‘Happy New Year, Charlie Brown’: How to Watch, What Time and What Channel

Everyone gets to have fun on New Year’s Eve but Charlie Brown in this week’s Peanuts special. On Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET, ABC is airing Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! in which the New Year is anything but happy for our favorite Chuck. The special is paired with another Peanuts adventure, She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown.

Even if you are not near a television tonight, you can still check out this classic special thanks to ABC’s live steam on ABC.com. The live stream is available for those with a cable or satellite subscription in select markets. It is available for subscribers in Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham and San Francisco, according to the ABC website. DirecTV subscribers in Albuquerque, Boston, Ft. Smith/Fayetteville, Jackson (Mississippi), Kansas City, Milwaukee, Monterey-Salinas, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Portland-Auburn (Maine), Savannah and West Palm Beach can also check out the live stream.

ABC affiliates are also available to stream on Internet TV platforms like YouTube TV, Sling, AT&T NOW, Hulu Plus Live TV and Fubo.

Following Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!, ABC is airing The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition at 9 p.m. ET.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! originally aired on CBS in January 1986. In the half-hour special, Charlie Brown is inexplicably assigned to write a book report on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, while all his friends get to have a fun party. Peppermint Patty convinces Chuck to still go to the party and hopes to invite the Little Red-Haired Girl. Charlie Brown keeps taking the massive book with him everywhere he goes, even bringing it to the party.

The cast includes Chad Allen as Charlie Brown, Melissa Guzzi as Lucy, Jeremy Miller as Linus, Kristi Baker as Peppermint Patty, Elizabeth Lyn Fraser as Sally, Aron Mandelbaum as Schroeder and Jason Mendelson as Marcie. It was directed by Bill Melendez and Sam Jaimes, based on the comics by Charles M. Schulz.

Since Happy New Year is only a half-hour special, ABC has paired it with She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown every year since 2002. The episode first aired in February 1980 and features Peppermint Patty entering a major ice-skating competition with coach Snoopy and her friend Marcie. Woodstrock also helps out in the end.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! is your last chance to catch a Peanuts special on TV before Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975) and A Charlie Brown Valentine (2002) air in February. ABC already aired I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown on Dec. 22 and A Charlie Brown Christmas on Dec. 17.

Photo credit: ABC