Peanuts by Schulz: Happy Holidays DVD

Warner Home Video has released a seventh DVD in the "Peanuts By Schulz" series, titled Peanuts By Schulz: Happy Holidays, featuring 26 shorts taken from the library of 104 shorts that aired on the Boomering channel in 2016.

This volume dispenses with the bogus "all new shorts" claim that Volumes 4-6 had, and instead simply says it has "26 shorts" on the cover.

Which is appropriate, since 22 of those shorts are repeats from previous volumes. 4 shorts are new, and this means across all 7 Peanuts By Schulz volumes, all but one of the Boomerang shorts has now been released on DVD. However, you'd have to buy an awful lot of repeats to get them all (and you'd still be missing that one).

As I've said before, it's difficult to recommend purchasing this or the previous few releases due to all the repeated content. Warner's failure to just provide a striaghtforward way to get all the shorts without extra repeats (and extra cost to the consumer) is inexcusable.

Another reason it's hard to recommend is that this is a single disc release, yet contains 26 shorts (totaling 3 hours and change) on just the one disc. This means the video quality of the shorts is likely to suffer due to over-compression (animation, in particular, fares poorly when too much is crammed on a DVD).

Peanuts By Schulz: Happy Holidays was released on September 10, 2019 and has a list price of $14.97, but should typically have a sale price of around $10-12.

For reference, the 4 new shorts on this DVD are:

The Winter Games
Do Not Watch Until Christmas
Kind of Spooky
That Day

Peanuts by Schulz: Springtime DVD - Very little is "all new"

As mentioned in the previous blog post, on February 26, 2019, Warner Home Video released another "Peanuts by Schulz" DVD containing a selection of 6-7 minute-long shorts based directly on the Peanuts comics strips. These shorts originally aired on the Boomerang Channel here in the United States.

After the previous four releases, 14 of those shorts remain unreleased on DVD. The last DVD release, Peanuts by Schulz: It's Only Love, claimed "18 all-new shorts," but really only had 10 new shorts.

This new DVD, Peanuts by Schulz: Springtime, says "15 all-new shorts" on its cover... which is an even more egregious falsehood, since in reality only 3 of the 15 shorts are new to DVD. The other 12 are repeats from previous DVD volumes. That's an abysmal value for the price of $9.99.

When the It's Only Love DVD was released with only half of the shorts being new, I was willing to consider that it perhaps it was just sloppiness. But with the release of the Springtime DVD, having only 3 new shorts while claiming they are all new, it's difficult to accept sloppiness on Warner Home Video's part as an excuse, and instead one has to consider if there are less charitable explanations as to why the cover misleads potential purchasers.

If Warner Home Video's goal is to provide themed collections of these shorts, that would be fine, if they didn't say "all new" on the cover. While we would be disappointed that they didn't include the last of the unreleased shorts, at least the cover would be honest. But instead the repeated use of "all new" when neither DVD has been all new is... suspect.

My recommendation is to avoid buying the Peanuts by Schulz: Springtime DVD, or cancel or return your order if you've already placed one. And refuse to buy any future releases in this series unless it can be proved they truly include all-new shorts.

For reference, the 3 new-to-DVD shorts on Peanuts by Schulz: Springtime are:

Being Nice
Birds of a Feather
Philosophy

Two new Peanuts by Schulz DVDs with some (but not all) new-to-DVD Boomerang shorts

Readers will recall that back in 2016, the Boomerang channel aired 104 shorts based directly on Peanuts comic strips, each about 6-7 minutes long.

In 2017, Warner Home Video released three Peanuts by Schulz DVDs that compiled those shorts. Between them, the DVDs contained 80 of the 104 shorts. The last DVD went on sale in October 2017... and for 15 months, there have been no further releases, leaving 24 shorts unreleased on DVD.

The good news: Warner has released a fourth Peanuts by Schulz DVD, and a fifth is on the horizon.

The bad news: We may still not get the shorts on DVD, even so.

The first new DVD, Peanuts by Schulz: It's Only Love, came out on January 8, 2019, and proclaims "18 all-new shorts" on its cover. (Unlike previous volumes, this one is a single disc.)

The problem is... that's false. Only 10 of the shorts on the disc are new. Eight are repeats, already released on the previous DVDs.

That makes Peanuts by Schulz: It's Only Love a pretty poor value, even at the normal sale price of $9.99, and it leaves 14 Boomerang shorts unreleased.

(Note that Amazon lists this DVD's title incorrectly... they call it Peanuts by Schulz: The Complete Series, which is most certainly isn't.)

The 10 new shorts on Peanuts by Schulz: It's Only Love are:

The Little Red Haired Girl
The Mysteries of Love
Nobody Likes Me
Not Your Day
Love is in the Air
It's Only Love
Go for It, Charlie Brown
A Fascinating Friend
Misunderstanding
Just for Love

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts and other DVDs, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

The next DVD, Peanuts by Schulz: Springtime, is due out on February 26, 2019. Its cover claims "15 all-new shorts"... which can't actually be true, since there are only 14 new ones left to release. Will all 14 of those really be on this DVD? We don't know, since a list of the shorts that will be on the disc hasn't been announced yet. But given that It's Only Love didn't really contain 18 new shorts, and we already know that a claim of "15 new" for the February disc can't be correct, it would be wise to be skeptical.  [And indeed, it turns out this DVD is even worse: only 3 of the 15 are new.  See this blog post for more details and commentary.]

Memo to Warner Brothers: it's not that hard to keep track of which shorts you've already released, and you shouldn't be making fans buy repeats just to get some new ones.


Meanwhile, all 104 of the Boomerang shorts are available from iTunes and Amazon as digital streams/downloads, in four separate Peanuts by Schulz collections (or one big complete one). However, the shorts not released on DVD yet are spread out across each of the four digital collections, so you'd have to re-buy everything to get the rest of the shorts; and of course, you can't put the digital downloads on DVD. (For what it's worth, the digital downloads are available in high definition as well as standard definition.)

In fact, in another apparent attempt to confuse or mislead consumers, Warner has now added a fifth digital collection, matching the It's Only Love DVD, even though it just repeats shorts that are already in the other digital collections. Sheesh!

Peanuts by Schulz: School Days DVD, with 29 more Boomerang Peanuts shorts, released Aug 29

Warner Home Video has now released a third DVD containing Peanuts shorts that aired on the cable channel Boomerang last year. Titled Peanuts by Schulz: School Days, the 2-disc set includes 29 more of the shorts, with a total runtime of 3 hours 27 minutes.

(The initial press release for this DVD incorrectly said it only included 19 shorts.  However, the front and back cover confirm that the actual number included is 29 shorts.)

The shorts were created by French animation studio Normaal Animation and first aired in France in 2014, and then in the United States in 2016; there are 104 in all. Each short is 6-7 minutes long, and is based directly on the comic strips by Charles Schulz. Drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, they were designed to be reminiscent of the printed comic page. The shorts were newly dubbed into English for the United States broadcast and DVD releases.

The 29 shorts included on the DVD set are as follows (note that the order of the shorts on the DVD is not the same as the Boomerang broadcast order):

Miss Othmar
Novel Idea
Have a Nice Day, Linus
Technical Difficulties
The Eye of the Beholder
A Friend Indeed
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Frieda
The School of Hard Knocks
A Little Nap
On the Campaign Trail
Leave Me in Peace
The Last of the Bunch
True or False
Beauty Contest
Best Friend
School Chums
Back to School
Sally
Go to School!
Marcie
It's Just No Good
Get Lucky
School Anxiety
Keep Your Chin Up, Charlie Brown
Too Cute
Colors
School Tomorrow
Problems

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

Between this and the previous two DVD sets (Peanuts by Schulz: Snoopy Tales and Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go), 80 of the 104 Boomerang shorts are now available on DVD. 

Peanuts By Schulz: School Days was released on August 29, 2017, has a suggested retail price of $18.94, and can be ordered now from on-line retailers such as Amazon.com, Walmart.com, or Target.com.

Looking further ahead, on October 10, Warner will be releasing a 4K Ultra HD version of the Peanuts Holiday Collection with 9 specials on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs. It will be the first high-definition home video release for three of those specials. Look for more details in future blog post.

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go! DVD, with 19 more Boomerang Peanuts shorts, now available

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go!, a 2-disc DVD set containing 19 more of the new Peanuts shorts that aired on the cable channel Boomerang, is now available from Warner Home Video. This is the second DVD set of the shorts Warner has released.

The shorts were created by French animation studio Normaal Animation and first aired in France in 2014, and then in the United States in 2016; there are 104 in all. Each short is 6-7 minutes long, and is based directly on the comic strips by Charles Schulz. Drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, they were designed to be reminiscent of the printed comic page. The shorts were newly dubbed into English for the United States broadcast and DVD releases.

The 19 shorts included on the DVD set are as follows (note that the order of the shorts on the DVD is not the same as the Boomerang broadcast order):

No Strings Attached
Snoopy the Superstar
Don't Worry, Charlie Brown
Show Dog
Good Sports
Doing It Right
Like Skates on Ice
Tennis
Even-ing the Score
School Is Out
Black and White
The Great Outdoors
Strike Out
Autumn Is Here
A Bad Mood
Amateurs
Team Spirit
Trust Me
Creepy Crawlies

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

Peanuts By Schulz: Go Team Go! was released on April 25, 2017, has a suggested retail price of $18.99, and can be ordered from Amazon.com or any other online retailer (barnesandnoble.com, target.com, walmart.com, bullmoose.com, etc.).

Peanuts By Schulz: Snoopy Tales DVD, featuring 32 Boomerang Peanuts shorts, released January 24

Peanuts By Schulz: Snoopy Tales, a new 2-disc DVD set containing 32 of the new Peanuts shorts that aired on the cable channel Boomerang, is now available from Warner Home Video.

The shorts were created by French animation studio Normaal Animation and first aired in France in 2014, and then aired in the United States in 2016; there are 104 in all.  Each episode is 6-7 minutes long, and is based directly on the comic strips by Charles Schulz. Drawn in a traditional 2D animation style, they are designed to be reminiscent of the printed comic page. The shorts were newly dubbed into English for the United States broadcast. They are well done and fun to watch, although perhaps best enjoyed in small doses (your kids may disagree!)

The 32 shorts included on the DVD set are as follows (note that the order of the shorts on the DVD is not the same as the Boomerang broadcast order):

Come on Snoopy!
A Day with Snoopy
My Blanket
Crazy Mutt
Good Dog
Sound & Sensibility
Train Your Dog
Going My Way
The Call of the Wild
A Pretty Picture
Beware of the Dog
Winter Wonderland
A Hard Winter
Word of Mouth
Too Cold
Woodstock
Christmas is Coming
Telling Stories
Man's Best Friend
Off Key
Not My Day
A Little Love
Good for Nothing
Let It Snow
Security
Nice Doggy
Company
Reach for the Stars
Fly
Feeling Insecure
Always Right
Even the Score

(For a complete list of all 104 broadcast episodes, and a few additional details about the shorts, visit the Peanuts Animation & Video Page.)

Peanuts By Schulz: Snoopy Tales is released on January 24, 2017, and has a suggested retail price of $18.94.

A second DVD set titled Peanuts by Schulz: Go Team Go!, featuring 19 more of the shorts, is due out April 25.

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."