Peanuts to Play on ABC for Another Five Years

ABC television recently announced a deal to retain broadcast rights to Charles Schultz’ Peanuts animated holiday features “A Charlie Brown Christmas“, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” through the year 2015.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of their first broadcast on television and more than 60 years since Schultz created Peanuts.

Afficionados of the televised specials note that obtaining DVD or BluRay copies of the productions are the only way to really view them as modern broadcast standards continue to edit the features for more commercials than in the past. Though the animation is choppy and the overall quality of the productions lag behind many others of the time (creators claimed tight budgets in the creation process held them back) the creative messaging and consistent crossover from print keep these traditional holiday specials popular more than a decade after Schultz’ passing.

Few know that Schultz had to fight the creative television bureaucracy of the era to maintain control, at one time fending off such direction as adding a laugh track to the productions.