It's a great year to be a fan of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang.
Apple TV+ announced that the beloved holiday specials "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas” will be available to watch for free on select days throughout the joyous season.
The specials will be available on two days each month before Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas regardless of whether consumers have Apple TV subscriptions or not.
Ahead of the holiday season, here we take a look at how you can access these classics and when they will be aired:
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
When will the Peanuts holiday specials stream for free on Apple TV+?
Charlie Brown's Halloween special, "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," will be available to stream for free on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20.
"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" will be available to everyone on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" will be available for free on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15.
To Apple TV+ subscribers, the trio of Charlie Brown holiday specials are available to view year-round.
How can I watch the Peanuts holiday specials for free on Apple TV+?
Apple TV+ provided two-step instructions on how to stream the Peanuts specials:
- Go to tv.apple.com or download the Apple TV app from the App Store wherever you watch shows and movies
- Search for "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," or whichever special you want to watch, and click play.
“Peanuts” made its debut Oct. 2, 1950. The travails of the “little round-headed kid” Charlie Brown and his pals eventually ran in more than 2,600 newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries.
The 1965 CBS special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” won an Emmy and rerun immortality, and many other specials followed. The Halloween classic, "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" first aired on CBS in 1966 and eventually moved to ABC in 2001. There was a hit stage musical, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” The characters also appeared on sheets, stationery, amusement park attractions and countless other products.
Jeannie Schulz, the widow of the comic strip’s creator, said her husband managed to create “recognizable characters that express the humanity of each of us. It hits on a lot of cylinders.”
The strip offered enduring images of kites in trees, Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, tart-tongued Lucy handing out advice for a nickel at what looked like a lemonade stand and Snoopy taking the occasional flight of fancy to the skies of World War I. Phrases such as “security blanket” and “good grief” are a part of the global vernacular. Schulz died in 2000.
