The Third PEANUTS CBC SPECIAL(and the second one for the Holiday)-Happy 60th Anniversary IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN

Last year, I did a retrospective of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS......

Sort of.....

I just compared the similarities of the inaugural PEANUTS TV Debut

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS from DECEMBER 1965

& the DISNEY'S DOUG episode DOUG DIRECTS from NOVEMBER 1996

Mainly the scenes where both CHARLIE BROWN & DOUG FUNNIE have directorial duties assigned to them hosting the school plays during the winter season of all things.

Anyway,

This post is just going to focus on the PEANUTS by the late great

CHARLES M. SCHULZ.

There may be some instances of DOUG involved but it will be limited.

Anyway, after the Surprising Success of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS in 1965,

CBS decided to commission another Holiday Special.

But this time, have it made for...

And this CBS HOLIDAY SPECIAL is to be titled:

So..... What is it all about?

Well.....

It's HALLOWEEN!

What do you expect?

Kids going out in COSTUMES asking for CANDY to put in their PILLOW SACKS......

Or getting scared out of their wits due to the associations........ etc.

But in this episode, LINUS has gotten himself into an egregious situation

Yup... that's right.

LINUS VAN PELT, the BLANKET CARRYING KID,

Has decided to forgo his HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES,

and is instead waiting to see the presence of THE GREAT PUMPKIN.... IN PERSON...

Quite the odd U-TURN of his character from the previous CHRISTMAS SPECIAL where he recites a passage from the BIBLE to reignite confidence in CHARLIE BROWN......

Anyway,

Quite an unusual U-TURN indeed.

And it's getting to a point where even CHARLIE BROWN thinks that LINUS' decision to forgo his HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES for waiting for an entity is a stupid idea.

Are you serious?

LINUS, this is HALLOWEEN!!!

Not CHRISTMAS..... or BLACK FRIDAY.... or CYBER MONDAY...

Speaking about Charlie Brown,

Man, the kid can't seem to catch a break even in this special.

As if LUCY VAN PELT's Service as CHARLIE's personal SHRINK didn't do things too well for his CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE back in the previous special in 1965,

This time however since the weather is more permitting to allow it,

Yup.....

CBS finally allowed LEE MENDELSON FILM PRODUCTIONS 

& BILL MELENDEZ PRODUCTIONS 

to animate the FAMOUS FOOTBALL GAG...

And this is the third CBS special since they couldn't pull off the gag in the previous special which was CHARLIE BROWN ALL-STARS.

Even though it's Halloween, there are things to discuss that I call padding it out.

For example, We finally see an ANIMATED TAKE on SNOOPY imagining himself as going up against the infamous RED BARRON

And even SNOOPY can mess around with pretty much everybody...

Just like in CHRISTMAS, SNOOPY can mess with LUCY whether she likes it or not.

Or when he's dancing on top of SCHROEDER's Piano

And I was surprised to see that even despite LUCY's general crabbiness to others,

She does care about those to a point that she can worry.

Such as when she worries about LINUS staying out alone in the cold

Even LUCY feels she cannot allow LINUS to develop HYPOTHERMIA.

Another thing that sets this special apart is the fact that SALLY BROWN's voice has a little more..... professionalism involved.... Sort of.

Both Specials, SALLY BROWN was portrayed by KATHY STEINBERG,

But in CHRISTMAS, Kathy, Who was 6 years old back in 1965, couldn't read any form of writing even if it was typed.

So the producers had to feed KATHY her lines phonetically so she could at least copy them....

Which I guess adds to the charm of her character which is INNOCENCE.

This time in GREAT PUMPKIN,

KATHY, who was 7 years old back in 1966, She's able to read so that meant she can read her lines and memorize them.

Though in my mind, that kind of takes away from the charm of her character since that meant she's able to memorize her written lines which takes away some of the ADLIBBY nature of her 1965 portrayal....

Though I did read that KATHY's tooth was loose and the producers feared her performance would be ruined if she suddenly had a lisp caused by a Fallen Tooth so....

They rushed to record her lines.

And when she finished recording her final lines, her tooth finally flew out.

Quite an interesting turn of events.

Also, just like with A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS from a year prior

IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN was also sponsored by COCA-COLA

Does this mean both these specials are funded by 

WAGA-TV, predecessor to CBS ATLANTA)?

Just saying since that's where COCA-COLA is bottled.

But unlike with CHRISTMAS, GREAT PUMPKIN also got another sponsor

Though as usual,

The SPONSORS were removed from future airings of them specials in the early 1970s after CBS got in trouble with them FELLAS AT THE FREAKING FCC over the use of ADVERTISING PRODUCTS in Children's Medium....

More like the FCC should have monitored how them 80's Saturday Morning Cartoons should have self-regulated how to distribute shows like TRANSFORMERS, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, MY LITTLE PONY, etc.....

But they had to wait until 1990 under GEORGE HW. BUSH's ADMINISTRATION

before they could regulate them properly with the CHILDREN'S TELEVISION ACT of that year.

And therefore, allow NICKELODEON to thrive with their own original NICKTOONS.

DOUG

(1991-1994 at NICKELODEON and later 1996-1999 at DISNEY)

RUGRATS

(1991-2004)

REN & STIMPY

(1991-1996)

Sorry for how rushed this post is.

Unlike my DOUG Post from LAST YEAR in 2025,

DOUG'S HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE(1993)

DOUG'S BLOODY BUDDY(1996)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DOUGS(1998)

Where I had more time and dedication planned months ahead,

This was spur the moment and I needed something for HALLOWEEN...

And yes, I know that GREAT PUMPKIN aired on OCTOBER 27th and I missed the date to celebrate the special.....

But I felt I just needed something fitting for OCTOBER 31st so this will have to suffice.

And one final addendum,

I've read that the special aired in CANADA on OCTOBER 26 1966 through CBC....

About 1 day before the formal AMERICAN broadcast on CBS.

How's that for early bird broadcasts back in the 1960s.