Good grief. Fans of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving were not pleased this week when they realized the classic Peanuts holiday special was not available for live streaming when it aired on PBS Sunday night. After PBS and AppleTV+ made a deal that the beloved movie would air on cable TV (instead of exclusively on the streaming platform, as was initially planned), fans thought for a moment it was a Turkey Day miracle. However, that quickly turned to dismay when they discovered that while the program was, indeed, airing over the air on PBS, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving could not be live streamed via PBS’ platforms.
As previously reported, AppleTV+ secured the exclusive rights to all the Peanuts cartoon holiday specials — A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and It’s The Great, Pumpkin Charlie Brown — earlier this year, meaning that for the first time in more than 50 years, those titles wouldn’t air on cable television. Despite the fact that those specials could be viewed on AppleTV+ for free for a limited time, fans were still irate that the streaming service scooped them up.
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Ultimately, AppleTV+ and PBS generated a deal that would see A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving air on PBS and PBS KIDS on Sunday, Nov. 22, and A Charlie Brown Christmas on Sunday, Dec. 13. Unfortunately, when cord-cutters tuned into PBS using various live stream options, they realized the program would not stream on PBS platforms. Twitter was a flurry with disgruntled fans; continue reading to see some of the reactions.
apple was very sneaky with the Charlie Brown thanksgiving exclusivity. you can watch it on PBS, but not with their app. if you cut the cord, you have to use TV+ pic.twitter.com/6OKhvpNEwO
— Elijah Ciali (@ItsElijahCiali) November 23, 2020
.@PBS is airing an #Peanuts special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” tonight for the first time ever on public television, but the livestream on both its local stations & the @PBSKIDS website are blackout as @AppleTV owned by @Apple Computers owns the streaming rights. Good grief! pic.twitter.com/b5BgnJeyv6
— Joshua Albarran (@JoshX1993) November 23, 2020
(I am pissed) F**k you, PBS for RUINED THE CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING BROADCAST ON LIVESTREAM! #CharlieBrownThanksgiving #PBS pic.twitter.com/tJ7r8kBJuQ
— 🦃Jermaine Universe⭐ (Welcome to Animaniacs) 🥧 (@JermiloGamingHD) November 23, 2020
Oh good grief.
— ❄️❄️❄️RobbieTehRotten❄️❄️❄️ (@RobbieTehRotten) November 23, 2020
No Charlie Brown for me today. pic.twitter.com/8f9otgwQxA
So, it looks like I can’t watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on the live stream function of the PBS app 🖕@Apple
— Travis Byrd (@tbyrd28_3) November 23, 2020
I was quite looking forward to this after the #GreatPumpkinDebacle. @Roku customer. Downloaded pbs app, signed in locally, informed not available for streaming til next program starts. Waited. Looked again. Now it’s nowhere and I’m disappointed. Again.
— EVAN 🇺🇸🎩🌻🏳️🌈🎭🎵🐘 (@EvanTuttle) November 23, 2020
So, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on PBS but I can’t live stream it even though I have a paid Passport account. What bullshit!
— Foodiechatter and other quarantine BS 🦃 (@PhillyGrub) November 23, 2020
Not showing it!
— Annie (@AnnieSong62) November 23, 2020
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE OF PBS!
Current program is unavailable…
— NotaDoctor (@NotaDoctor_1) November 23, 2020
HELP!!! pic.twitter.com/4FKSWOLmpV
— ❄️❄️❄️RobbieTehRotten❄️❄️❄️ (@RobbieTehRotten) November 23, 2020
@AppleTV @PBS After all the excitement… complete disappointment instead. Thanks for cutting out those who only have streaming options. No Charlie Brown for my kids. #CharlieBrownThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/rFL2L4MUGx
— Heather Earnhart (@HatHeather) November 23, 2020
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A still from 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving' (Credit: Lee Mendelson Film Productions / Bill Melendez Productions)
