Yes, I heard about this yesterday. It's a real shame. My brother said it right when he said that this now deprives a new generation of kids the ability to discover and enjoy these classics.

Oh well, it's yet another great tradition that's gone to pot. This execrable year of 2020 just continues to live up to its sordid reputation.

Hello Chip (and All):

The recent 'demise' of the airing of all things Charlie Brown is just another reason that we should all be immeasurably thankful to you Mr. Chip for keeping the 'real' YuleLog on the air.   We are all privileged to be a part of the fans of this website and be able, in a small way, to continue to support you and your efforts to bring this great Christmas tradition to new generations and all the work you do in your push to preserve and reissue the greatest Christmas music classics.  Good health to you and yours, keep up the great work!   Regards,  a Big (former Metro NYC) Fan now living the quiet life in west Tennessee, USA

That's very kind of you to say, Jim.

I have seen this on a few different sites.  I don't think that it is fair that people be forced to have to pay for Apple TV in order to watch It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  It was on TV for about 54 years for free now we have to pay for it?  I am sure that a lot of us have these on DVD or even on video tape that they may have actually taped when it aired several years ago.  I still have them on BETA and VHS tapes with the commercials from the 1980's, but my BETA-Max doesn't play very well, and I don't want to risk it eating my tapes.

Even though I have these on DVD, I like to watch them when they air.  It is a major part of my childhood and a tradition for me. (I remember growing up that our mother would use these against us and threaten to not let us watch them if we didn't behave)  I hope that they don't do this with all of the Charlie Brown cartoons.  Not to mention Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, among others.

There was some talk about It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and that it wasn't network TV that decided to do this, but they said to contact the people who own the rights to the Peanuts franchise.

With what we are going through, especially this year, we need these shows, not only for us, but for future generations.

Though The Yule Log is not the same as  the Charlie Brown/Peanuts specials, it has been a staple in most of our lives and our future generations should have the right to watch these too without being forced to get Apple TV, which IMO stinks.  I got it for free being I went from Android to iPhone in July, so I have it for free for 1 year, but most of what I would want to watch, you have to pay additional fees for because Apple TV is basically Apple produced programming.  Then a lot of what I would want to watch is available for free on other platforms, i.e. ROKU and the only downside to that is they have commercials in them.

Even Amazon Prime has a lot of great programs and movies, but the downside to them is if you want to watch specific programs such as White Christmas, you have to either buy it or rent it on top of the price we pay for Amazon Prime.  Their prices for renting are more that what it would cost to rent from the video stores.

I took the plunge and ordered Charlie Brown Christmas on blu ray from Walmart.  It was cheaper than Amazon.  Funny, when it was on network TV I often missed it because I forgot to check when it was on!  Now I'll be able to watch it whenever I want.  It should be arriving today or tomorrow.

Susan:

As Frank mentioned in his opening post, unfortunately this also includes the other Charlie Brown specials as well, including the Thanksgiving and Christmas shows.

Frank:

The Blu-ray is beautiful.

Thank you Chip,

Yes, in looking more into this online, it appears that Apple bought the rights for the Charlie Brown specials.  Not sure if they bought the rights for the entire Peanuts Franchise :-( 

Hello to all -

I remember back in October 2016 when Met Life insurance "retired" Snoopy from their commercials. You can read about it here.

Met LIfe retires Snoopy.

Luckily, I had the foresight to record many of the Charlie Brown specials on DVD. I have several of those combo VHS/DVD decks, but even those are now obsolete.

Oh well, the entertainment industry finally killed off home recording. I have old VHS tapes from the 1980s and watching them is like opening a time capsule!

Have been mining those old tapes for the classic commercials and have 5 hours of material already. It was a different era back then.

Stay safe, stay sane, stay healthy.
J.S.P.

Popular Halloween special, which premiered on CBS in 1966, will instead air on demand on AppleTV+ for free from Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

https://www.the-daily-record.com/story/entertainment/2020/10/26/its-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-on-tv-cbs-apple-tv-plus/3716653001/