Apple’s Bringing Snoopy and the Gang Back for Their First ‘Peanuts’ Holiday Special in Nearly Twenty Years

Peanuts Snoopy Happy New Year Credit: The Peanuts Wiki
Text Size
- +

Toggle Dark Mode

Although most of the films and TV shows on Apple TV+ are fully original productions, Apple has also signed deals with rights-holders to bring some well-known franchises to the service, including Charles M. Schulz’s celebrated Peanuts cartoons.

While the deal was originally focused on educational STEM specials like Snoopy in Space, it expanded the following year into a broader deal to make Apple TV+ the home for “all things Peanuts.” This paved the way for The Snoopy Show to bring the beloved characters back for some more traditional fare.

However, the deal also mired Apple in some controversy when it decided to air classic Charlie Brown holiday specials exclusively on Apple TV+, including the venerable seasonable favourite, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Although Charles M. Schulz began penning the Peanuts comic strip in the 1950s, it was A Charlie Brown Christmas that brought them to life for the first time in 1965, and it’s been a seasonal tradition for many families ever since.

In recognition of the fact that this and other peanuts specials have aired each year on broadcast television for generations, Apple promised that they would be available on Apple TV+ for free. This wasn’t enough to placate many fans, however, and Apple acquiesced to the complaints by striking a deal with PBS to continue broadcasting the specials on those stations — albeit slightly later than their Apple TV+ runs.

This year, however, it won’t just be the classic Peanuts episodes airing on Apple’s streaming service. The company reportedly has a new holiday special in the works, marking the first time Snoopy and the gang will be making their return for a seasonal event since 2002.

‘For Auld Lang Syne’

Perhaps wisely, Apple is shying away from a Christmas-themed special, choosing instead to focus on New Year’s Eve.

According to Variety, the special will be dubbed For Auld Lang Syne, making it the first-ever Peanuts special that doesn’t include either Charlie Brown or Snoopy in the title.

The Peanuts gang rang in the New Year once before back in 1986 with Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, although it’s naturally expected to take a different story. Rather than Charlie Brown falling asleep from studying War and Peace and missing a dance with the Little Red-Haired Girl, the new special will see Lucy throwing herself a New Year’s Eve party while Charlie Brown realizes he has yet to accomplish even one of his resolutions from the prior year.

The last Peanuts holiday specials to be released were Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales and A Charlie Brown Valentine, both of which debuted in 2002. Apart from the aforementioned New Year’s special, the December holiday season also saw 1992’s It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown and of course the original A Charlie Brown Christmas which launched the entire live animation franchise back in 1965. This was followed in 1966 by the equally famous Halloween classic, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

There have only been about a dozen Peanuts holiday specials released over the years, and that’s including ones for more obscure celebrations, such as 1976’s It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. That same decade also saw specials for Easter and Thanksgiving, as well as the first Valentine’s Day special, while the prior New Year’s Eve special was the only one to make its debut in the 1980s.

Sponsored
Social Sharing