Perhaps the most famous installment in the Peanuts franchise, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” released on December 9, 1965, has become an iconic piece of the holidays. In fact, it is annually broadcasted during Christmas time. It’s hard to go through Christmas without seeing this classic on TV.
This special has affected Christmas traditions and even decoration ideas. Surprisingly, it’s statistically proven that sales of aluminum Christmas trees declined after the premiere, due to the well-known scene where Linus and Charlie visit the Christmas tree lot. In this scene Charlie looks past the beauty of the bright aluminum trees, and picks the small, natural one. This symbolizes the central idea not to judge a book by its cover. This ongoing theme causes many viewers to think about the true meaning of Christmas.
Speaking of the effects on society, 45 percent of households watched this special, adding up to about 15,490,000 households. This presented a big milestone for the Peanuts because it was the first ever animated Peanuts cartoon. This sparked the creation of more holiday specials including Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s. Surprisingly, they even created an Arbor Day special! These specials became hits and helped make the Peanuts comics a world-wide sensation. “A Charlie Brown Christmas’’ won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program and it also won the Peabody Award for excellence in programming. This proved, not only was it a fan-favorite, it was also an award-winning production.
The last Peanuts special created dates back to 2011, titled, “Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown.” Even though this was only ten years ago, it seems like a century. Since then, there hasn’t been much news about upcoming creations, until now! Apple TV Plus is releasing, “For Auld Lang Syne,” a new Peanuts New Year’s special, on December 10. The first New Year’s special was released in 1986 and was titled, “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown.” Interestingly, this will be the first ever Peanuts special without including Snoopy or Charlie Brown in the title. The plot shows Charlie’s grandmother is unable to visit for New Years, causing Lucy to throw a New Year’s Eve Party. In each special Charlie has to undergo a hardship, so in this one, he struggles to accomplish a resolution before midnight. Direct access to this special is only available through Apple TV Plus. All of the specials have left their mark on television and have set high standards. The fans can only hope that this new special can pass their expectations!