Holiday traditions are very important. You can’t have Halloween without certain essentials like pumpkin carving, watching various spooky movies, and making a preemptive appointment with your family dentist. It’s just like you can’t have Christmas without the annual Santa/ M&M commercial that has been playing without fail for the last 27 years. There are some things that just have to go along with the season, and the Peanuts Halloween special is definitely one of them.
Unfortunately, ABC lost the coveted rights to those iconic and beloved Peanuts holiday specials, including It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas back in 2020, and a group of dedicated Peanuts fans have been fighting to get it back ever since. Good grief, am I right?
Ever since it was announced that ABC would not air the annual specials, there has been a Change.org petition to get them back. It should be noted that 1) the specials are still on AppleTV+ and 2) Change.org can’t really do much when it comes to, you know, television rights. But it does look good for organizing! The petition has amassed neatly 300,000 signatures over the years, though ABC has not put Charlie back on the schedule as of yet.
If you don’t have AppleTV+, you can still participate in the Snoopy-approved fun: this year, fans can watch It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for free from Oct. 21 through Oct. 22 on Apple TV+, without a subscription. Is it the same thing as your mom calling you at 8 p.m. and telling you to “put on ABC!! Snoopy is on!!!” even though you don’t have cable? Not quite, but it will hopefully tide you over until Charlie and his buddies unionize.