, new Christmas countdown panels are no longer being made, but once again we have reached into our recently expanded archives to bring you panels from 1988, unseen (as far as we know) since their original run over 30 years ago.

(A couple of years ago, research efforts by FiveCentsPlease.org co-host Derrick Bang uncovered 12 years of previously lost countdown panels... 1988 being one of them. You can read all about his hunt in his blog post.)

Unfortunately, the sources for these panels were not high quality and they required a fair bit of cleanup, so they aren't as crisp or detailed as the panels from the late 1990's and 2000's.

But we hope you'll enjoy visiting our home page each day for the latest panel... and don't put off your holiday preparations until too late!

November 21, 2022

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving streams free on Apple TV+ from November 23 - 27, 2022


As previously announced, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will not be shown on broadcast television in 2022.

Instead the classic Thanksgiving special will be streaming for free - without a subscription - via the Apple TV app from Wednesday, November 23 through Sunday, November 27, 2022.  (Yes, it's even worse than a Thanksgiving dinner of jelly beans and toast, but it's the best on offer this year.)

You do not need an Apple device to use the Apple TV app. It's also available on a variety of streaming devices, including Rokus and Amazon Fires, and on many different smart TV brands. You can also watch using a web browser on any device by going to tv.apple.com . See this Apple support page for a more detailed list of supported devices and how to watch.

While you won't have to subscribe to Apple TV+, you will need to either have, or create, an Apple ID to sign in and watch. After you sign in, search for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

The special also remains available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray as an alternative.

And don't forget that the Astronaut Snoopy balloon, and a Snoopy's Doghouse float, will be in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24 from 9 AM to noon on NBC in all time zones, and streaming on Peacock.

November 18, 2022

MeTV celebrates Charles Schulz's 100th birthday with the first two Peanuts feature films on November 20 & 27, 2022

MeTV, an over-the-air broadcast channel specializing in classic television, is honoring the 100th birthday of Charles Schulz by showing the first two Peanuts feature films, A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) and Snoopy Come Home (1972), on Sunday, November 20 and Sunday, November 27, 2022 respectively, at 8 PM Eastern/Pacific time each day.



It's been some years since the two movies were last shown on broadcast television, plus it's nice to see some Peanuts animation available over-the-air, given that the usual Peanuts holiday specials are only available via streaming this year.

You can read MeTV's full announcement here, and watch their trailer for the films here.

To find out if MeTV is available in your area, and how to watch, visit their website. (The channel is available over-the-air in most major markets, although it isn't carried by all cable companies.)

In addition to showing the two Peanuts movies, MeTV is also marking the Schulz centennial on their website with a variety of amusing and interesting trivia articles and quizzes about Charles Schulz, Peanuts, and the two films.


Kudos to MeTV for making a big deal about the 100th anniversary of Charles Schulz!

November 2, 2022

Snoopy returns to the Macy's 96th annual Thanksgiving Parade


(This special post is by 5CP Associate Editor Gayna Lamb-Bang.)


The Thanksgiving Parade will be televised on NBC-TV from 9 a.m. to noon November 24th, all time zones, and also streaming via Peacock.

 

The orange-suited Astronaut Snoopy balloon returns to the festivities for the fourth consecutive year, making the World-Famous Beagle the parade’s longest-running balloon character. Also be on the lookout for the Snoopy's Doghouse Float, which represents Mission Control for the launch of Astronaut Snoopy!

 

NASA's "zero-gravity indicator"

Snoopy’s flight along the parade route of downtown New York’s streets will take place shortly after NASA’s November 14th launch of the giant Artemis I rocket.  It will be the first of three uncrewed Artemis I flights designed to circle the moon and return to Earth. The subsequent Artemis II flights, a few years later, will include a crew.  Astronaut Snoopy — in a much smaller form than his balloon persona — will be onboard as a zero-gravity indicator alerting Mission Control of the moment each flight achieves weightlessness.

Snoopy’s involvement with NASA hearkens back to 1969’s Apollo 10 mission, when the command module was named Charlie Brown, and the lunar module was named Snoopy.


Not bad for a World War I Flying Ace!

 

October 27, 2022

Reminder: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown streams for free on Apple TV, October 28 - 31, 2022

As we learned a couple of weeks ago, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will not be shown on broadcast television this year.

While Apple still deserves a rock for this move, they are offering the classic Halloween special via streaming for free - without a subscription - via the Apple TV app from Friday October 28 through Monday October 31, 2022. It's not as widely accessible as a free TV broadcast, but it's the best on offer this year.

You do not need an Apple device to use the Apple TV app. It is also available on a variety of streaming devices, including Rokus and Amazon Fires, and on many different smart TV brands. You can also watch using a web browser on any device by going to tv.apple.com . See this Apple support page for a more detailed list of supported devices and how to watch.

You do not need to subscribe to Apple TV+, but you will need to either have, or create, an Apple ID to sign in and watch.  (Apple fails to mention this in their instructions, below.)

Apple's instructions for streaming Great Pumpkin for free are:
  1. Go to tv.apple.com or download the Apple TV app from the app store wherever you watch (streaming) shows and movies.
  2. Search for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and hit Play to stream for free from October 28-31.
The special also remains available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray as an alternative.

Also, don't forget that a few months ago, Craft Recordings released a new, improved version of the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown soundtrack - free of special effects, with much better sound quality, and several bonus tracks.  Well worth getting if you haven't already!  (Just be sure to get the 2022 version.)

October 15, 2022

It's the Great Pumpkin and other Peanuts holiday specials won't air on PBS in 2022, will be free on Apple TV+ for a limited time

Bad news for traditionalists: Apple TV+ and PBS have confirmed that  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the other Peanuts holiday specials will not be airing on PBS or another over-the-air broadcast television station this year.

Instead, in 2022, the Apple TV+ streaming service will make the three big Peanuts holiday specials available to view for free without a subscription for a limited period around each holiday, as follows:

  • It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - October 28 - 31, 2022 (Friday - Monday)
  • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - November 23 - 27, 2022 (Wednesday - Sunday)
  • A Charlie Brown Christmas - December 22 - 25, 2022 (Thursday - Sunday)

To stream the specials for free, you don't need an Apple device. The Apple TV+ app is also available for a variety of streaming devices such as Roku and Amazon Fire, and on a variety of different smart TV brands. You can also watch using a web browser on any device by going to tv.apple.com . See this Apple support page for a more detailed list of supported devices and how to watch.

You will not need to subscribe to Apple TV+, but you will need to either have or create an Apple ID to sign in and watch.  (Apple fails to mention this in their instructions, below.)

(If you're already an Apple TV+ subscriber, you can watch the specials at any time, on any day.)

In addition to the links above, Apple provided this graphic (click to show larger):


This is not the first time that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving haven't been seen on broadcast TV - Great Pumpkin didn't air in 2020, and Thanksgiving failed to make it to TV screens a few times over the past decades.

But unless something changes - and right now there's no indication that it will - this will be the first time since its original broadcast in 1965 that A Charlie Brown Christmas will not have an over-the-air television broadcast.

The three holiday specials remain available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray as an alternative.



Meanwhile, Apple TV+ also announced additional Peanuts content that's coming to the subscription streaming service in December.

First, two additional classic Peanuts holiday specials will finally be available on Apple TV+: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales will be added to the service on December 2, 2022.

They will be joining A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, meaning that all four classic Peanuts Christmas specials will be available on Apple TV+.

Also on December 2, 2022, Apple TV+ will premiere a new Christmas-themed episode of The Snoopy Show. According to Apple TV+: In “Happiness Is the Gift of Giving,” Snoopy adapts a Christmas poem to help Sally sleep, Charlie Brown makes gifts for his pals and Snoopy finds waiting to open his presents a challenge.

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

October 7, 2022

Beaglefest: A history

(This special post is by 5CP Associate Editor Gayna Lamb-Bang and her roommate, Derrick)

The Peanuts Collector Club was founded in mid-1983 by Andrea Podley, who until summer 2008 managed the ever-increasing duties with the sole assistance of her husband, Phil. She published quarterly newsletters, each of which seemed to be larger than its predecessor, every one filled with articles about various aspects of Peanuts-dom: bios of individual members and descriptions of their collections; news on just-released merchandise; collectibles; and definitive lists of particular items (refrigerator magnets, for instance). The most popular newsletter feature, during its early years, was the all-important Buy/Sell/Swap pages in the back (which gradually shrank, as the Internet became more important, and eBay consumed everybody's attention!). At its peak, the Club had close to 2,500 international members.

Beginning in the summer of 2008, Kathy Magrane took over the position of Club president. Bowing to the digital age, the printed newsletters ceased shortly thereafter; since then, most business and news has been conducted via the club's Facebook page.

But stepping back in time...

Within two years of the Club's founding, the growing cadre of members decided to celebrate their organization with a festival of convention of some sort. Member Marian Wolff gets credit for coining the term "Beaglefest": selected out of an abundance of caution, lest "Snoopyfest," or some derivation thereof, might be forbidden due to licensing rights.

Beaglefest I was scheduled for July 5-7, 1985, at the Los Robles Lodge in Santa Rosa, California; it was chaired by Andrea Podley. This was a modest affair, and attendance was small: just 40 brave and enthusiastic souls, all a little crazy about Peanuts collectibles, many of them meeting each other for the first time during an introductory wine and cheese party held in the Lodge ballroom. The excitement and high spirits continued during the next day's Collectors' Market, when Club members brought hundreds of items to sell or trade. Many sellers immediately spent their profits on more goodies for their own collections. Later that evening, members gathered for dinner and then sat in the bar and talked the night away.

Beaglefest was declared a success, and so...

A happy group of Beaglefest II attendees
Beaglefest II took place June 30-July 3, 1989, again at Santa Rosa's Los Robles Lodge; attendance was much larger, with slightly more than 100 members arriving from across the United States and Canada, with a few flying in from overseas. Bruce Carlson chaired the event, which adopted the slogan "40 Years of Happiness." Swap meets were held on both Saturday and Sunday, with a stunning display of collectibles for sale. A costume parade was modest enough to permit all participants to win a prize, and — best of all — Charles and Jeannie Schulz were guests of honor.       

Beaglefest III brought roughly 300 people to the Los Robles Lodge from July 2-5, 1993; members came from all over the United States and Canada, and four additional foreign countries. Bruce Carlson once again chaired the event, and Charles and Jeannie Schulz once again were guests of honor. The Club completely filled the hotel, which was convenient; the often late-night room sales didn't bother any other guests!

September 26, 2022

US Postal Service to issue new Peanuts stamps on September 30, 2022

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Charles Schulz's birth, on Friday, September 30, 2022 the United States Postal Service will be issuing a new set of first class stamps featuring the Peanuts characters.



The stamps will feature 10 different Peanuts character designs, and each sheet will have 20 stamps (two sets of the 10 designs).  Like all first class US stamps released in recent years, they will be "forever" stamps, always good for mailing a first class letter regardless of future price increases.

This is the third time the USPS has issued stamps celebrating Peanuts - the first was a Snoopy "flying ace" stamp in 2001, and the second was a set of stamps celebrating "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in 2015.

The official release and first day ceremony for the new Schulz centennial Peanuts stamps will take place at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California on Friday September 30. The event is free; for details see the Museum website and this USPS announcement.

You should be able to buy the new stamps at your local post office, or they can also be ordered online from the USPS website.

In addition to the stamps themselves, you can also order a variety of related merchandise at the USPS website - such as first day covers, a stamp pin, collectible stamp stationery sets and portfolios, "field notes" notebooks, and a 48-page book reprinting a variety of mail-themed Peanuts strips.




August 17, 2022

Five-disc deluxe edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack coming fall 2022

It's going to be a good year for Vince Guaraldi and Peanuts music fans! Not only are we getting a proper music-only release of the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown soundtrack in August, now Craft Recordings has announced a 5-disc "super deluxe edition" of the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack coming in fall 2022.  Originally announced as being available on October 14, 2022, Craft has announced that at least the CD versions will be delayed by 4-6 weeks.

While the beloved holiday album has been reissued and rereleased numerous times over the years, nearly all those reissues have had the same content - just the original 11 album tracks, gussied up in some new packaging or with a sheen of slight remastering.

But this fall's deluxe edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas offers something truly different and new: more than 50 tracks of previously unreleased alternate performances, outtakes, and additional bits of music, all sourced from the original tapes of five different 1965 album recording sessions. There are 16 alternate versions of "Christmas is Coming" alone!



The primary release is a 5-disc "super deluxe edition" with four CDs and one Blu-ray Audio disc. The contents are:
  • Disc 1: A new stereo mix of the original 11 album tracks, together with the original album mix of the same;
  • Discs 2 - 4: A total of 58 tracks of alternate takes, outtakes, etc. from the recording sessions;
  • Disc 5: Blu-ray Audio disc featuring a high resolution stereo version of the album, and a new Dolby Atmos surround-sound mix of the album.
(A Blu-ray Audio disc can be played in a regular Blu-ray video disc player.)

The discs come in a 56-page hardbound book with extensive new liner notes by Peanuts historian and Vince Guaraldi biographer Derrick Bang.

See Craft's press release for a complete, detailed track list.

Interestingly, the recording session tracks will not be edited to remove the discussions between Guaraldi and his fellow musicians, so along with hearing how the pieces evolved between takes, you'll also be able to hear their thoughts - and occasional frustrations when a performance doesn't go as planned - as if you were in the studio with them.

For those who don't need every single alternate take, on the same day Craft is also releasing a separate, single CD "highlights" deluxe edition that contains just the new 2022 stereo mix of the original album tracks, plus a selection of the best 13 additional alternate takes/outtakes and a condensed version of Derrick Bang's liner notes.

There will also be a 2-LP deluxe edition with the same content as the single CD release, and a digital release matching the 4 CDs from the "super deluxe edition."

All editions are available to pre-order now.

Craft's updated release information says the digital version of the album, and the LP version, are still coming on October 14; however, they say the single disc CD version now has a release date of November 4, and the 5-disc super deluxe edition won't be coming until December 2. (Very disappointing!)

Note that this new deluxe edition is based on recording sessions for the A Charlie Brown Christmas album, not the recording sessions for the television show, which were done separately. So despite the extensive content, not all the music from the television show is included.  And for the most part the exact performances from the special's audio track will not be found here - although the differences are subtle enough that most people won't notice. Unfortunately, the recording sessions for the television soundtrack performances have yet to be found, despite the determined efforts that led to this release and the upcoming Great Pumpkin release. For more details, see Derrick Bang's blog post.

But don't let that take away from the fact that there's an amazing amount of new material for even the most devoted fan to delve into!



In regards to the "new 2022 stereo mix"... if you're wondering, what's the deal with the "new stereo mix" vs "the original album mix?"  How is a "new mix" different from a "new remaster?" Let me try to explain.

Typically, when music is recorded for an album, each instrument - or group of instruments - is initially recorded to a separate tape. Then a mixing engineer combines those separated recordings onto a single tape, balancing the volume level and adjusting the stereo placement of each instrument to create a pleasing listening experience. That final mixed tape is the "album master."

When an album is remastered, an engineer starts with the original album master tape - with all the instruments already combined - and tweaks or cleans up the sound based on the original mixing, trying to improve the sound while retaining the original balancing and placement of the instruments.

By contrast, when an album is remixed, the engineer instead goes back to the original separated tapes for each instrument, and creates a new combination of them, possibly with different volume choices for each instrument, or different stereo placement. New technology and techniques developed since the time of the original mixing means that a remix can sound cleaner, fuller, and "better" than the original, revealing subtleties hidden by the original mix. But a new mix can also be controversial, because the result will sound different from the original mix that fans have been listening to for decades. And many people - not unreasonably - want to enjoy the album as they remember it sounding.

With this new 5-disc A Charlie Brown Christmas deluxe edition, Craft has decided to try their hand at creating a new mix of the original album tracks. While some listeners may end up preferring the new mix, Craft is wisely also including the original album mix for those who prefer the original.

August 10, 2022

Lucy's School and new episodes of The Snoopy Show premiere August 12, 2022 on Apple TV+

Lucy's School, the latest Peanuts special from Apple TV+, will arrive on the subscription streaming service on Friday, August 12, 2022.


Apple has released a trailer for the special, which you can view now on YouTube, and here's a short description of the show:
The Peanuts gang are anxious about starting at a new school in the fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead, but teaching isn’t as easy as it sounds. “Lucy’s School” is a love letter to teachers, and an appreciation of the impact a teacher can have on a child. It explores the fear of change, and shows how Lucy, supported by her friends, faces and overcomes her own fears.
Also coming Friday, August 12, 2022 - a week later than originally announced - are new episodes of The Snoopy Show season 2.

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

June 17, 2022

New, much improved version of It's the Great Pumpkin soundtrack album coming in August 2022

Waiting in the sincere pumpkin patch has finally paid off!

Craft Recordings has announced a new, improved version of the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown soundtrack album is coming on August 26, 2022 - and this time they've got it right.

To get straight to the point: all the tracks on this new version of the soundtrack are completely free of the special effects sounds and volume fluctuations that marred the previous 2018 release, have better sound quality in general, and in a few cases, do not have the abrupt edits found on the previous release.

Even better, along with the full, clean versions of the tracks from the 1966 television special, this new 2022 Great Pumpkin album will also include seven bonus tracks of alternate takes from the recording sessions.

You may recall I was not impressed with Craft's 2018 release, which was, shall we say, a compromised listening experience.

The new 2022 release is the version we were all hoping for the first time around.

The original recording session tapes for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown had long been thought lost, but over the past couple of years, the good folks at Lee Mendelson Film Productions did a new, thorough inventory of their archives, and found the original recording reels.

You can read all the details in Craft's announcement, which you can find here.

The new release will be available on CD, a regular LP, a pumpkin-shaped LP, and digitally - all formats can be pre-ordered now. (A "Pumpkin Patch splatter design" LP was also announced, but is already sold out.) The physical releases feature new liner notes from fivecentsplease.org co-host and Guaraldi expert Derrick Bang.



Craft has released one of the alternate takes, "The Great Pumpkin Waltz (Alternate Take 2)" as a preview; you can listen to it on YouTube or Bandcamp, or find it on other digital platforms as well.

Unfortunately, Craft has made a puzzling decision to give the new release a cover almost identical to the cover of the 2018 release; it would have been much less confusing if the covers were more distinct from each other. The sole difference between the covers is that the 2022 release says "Original Soundtrack Recording" at the top, whereas the 2018 release says "Music From The Soundtrack" at the top.  Unfortunately the font, size, and coloring are all the same, making the difference easy to miss.

But rest assured, every single track on the new release is from a new, better source. The new album can be identified by the seven extra bonus tracks, the 2022 release date, and the slightly different cover text.

Tantalizingly, the Craft Recordings press release states that the team at Lee Mendelson Productions discovered "a treasure trove of materials from Vince Guaraldi," of which the Great Pumpkin tapes were only a part. So yes, it's possible that there may be more albums of other Guaraldi material to come; research is still ongoing, and of course, good sales of this new 2022 version of the album will be helpful in encouraging future releases.

Meanwhile, we can all breathlessly look forward to the updated Great Pumpkin soundtrack on August 26.

June 8, 2022

New special Lucy's School, more Snoopy Show, and more Peanuts classics coming to Apple TV+ in August 2022

Apple TV+ continues to expand their collection of Peanuts shows, with several additions coming to the subscription streaming service in August 2022.

First, a second batch of episodes from Season 2 of The Snoopy Show will arrive on Friday, August 12, 2022.  (Originally announced for August 5, the release was delayed a week.)

On the same day, Apple will also add nine more classic Peanuts specials:
  • A Charlie Brown Celebration
  • He’s A Bully, Charlie Brown
  • He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown
  • It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown
  • It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown
  • There’s No Time For Love, Charlie Brown
  • Why, Charlie Brown, Why?
  • You’re In Love, Charlie Brown
  • You’re The Greatest, Charlie Brown

And finally, a new Peanuts special (the third this year!) titled Lucy's School debuts on Friday, August 12, 2022. Apple PR describes it as follows:
The Peanuts gang are anxious about starting at a new school in the Fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead — but teaching isn’t as easy as it sounds. Lucy’s School is a love letter to teachers and an appreciation of what makes teaching such a noble and fulfilling profession. It explores the fear of change, and shows Lucy facing and overcoming her fears with the support of her friends.


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

May 3, 2022

To Mom (and Dad), With Love - new Peanuts special premieres May 6, 2022 on Apple TV+

The next new Peanuts special - To Mom (and Dad), With Love - will premiere on the Apple TV+ subscription streaming service on Friday, May 6, 2022.


You can watch a trailer for the special on YouTube, and here's the short description of the show:
To Mom (And Dad), With Love is a sweet Mother’s Day celebration of friendship and family featuring the beloved Peanuts gang. While the other kids are excited to celebrate the special day, for Peppermint Patty it’s just a reminder that she didn’t grow up with a mom. With her good friend Marcie by her side, she soon realizes that real families come in all shapes and sizes, and that Mother’s Day is an opportunity to thank that special person in your life who means the most to you. Meanwhile, Snoopy and Woodstock embark on an epic adventure to find Woodstock’s long-lost mom.
For more information about Apple TV+, including how to watch and subscribe, visit tv.apple.com and this Apple support page.

April 1, 2022

It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown coming to Apple TV+ on April 15, 2022


Apple has announced that the new Earth Day-themed Peanuts special, It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown, will premiere on the Apple TV+ subscription streaming service on Friday, April 15, 2022.

You can watch a trailer for the special on YouTube, and here's the short description of the show:

In celebration of Earth Day, It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown follows Sally’s bond with a special little flower on the baseball field that may spell disaster for the big game. For Charlie Brown and the team, it’s just the inspiration they need to make a positive impact on their environment.

Apple also announced that the classic special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown from 1976 will be available on Apple TV+ starting Friday, April 29, 2022 (which is, in fact, Arbor Day).

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

February 23, 2022

Season 2 of The Snoopy Show, two new Peanuts specials, and more classic specials coming to Apple TV+ in spring 2022

This week Apple announced that Season 2 of The Snoopy Snow, consisting of six new episodes, will be released on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 11, 2022.




Apple also announced two new Peanuts specials for the subscription streaming service, both coming this spring:

  • It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown, celebrating Earth Day, premieres on Friday, April 15, 2022;
  • To Mom (and Dad), With Love, celebrating Mother's Day, arrives on Friday, May 6, 2022.

So far there are no further details beyond the titles of the specials.

Finally, you'll be able to stream five more classic Peanuts specials on Apple TV+ starting Friday, March 4, 2022:

  • Charlie Brown's All-Stars
  • You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown
  • She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown
  • It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown
  • Snoopy's Reunion

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