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| Lee Mendelson, Charles M. Schulz and Bill Melendez celebrate their Emmy Award victory for A Charlie Brown Christmas. |
While researching the liner notes written for Lee Mendelson Film Productions’ March 2026 debut release of Vince Guaraldi’s score for 1966’s Charlie Brown’s All Stars! — paired with his score for It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown — Ye Humble Blog Authors were reminded that both All Stars! and 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin had shared nominations for an Emmy Award in that same category. Alas, that likely split the vote, because when the awards were presented on June 4, 1967, both Peanuts specials lost to Hanna/Barbera’s live action/animated production of Jack and the Beanstalk, starring and directed by Gene Kelly.
That loss aside, our curiosity was piqued: How long did the Peanuts TV specials’ run of consecutive Emmy nominations continue, during those early days?
Sure enough, both 1967’s You’re in Love, Charlie Brown and 1968’s He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown also received Emmy nominations in that same category, once again vying against each other (because both debuted during the 1967/68 television season).
But then an odd thing happened.
As reported the following day by longtime Cincinnati Post & Times-Star entertainment journalist Mary Wood, the award for Outstanding Children’s Program wasn’t announced during the ceremony televised on May 19, 1968.
Worse yet, as further research revealed — baffling as it seems — nothing won in that category!
A visit to the Television Academy’s Emmy Award archive verifies that You’re in Love and He’s Your Dog competed for the award, alongside Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood ... and no winner is shown.
We have a friend who works for Variety. He has access to that publication’s archives, so we briefed him about the situation. He got back to us the following day, with information and charts from the Daily Variety issue of May 20, 1968.
He verified that no winner had been presented in our desired category. Perhaps worse, six musicians competed for the category of Individual Achievement in Music ... and no winner was announced there either! The Daily Variety article confirmed this: “No awards were given in musical competition and children program categories.”
“This kind of thing ticked off members during the 1960s,” our friend reported. “It was so bad that nearly every composer in the music branch resigned a year or two before, because this was happening regularly: multiple nominees but no winners chosen. The governors fixed it somehow, and by the late 1960s, someone won something in virtually every category.
“At least you can say that Peanuts dominated the category, with two out of three nominations!”
True ... but Lee Mendelson must’ve felt cheated, having lost the opportunity to have picked up another Emmy.
Another friend and mutual Guaraldi fan summed up the situation with deliciously scathing humor.
“A national television awards ceremony with nominees, no winner, scattered records, and just enough confusion to keep people annoyed 58 years later, feels entirely appropriate for American television. [It was] one of those charming Academy practices where the nominees were invited to the party, and the award stayed home!”
As it happened, He’s Your Dog concluded the streak. Mendelson’s Peanuts franchise didn’t pick up another nomination until 1971's Play It Again, for Individual Achievement (John Scott Trotter). 1972's You're Not Elected also was nominated, in a re-wording of the initial category: Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming: Fictional. 1974's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving earned two nominations: Outstanding Children's Special, and Individual Achievement (Charles M. Schulz), and won the latter. Be My Valentine and It’s the Easter Beagle were nominated for Children's Programming in 1975, and then both You’re a Good Sport and Happy Anniversary won in 1976 (the latter for "Informational Special").
Subsequent nominations were garnered by It’s Arbor Day (1977), You’re the Greatest and Happy Birthday (both 1979), She's a Good Skate (1980), It’s Magic and Life Is a Circus (both 1981, the latter winning), A Charlie Brown Celebration and Someday You’ll Find Her (both 1982, the latter earning two nominations), Is This Goodbye and What Have We Learned (both 1983), It’s Flashbeagle (1984), Snoopy’s Getting Married (1985), The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (1986), Why, Charlie Brown, Why and You Don't Look 40 (both 1990), Here’s to You Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years and Good Grief: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz (both 2000, the latter a winner), The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas (2002) and It’s Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown (2016).
(In both 1984 and 1985, the Peanuts gang lost to Garfield specials, which must have infuriated Snoopy!)
Despite the absence of additional winners, the shelves at Lee Mendelson Film Productions must groan beneath the weight of all those nomination plaques...!
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