The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Thread!

[YellowYahooey]

I think CBS didn't air "Great Pumpkin" for five years in the 1990s due to the network having discontinued non-educational cartoons at some point in the middle of that decade. At the time ABC acquired the rights to the Charlie Brown specials, ABC was still airing Saturday morning cartoons for a few more years. ABC discontinued non-educational cartoons on Saturday mornings in September 2006, but the Charlie Brown specials were still airing in primetime possibly because they were still on contract.

Very surprising but interesting that PBS acquired the rights to the Charlie Brown specials, but then again, PBS is an educational institution, plus many of the classic specials were educational.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I was also surprised to find out that they were going to air on PBS.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think CBS didn't air "Great Pumpkin" for five years in the 1990s due to the network having discontinued non-educational cartoons at some point in the middle of that decade.

I never knew that, but they still re-aired many of the classic animated Christmas specials that have aired practically every year (A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, maybe A Garfield Christmas, and the early ‘90s brought us some new animated Christmas specials like A Wish for Wings That Work).

CBS did premier a handful of new Peanuts specials in the 1990s, but there were also some that were released straight to video (It’s Spring Training was originally planned for a television broadcast before premiering on video much later), as well as NBC airing the Super Bowl special (but I’ve heard that was more because NBC had the rights to the Super Bowl at the time).
Seems television specials in general were rarer in the 1990s, I thought maybe the networks were becoming less interested in specials that don’t represent a holiday or special event or anniversary or honor somebody’s memory. But many franchises I can think of that regularly had specials were being broadcast on CBS. In addition to fewer Peanuts specials being produced, they stopped making new Garfield specials in either 1990 or ‘91 (which I think might have to do with Garfield and Friends being produced, but there were four Garfield specials made after the show premiered), and CBS had been broadcasting new Looney Tunes specials but stopped in 1992 after Bugs Bunny’s Creature Feature had poor ratings, though I recall a few of them were rerun in 1993 (and the ones I know were rebroadcast then weren’t the holiday specials... I recall a 1993 broadcast of Battle of the Music Video Stars and All-American hero, though that might have been around Fourth of July or another patriotic holiday), but the poor ratings led to one unbroadcast special going straight to video and another not going past pre-production (I actually do recall seeing the poor-rated Creature Feature special when it premiered, the only Looney Tunes special I remember seeing when it premiered).

And I feel like the ‘90s (and to an extent the ‘80s) Peanuts specials had become a bit more “kiddie”, so I’m wondering if those specials were more educational than most of the past specials. Why Charlie Brown Why definitely is, but it has been a long time since I last saw many of the specials from the ‘80s and ‘90s.

It’s the Great Pumpkin might not be one of the more educational Peanuts specials, but CBS also stopped airing A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for about the last 15 years that they had the rights, and that one is about as educational as A Charlie Brown Christmas.

 

[Mario500]

I recall a 1993 broadcast of Battle of the Music Video Stars and All-American hero,

What "Battle of the Music Video Stars and All-American hero"?

 

[YellowYahooey]

CBS did premier a handful of new Peanuts specials in the 1990s, but there were also some that were released straight to video (It’s Spring Training was originally planned for a television broadcast before premiering on video much later), as well as NBC airing the Super Bowl special (but I’ve heard that was more because NBC had the rights to the Super Bowl at the time).

"It's Spring Training" did air on YTV in Canada in the late 1990s and maybe early 2000s.

But yes, I agree. After "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown" in 1992, there were no more Charlie Brown specials on broadcast television until "A Charlie Brown Valentine" in 2002, two years after Charles Schulz's passing.

 

[YellowYahooey]

What "Battle of the Music Video Stars and All-American hero"?

The user forgot to add quotes to both shows. He meant "Battle of the Music Video Stars" and "All-American Hero". I do want to ask, were these actual TV shows?

Unless "All-American Hero" referred to the Bugs Bunny special that aired on Memorial Day weekend in the 1980s.

 

[Bliffenstimmers]

What "Battle of the Music Video Stars and All-American hero"?

The user forgot to add quotes to both shows. He meant "Battle of the Music Video Stars" and "All-American Hero". I do want to ask, were these actual TV shows?

Unless "All-American Hero" referred to the Bugs Bunny special that aired on Memorial Day weekend in the 1980s.

Both were Bugs Bunny TV specials, from 1988 and 1981 respectively.

 

[minor muppetz]

"It's Spring Training" did air on YTV in Canada in the late 1990s and maybe early 2000s.

What I meant was that it was planned to air on CBS but ended up not airing there, coming to video first (and lumped in as part of the Snoopy Double Feature series as opposed to releasing it on its own and making a big deal out of it, though I don’t think there was any promotion for the made for video It Was My Best Birthday Ever special) and then airing on The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon along with most of the other specials, without any big hype. I think it was the only made for video special that got broadcasts later (well, I’ve read that It’s Christmas Time Again was released on video a few weeks before it was broadcast).