

The special's perennial appeal is so strong that when ABC started editing it for time in order to accommodate more commercials, fans raised such a stink that the network agreed to broadcast it uncut in an hour-long timeslot with a new segment, Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales, being commissioned to fill out the remaining time. For whatever reason, the special just clicked with audiences in a way nothing else had before, and very few Christmas works have since.
#A charlie brown christmas tv
there's a reason this 26-minute cartoon aired on network TV each and every December for 50+ years, originally on CBS and then on ABC. And yes, the animation by Bill Meléndez and crew is equally as sparse, as is the musical score by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi and his trio.Īnd yet. But, just on the off chance that you haven't seen it. In fact, if you're from a Christmas-celebrating household, chances are you have already watched this special more times than you can count, and we don't have to remind you about the plot. It is also one of the most successful of all time, enjoying a prominent place in pop culture from its debut to the present day. Schulz's classic comic strip Peanuts, made on the cheap-and-quick by producer Lee Mendelson for CBS in 1965, note a careful viewer will notice that it's rife with animation errors due to its rushed production A Charlie Brown Christmas has nevertheless gone on to become one of the most iconic Christmas works of all time.

The first of the animated prime-time specials based on Charles M. Magoo's Christmas Carol predated it by three years, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by one, it was really A Charlie Brown Christmas that made TV Christmas specials a thing in the entire Western world.
