Charlie Brown is back on broadcast TV.
After getting hammered by public opinion last month for its decision to remove the Charlie Brown annual Halloween special from broadcast TV and make it available only on Apple’s proprietary streaming service, the company brokered a deal with PBS and announced on Wednesday the decision to put the cartoon back on public airwaves for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Corporations do feel the sting if enough public opinion sways against them and the outrage against the tech company — which normally doesn’t receive massive negative attention — was massive.
“On Wednesday, Apple bowed to the backlash, announcing it had teamed up with PBS for ad-free broadcasts of “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” (on Nov. 22) and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (on Dec. 13),” PBS announced.
That doesn’t mean that the Peanuts specials are exclusively on PBS. Apple retains ownership and the holiday cartoons will also be available on its streaming service.
Deadline reports that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving started streaming on Apple TV+ on November 18, and will be available for free through November 27. A Charlie Brown Christmas will stream on Apple TV+ on December 4, and will be available for free from December 11 through December 13.
Both will be available for paid subscribers throughout the holiday season.
If there is any bad news, it’s that Apple TV, through deals made with production companies, may be creating new Peanuts specials.
Instead of leaving well enough alone and being satisfied with the classic Peanuts lineup that existed when creator Charles M. Schulz was alive, new cartoon specials — which are guaranteed to be awful — could be released for Mother’s Day, Earth Day, and New Year’s Eve.
