This is the First Year Since 1966 That ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ Won’t Air On Broadcast TV

One of the Halloween classics we grew up watching was “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Chances are, you and your kids grew up watching the unconventional Halloween special featuring Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Sally and the rest of the Peanuts gang.

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” has aired on broadcast television every year since 1966, that is, until 2020. This is the first year that you can’t watch Linus wait patiently for the Great Pumpkin on broadcast TV. The only place you can watch it is on the subscription streaming service Apple TV+.

One piece of good news is that you can still watch the iconic Halloween special for free this year. There are free trials for Apple TV+, but you don’t have to be a subscriber to watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Apple plans to make the classic Halloween special available for free from October 30th through November 1st to anyone who wants to watch it. That includes anyone who does not have a subscription and even anyone who does not have an Apple TV streaming device. You would just need an Apple TV+ app which is available on numerous non-Apple devices.

For the previous 20 years, Peanuts’ holiday specials have aired on ABC, but now all the Peanuts classics, not just “It’s a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will be exclusively available on Apple TV+. That includes “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Don’t worry; you can watch these classics for free as well. Apple plans to make “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” free for anyone to watch from November 25th-27th, and anyone can stream “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for free from December 11th-13th.

Apple also plans to produce new holiday specials starring Charlie Brown and his friends. These include specials for New Year’s Eve, Earth Day and Mother’s Day.

Are you going to watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” with your family this year?