Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
Home / Halloween

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown back on public TV after a year away

It’s the noteworthy Pumpkin, Charlie Brown back on public TV after a year away

Halloween last year was the equivalent of Charlie Brown’s trick-or-treat bag full of rocks. Costume parties and trick-or-treating were put on hold in many places, and to top it off, the Peanuts special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, didn’t air on Strange TV. Well, now it’s back. This Halloween season, the 1966 engaging special will air on PBS and online at PBS Kids, in second to streaming on Apple TV Plus.

When and where to watch

It’s the noteworthy Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will air on PBS and PBS Kids on Oct. 24 at 7:30 ET/PT. This is the first time the Halloween special will air on the PBS platforms, although A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on them in 2020. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will air on PBS and PBS Kids on Nov. 21, and A Charlie Brown Christmas will air on both platforms on Dec. 19.

Apple TV Plus subscribers will be able to see all three of the holiday specials for longer terms of time.

How did we get here?

In 2020, Apple announced that its streaming service, Apple TV Plus, would now be the home for the Famous Charles Schulz Peanuts specials. That includes not only It’s the noteworthy Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but also A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

But not everyone chooses to pay for Apple TV Plus, or has the order or desire to use a streaming TV service. Many country were angry about this iconic tradition disappearing. The holiday specials had aired for more than a half-century on broadcast TV. Facing a pumpkin patch full of bad publicity, Apple worked out a deal where PBS could show the holiday specials, but the agreement came too late for the Halloween special to air in 2020, although the Christmas and Thanksgiving specials did air on PBS last year.

Now, however, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, has joined the PBS lineup, so Peanuts fans without Apple TV Plus can mark their calendars and Begin working on the sincerity of their pumpkin patches.