1973 television special
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is the tenth prime-time animated television special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy Award the following year.[1] It was the third holiday special after A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in 1966.[2]
Synopsis
Charlie Brown is preparing to go to his grandmother's with his family for Thanksgiving dinner when he gets a phone call from Peppermint Patty, who invites herself — and soon after, Marcie and Franklin — to Thanksgiving dinner at the Browns' house, as she has been given permission from her father, who has been called out of town. Linus suggests to a perplexed Charlie Brown that he could have two Thanksgiving dinners: the first at home for himself, Peppermint Patty and the others, then a second at his grandmother's. Linus recruits Snoopy and Woodstock to help; Snoopy sets up a ping pong table and chairs outside. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and Linus then prepare a feast of toast, pan-fried popcorn, pretzel sticks, jelly beans and ice cream sundaes.
After Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin arrive, Linus leads the group in a prayer that details the First Thanksgiving before Snoopy serves the meal. Peppermint Patty, who expected turkey and other traditional Thanksgiving food, yells at Charlie Brown, who dejectedly leaves the table. Marcie suggests Peppermint Patty was too hard on Charlie Brown and asks whether he invited her or she just invited herself. Peppermint Patty, realizing she was in the wrong, asks Marcie to apologize to Charlie Brown on her behalf (unintentionally paralleling The Courtship of Miles Standish). Marcie reluctantly agrees, but Peppermint Patty soon follows and apologizes to him herself. Just then, Charlie Brown realizes he and Sally are late for dinner at their grandmother's. He calls her and explains the situation, and she invites all his friends to come along for dinner. On the drive over, they sing "Over the River and Through the Woods", but as they finish the song, Charlie Brown says there's one problem with that song: His grandmother lives in a condominium, not a house.
Snoopy and Woodstock go to Snoopy's doghouse and cook their own traditional Thanksgiving meal. They break the wishbone, with Woodstock receiving the larger piece. Over the end credits, the two eat pumpkin pie.
Broadcast history
The special first aired on CBS on Tuesday, November 20, 1973, two days before Thanksgiving. It placed third in the Nielsen ratings for the week, behind All in the Family and Sanford & Son.[3]
The special continued to air every year on CBS (skipping 1982, 1983, and 1988) through Nov. 23, 1989.
The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon returned the special for re-airing in the 1990s (in the latter channel's case, under the "You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown" umbrella of Peanuts productions) and then, in 2001, it moved, along with the rest of the Peanuts specials, to ABC. In contrast to CBS, ABC aired the special every year through 2019, on several days in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and it had regularly won its time slot.[4] As the special runs slightly over a half-hour with commercials, ABC typically filled the remaining portion of the full hour with other Peanuts programming. From 2008 to 2019, the remaining time was filled by a slightly abridged edit of "The Mayflower Voyagers," the premiere episode of the 1988 miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown.
Starting in 2020, the special (along with the rest of the Peanuts library) will exclusively air on Apple TV+; under the terms of the agreement, Apple TV+ must provide a three-day window in November in which the special is available for free. On November 18, 2020 Apple announced they had reached an agreement to air the special on Sunday, November 22, 2020, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, commercial free on PBS and PBS Kids.[5] In accordance with most PBS affiliates' non-commercial educational licenses, the special was presented on PBS unedited without commercial interruption, with only a brief underwriting spot before and after the special: "This special broadcast of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was made possible by Apple." Apple renewed the agreement with PBS in 2021[6] but did not renew it for 2022.[7]
It is also broadcast in Canada, usually in early October in line with the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving. The special is aired on Family Channel as of 2018, with the special aired on the day before Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving Day, which takes place on the second Monday of October in Canada.
Voice actors
This is the last TV special that uses the same cast from Snoopy, Come Home, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, and There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown. In the next television special, Kohn, DeFaria, and Momberger would be succeeded in their respective roles by Melanie Kohn (Robin's younger sister), Donna Forman, and Lynn Mortensen, respectively.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was composed by Vince Guaraldi (except where noted) and conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter.[8] The score was performed by the Vince Guaraldi Quintet on August 20, 22 and September 4, 1973, at Wally Heider Studios, featuring Tom Harrell (trumpet), Chuck Bennett (trombone), Seward McCain (electric bass) and Mike Clark (drums).[9][10]
- "Charlie Brown Blues" (aka "Play It Again, Charlie Brown"/"Charlie's Blues") (version 1)
- "Thanksgiving Theme" (version 1, opening credits)
- "Thanksgiving Theme" (version 2)
- "Peppermint Patty"
- "Little Birdie" (Vocal: Vince Guaraldi)[11]
- "Thanksgiving Interlude" (version 1)
- "Is It James or Charlie?" (version 1)
- "Linus and Lucy (with the band)"
- "Fife and Drums Theme"
- "Is It James or Charlie?" (version 2)
- "Charlie Brown Blues" (aka "Play It Again, Charlie Brown" and "Charlie's Blues") (version 2)
- "Thanksgiving Interlude" (version 2)
- "Over the River and Through the Wood" (a cappella, Lydia Maria Child)
- "Thanksgiving Theme" (version 3, with brass)
- "Thanksgiving Theme" (version 4, end credits)
Beginning in 1998, separate music cues have been released, scattered across several compilation albums:[8][12]
On October 20, 2023, a full album containing the remastered original recordings for the special and several bonus tracks was released for the first time in honor of the special’s 50th anniversary.[18]
