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The Paramount+ Holiday Collection ‘Tis The Season for Streaming returns to the service today with hundreds of seasonal movies and beloved specials for the whole household to enjoy, including the debut of the streaming service’s first original holiday film, Dear Santa.

The Farrelly Brothers holiday comedy Dear Santa stars Jack Black, Robert Timothy Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, and Post Malone in a story of a young boy who mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, resulting in a devilish Jack Black’s arrival to wreak havoc on the holidays. The film premieres on November 25 exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and the following day in the UK and Australia.

Dear Santa

This year’s Paramount+ Holiday Collection will also include the debut of SpongeBob SquarePants – “SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas,” an all-new half-hour special where one of Sandy’s experiments...

Paramount has announced the lineup of movies, TV shows, and live sports coming to the Paramount+ streaming service in November. The Paramount Plus November 2024 schedule includes Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, which navigates the fortune-seeking world of Texas oil rigs.

Sports fans can also enjoy an incredible spread of games over the holiday week, including the Nwsl Championship and UEFA Champions League marquee matches, as well as NFL on CBS and Big Ten on CBS action.

Landman

In November, audiences will be treated to the premiere of the new original series Landman, from Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone and starring Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton, Golden Globe nominee Demi Moore, and Emmy Award winner Jon Hamm.

Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, the series tells the gripping story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires in the world of oil rigs fueling a boom so big that it’s reshaping our climate,...

Plot: Franklin Anderson struggles to make new friends when he moves to a new state (possibly Minneapolis). However, after meeting Charlie Brown and entering a soap box derby race, Franklin learns valuable lessons about friendship and how winning isn’t everything.

Review: Moving to a new town is especially difficult when you’re a kid. In addition to being a social disadvantage in a school setting, your after-school playtime quickly becomes an exercise in manifesting imaginary friends. For Franklin Anderson, being popular was never an option. His dad moves around a lot, so Franklin jumps from one state to the next, living out of a suitcase and never settling in one place long enough to make honest-to-goodness friends. This pattern is about to change when he meets the Peanuts gang and learns that the traditional methods of making friends sometimes don’t apply.

Back in my day, we had specials...

Kicking October to the curb and bringing in some November goodness is a fresh slate of new content headed to Paramount Global’s streamer Paramount+, including the sequel to the hit 1997 film “Good Burger.”

Paramount+ started off November by adding more than 30 titles to its library, some of which include “Above the Rim,” Season 15 of “Ink Master,” “Gladiator” and “The Color Purple.”

And if you’re looking for some holiday movies to watch with the family, you can deck the halls with “Happy Christmas,” “Mistletoe Ranch” or “Christmas Eve.” When the kids go to sleep, adult-friendly treats like “Bad Santa” and “Bad Santa 2” are also available.

The highly-anticipated “Good Burger 2,” which stars Kel Mitchell, Keenan Thompson, Shar Jackson, Carmen Electra, Josh Server, Alex R. Hibbert, Lori Beth Denberg and Lil Rel Howery, hits the platform on Nov. 22

Here’s everything coming to Paramount+ this November, from “The Truman Show” to “Paw Patrol.

Craig Schulz, the son of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz, is hopeful a new movie based on the comic strip will happen.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Craig discussed the possibility of another “Peanuts” film.

“I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you. [Laughs] Nothing is off the table, we’re always exploring different ideas and different things in this co-view series [‘The Snoopy Show’] that we’ve done, which touched upon the environment, the love for teachers, Mother’s Day, and how it interacts with enough people,” he said. “All those subjects are just really fun, and as you know, the ‘Peanuts’ universe is sort of endless.”

There are currently five features in the “Peanuts” franchise: “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” (1969), “Snoopy Come Home” (1972), “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown” (1977), “Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!)” (1980) and “The Peanuts Movie” (2015). The 2015 computer-animated...

“Happiness is a Warm Gun” isn’t the only connection between The Beatles and Peanuts. Both groups exemplified the optimism of the 1960s era. Charles M. Schulz’s Charlie Brown was so assured of positive outcomes he repeatedly tried to kick a field-goal-placed football held by the town’s resident five-cents-a-session psychiatrist, Lucy, in spite of the knowledge she would pull it out from under him at the last moment. He faced defeat and realized “the world didn’t come to an end.”

When Schulz’s comic strip moved into animated TV specials, much of that expectant wonder was expressed through the music. Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi joined the Peanuts’ creative gang in 1964, when he was hired to score a TV documentary about Schulz, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The documentary never aired, but jazz label Fantasy Records released the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack, Jazz Impressions of A Boy...

Peter Robbins, who was the first person to voice Charlie Brown in several “Peanuts” TV specials in the 1960s, has died. He was 65.

His family told Fox 5 San Diego on Tuesday that he died by suicide last week.

At 9 years old, Robbins first voiced Charlie Brown in “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” which was a television documentary about “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz released in 1963. He followed that up with the holiday classics “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in 1965 and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” in 1966.

Throughout the ’60s, Robbins provided his voice for “Charlie Brown’s All Stars,” “You’re in Love, Charlie Brown,” “It’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown,” “It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown” and the 1969 feature film “A Boy Named Charlie Brown.” The film was directed by veteran animator Bill Melendez, who also provided the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock in dozens of TV specials,...

Actor Peter Robbins, who in his youth provided the original voice of Charlie Brown in various Peanuts cartoons, has died. He was 65.

Robbins’ family confirmed to Fox 5 San Diego that the actor died by suicide earlier this month.

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Throughout the 1960s, Robbins lent his voice to Charlie Brown in several Peanuts specials, including the beloved holiday staples A Charlie Brown Christmas (in 1965) and It’s the Great Pumpkin,...

Lee Mendelson, who produced several “Peanuts” and “Garfield” television specials, died at his home in Hillsborough, Calif. on Christmas Day after a battle with lung cancer, according to Palo Alto’s Daily Post.

Mendelson is also known for writing the lyrics to “Christmastime Is Here” from the 1965 TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

The producer was born in 1933 and began his career in television in 1961 while working at San Francisco’s Kpix-tv. In 1963, he started Lee Mendelson Productions in Burlingame, Calif., according to his website. That same year, following a hit on NBC with a documentary called “A Man Named Mays” made by Mendelson and cinematographer and editor Sheldon Fay Jr., the two made their first Charlie Brown special, “A Boy Named Charlie Brown.” What followed was a 38-year long relationship with “Peanuts” creator Charles Schultz and animator Bill Melendez that lead to over 50 “Peanuts” specials.

Also Read: Jerry Herman,...

Fans of all ages will enjoy the 50th Anniversary event cinema release of the two full-length digitally re-mastered Peanuts&#174 movies - A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home when the animated features appear in cinema for the first time since 1969 and 1972.

See the original Peanuts characters like you've never seen them before. Humorous and heart-tugging, both features bring back the joys of childhood and teach kids today's important life lessons during their most impressionable years. Filled with laughter, courage, loyalty and the lovable friends we all relate to, the original Peanuts&#174 movies will win the hearts of a whole new generation and create a cinematic experience the whole family will enjoy.

Created by Charles M. Schulz, one of the comic world's most influential cartoonists, Peanuts&#174 became one of the most popular comic strips of all time with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Woodstock and Pigpen-among the most cherished.

In today’s film news roundup, Sean Astin gets two roles, two “Peanuts” movies are set for release, “One Last Night” gets distribution and Brian De Palma gets honored.

Castings

Sean Astin has been cast in a pair of upcoming feature films: “Mayfield’s Game” opposite Mira Sorvino and “Charming The Hearts of Men” opposite Kelsey Grammer.

Astin is best known for portraying Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001–2003) and Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger in “Rudy.” He also played Bob Newby in the second and third season of “Stranger Things” and will appear in the second part of his show “No Good Nick,” which premieres Aug. 5 on Netflix.

Astin is repped by Stewart Talent, Luber/Rocklin and Goodman Schenkman & Brecheen, Llp

Peanuts Movies

CineLife Entertainment has partnered with CBS Home Entertainment as the North American theatrical distributor for 1969’s “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” and 1972’s “Snoopy, Come Home.

Don Lusk, an animator and director who worked on Disney classics including Fantasia, Bambi and Pinocchio before moving to Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s, died Sunday. He was 105. His longtime friend Navah-Paskowitz Asner, announced the news on social media.

Born on October 28, 1913, in Los Angeles, Lusk was just 20 when he joined the Walt Disney Company just after the Great Depression, as its animation studio was riding high on Mickey Mouse shorts. He would work on those cartoons for his first several years there before contributing to Disney’s second and third toon features, 1940’s Pinocchio and Fantasia. For the latter, Lusk worked on the classic “Nutcracker Suite” and “Pastoral Symphony” segments.

He went on to draw for cartoons and such classic Disney features as Song of the South, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, among others.

Don Lusk, an animator behind “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan,” and many more classic animated Disney movies, died Sunday morning, according to a Facebook post by Ed Asner’s daughter, Navah Paskowitz-Asner. He was 105.

Lusk’s 60-year career touched countless classic works from Disney, where his career began in 1933. There he worked his animation magic on famous titles including 1938’s “Ferdinand the Bull,” 1942’s “Bambi,” 1950’s “Cinderella,” 1955’s “Lady and the Tramp,” 1959’s “Sleeping Beauty,” and 1961’s “101 Dalmatians.” Some of his most memorable work includes Cleo the goldfish in 1940’s “Pinocchio” and the “Nutcracker Suite” fish dance in “Fantasia.”

After leaving Disney in 1960, he continued freelancing throughout the decade, working on several Charlie Brown specials beginning with 1969’s “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” and throughout the ’70s with “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!” and “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.” He also freelanced for Upa on the animated...

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the weeks of August 30th, 2016 and September 6th.

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Episode Notes & Links News Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Star Trek: The original Series – The Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray The Skull Blu-ray Olive Films Announce November Titles The Bruce Lee Premiere Collection Blu-ray: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Game of Death 50% Off Arrow DVDs & Blu-rays | Barnes & Noble Amazon.com: Middle-earth Limited Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray + DVD): Various: Movies & TV American Buffalo (1996) Going Out Of Print September 12th!! – Screen Archives Entertainment Links to Amazon

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Arrow: Season 4 Barbarosa Chimes at Midnight Destiny The Immortal Story The Jungle Book The Night Manager Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season 2 Disco Godfather Evils of the Night Eyewitness Hangmen Also Die! People of the Mountains Sid And Nancy...

Chicago – They didn’t screw it up, and that is good. Eschewing modern conventions or typical animation pop culture jokes, “The Peanuts Movie” honors its source (Charlie Brown and the gang) and its creator, Charles M. Schultz, in a joyous and nostalgic celebration.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The filmmakers – director Steve Martino (“Horton Hears a Who”) and writers Craig Schultz (Charles’s son), Bryan Schultz (grandson) and Cornelius Uliano – kept a philosophy of “Wwcsd” (What would Charles Schultz do?), and produced a animated feature that contains the best of what made “Peanuts” great. The look is as if the comic strip has sprung to life, especially in optional 3D, and the character voices and feel have the same warmth as the familiar TV specials (there are several references along the way to those treats as well). The story was incidental to the subplots that played like mini comic strips, featuring Good Ol’ Charlie Brown,...

All week long our writers will debate: Which was the greatest film year of the past half century. Click here for a complete list of our essays. How to decide in the grand scheme of things which film year stands above all others? History gives us no clear methodology to unravel this thorny but extremely important question. Is it the year with the highest average score of movies? So a year that averages out to a B + might be the winner over a field strewn with B’s, despite a few A +’s. Or do a few masterpieces lift up a year so far that whatever else happened beyond those three or four films is of no consequence? Both measures are worthy, and the winner by either of those would certainly be a year not to be sneezed at. But I contend the only true measure of a year’s...

Peanuts Trailer. Steve Martino‘s Peanuts (2015) teaser trailer stars Bill Melendez. Peanuts‘ plot synopsis: “Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang from Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” comic strip make their fifth film outing.” The films that proceed this film include: A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Come Home, Race for [...]

Continue reading: Peanuts (2015) Teaser Trailer: Charlie Brown & Snoopy in a CGI-3D Film...

20th Century Fox have released a teaser trailer for what they hope will be one of the biggest hits of next year, Snoopy & Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie. Known simply as Peanuts in the Us, the film is being produced by Blue Sky Studios, whose recent hits have included Rio and the four Ice Age movies. Steve Martino, who directed the fourth chapter, Continental Drift, is at the helm.

Charles M Schulz’s school-age Peanuts crew have been American icons for over half a century. There have been regular TV specials in the States since 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, but this will be their first big screen outing for 35 years. The first Peanuts movie, A Boy Named Charlie Brown was released in 1969. Another three movies followed, concluding in 1980 with Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!), which saw the gang travel to Europe, where Snoopy enjoyed a...

The countdown to 25 Days of Christmas 2013 continues Wednesday (Nov. 27) with a marathon of everyone's favorite comic strip character -- Charlie Brown and his "Peanuts" gang.

Good grief! It's the Charlie Browniest of marathons, kicking off with the ABC Family premiere of "Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown," (4:00pm Et/Pt) which follows the Peanuts gang on an exhilarating adventure when they face a bunch of cheating bullies while competing in a river raft race.

The marathon continues with "Snoopy, Come Home" (5:30pm Et/Pt), followed by the ABC Family premiere of "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back)" at 7:30pm Et/Pt. In "Bon Voyage," Charlie and his friends head across the pond to France to participate in a two-week exchange program. The night ends with "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" at 9:00pm Et/Pt.

Which "Charlie Brown" movie is your favorite? We might have to go with "Snoopy,...

Things are slowing down for the holiday weekend, but its still pretty busy enough to tame that holiday stress.

News

Having apologized for a 60 Minutes report that ignored questions about one source’s credibility, reporter Lara Logan and producer Max McClellan have taken a leave of absence.

New Girl is planning another episode about the roommates’ exes, with Adam Brody playing Jess‘ ex. Seems like she had a weakness for energetic guys with dark hair.

First Dylan O’Brien then me, eh?

Monday’s theatrical screenings of Doctor Who‘s “Day of the Doctor” special was the number two movie for the day, ranking only behind The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In my home town, screenings were fairly limited — you couldn’t catch a matinee — which makes it an even stronger performer.

In talking with Gothamist about his cancelled MSNBC show, Alec Baldwin calls GLAAD Vice President Rich Ferraro and Andrew Sullivan,...

On ABC Family, it isn't just the "25 Days of Christmas" counting down to the big day anymore -- now there's a countdown for the countdown.

This week, the fun family channel will air several special programs in preparation for Dec. 1, which marks the start of the annual "25 Days of Christmas," which is nearly four weeks of holiday programming in December.

Here are the countdown specials to look forward to:

Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. Et/Pt: WWE Superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Francia Raisa start in "Christmas Bounty," an action-comedy that pairs former bounty hunter Tory Bell (Raisa) with her ex-boyfriend (Mike (The Miz) in an effort to keep her fiance out of danger. Who will she choose?

Wednesday, Nov. 27 from 4 p.m. Et/Pt to 11 p.m. Et/Pt: A "Charlie Brown" marathon, featuring "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown," "Snoopy, Come Home," "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown" and "A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Los Angeles, May 9: Peter Robbins, who used to lend his voice to Charlie Brown, was sentenced to jail for stalking his ex-girlfriend and her plastic surgeon.

He was arrested back in January, pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to one year in jail. But he will avoid further jail time because of his eight-month rehab program, and the 110 days that he spent behind the bars, tmz.com reports.

Robbins gave his voice for Charlie Brown in the film "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", and in TV specials like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".

Robbins also got five years' probation, a 10-year.

Not such a good man, this Charlie Brown voice actor. Peter Robbins, who voiced the iconic animated character in a string of beloved TV specials and movies including A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Boy Named Charlie Brown, pleaded guilty in a San Diego court Wednesday to charges that he stalked and threatened his ex-girlfriend and a plastic surgeon who performed a boob job on her, per City News Service. Robbins, a resident of Oceanside, Calif., was popped in January as he was passing through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego after border security discovered that a felony warrant had been issued against him when they ran his name through a computer. The warrant stemmed from an incident the previous...

Oh, brother. Peter Robbins, who was the voice of Charlie Brown in many of the early animated Peanuts specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, pleaded guilty Wednesday in San Diego to making criminal threats and stalking following incidents involving his ex-girlfriend and her doctor. He faces up to three years in prison at his sentencing next month, according to California's City News Service. Robbins, 56, reportedly paid for breast-augmentation surgery for his then-girlfriend, Shawna Kern. But after their relationship ended following an alleged domestic-violence episode, he threatened Kern and the doctor in an attempt to get his money back, prosecutors said.

Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown on numerous "Peanuts" shows and TV specials, was arrested at the border of San Diego and Tijuana on Sunday on charges of stalking and making threats to cause death. Robbins tried to cross the border in his car, but a background check yielded a warrant against him from the San Diego County sheriff's department. He was booked into jail shortly before 4am Monday and was being held on $550,000 bail. Robbins provided the voice of Charlie Brown in the film "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," as well as TV specials "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." He started voicing the character when he was 9 years old. But at the age of 14 his voice changed.

At 65 years of age, you would think that lovable loser Charlie Brown and his not-so-loyal pup Snoopy would be looking a bit long in the tooth, but the truth is that these two kids couldn’t possibly look any more spry, so what better way to celebrate their 65th birthday than by having them star in their own big screen feature? It was announced in a press release today [via ComingSoon] that Blue Sky Studios (the studio behind Ice Age and Rio) is going to be making another Peanuts movie. This will be Charlie’s fifth chance to get put down by Lucy on the big screen, as creator Charles Schulz’s characters have previously appeared in films called A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Come Home, Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown, and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!). Seeing as how Charles Schulz passed in 2000, you might be wondering who would be willing to...

20th Century Fox Animation and its Blue Sky Studios unit have acquired the rights to Charles M. Schulz's iconic "Peanuts" comic strip and plan to turn it into a film, the studio announced on Tuesday.  The new partners are looking at a release date of November 2015, to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the strip's debut. This would be the fifth "Peanuts" film to hit the big screen. The first was "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" in 1969; "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!!)" was the last one, in 1980. Steve...

While we’ve gotten various holiday specials and other films like A Boy Named Charlie Brown, all based on Charles M. Schulz‘s iconic comic Peanuts, Charlie Brown and the gang are set to reach a whole new audience with a recently announced feature film, one of the major Hollywood variety. According to a press release Blue Sky Studios, the filmmakers [...]...

I am a serious Peanuts aficionado. When I was a kid, I constantly visited our local library to borrow the same gloriously dogeared Peanuts collections. In high school, I wrote a ten-minute speech about the history of the American comic strip, and Peanuts took up about three of those minutes. (Calvin and Hobbes and Doonesbury also featured prominently. Psh, Garfield.) A few years ago, I devoured David Michaelis’ massive biography of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz in a couple marathon reading sessions. But my love for Charlie Brown’s melancholic circle of semi-friends goes back much longer, into the deepest primordial era of my consciousness.

I am a huge fan of Charlie Brown and the whole Peanuts gang from A Charlie Brown Christmas to the comic strip and the Broadway musical. One part of the Peanuts canon that has disappointed me of late, however, has been their new animated specials for TV. I have not found them nearly as good as the original A Charlie Brown Christmas, so when I saw that there was a new Peanuts Double Feature coming out, I didn't have high hopes. Well, as it turns out, Snoopy, Come Home and A Boy Named Charlie Brown were made by the team behind A Charlie Brown Christmas, and somehow, I never knew about either of them, despite knowing one of Snoopy, Come Home's most famous songs “No Dogs Allowed.” If you grew up with these specials or if you are a long-time Peanuts fan who missed these gems, I guarantee that this...

Snoopy and Charlie Brown are always big hits, and together in this DVD set are two of the Peanuts gang.s beloved films, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home. Perfect for Easter Basket giving or as a present to the whole family, this set will be a treasured favorite. A Boy Named Charlie Brown was the Peanuts gang.s first big screen adventure, made in 1969 and was well received by adults and children alike. As the film opens, Charlie Brown and friends are getting ready for Little League baseball season. The game starts and is lost, not forecasting good things for the rest of the season. As with all the Peanuts stories, there is much to be learned...

Like the early Peanuts holiday specials, the 1969 feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown can sneak up on a viewer. Early on, it’s little more than an adaptation of a few unconnected Charles Schulz strips, intercut with musical interludes. Vince Guaraldi’s score—arranged by John Scott Trotter, and peppered with Rod McKuen songs—is more lavish than the music in the TV series, and the tone’s more sentimental than befits Peanuts. But then the movie develops a plot, having to do with Charlie Brown’s effort to prove he’s not useless by winning a spelling ...

Charles Schulz's landmark comic strip Peanuts has occupied a unique niche in American pop culture. It's part of a medium often aimed at children, and its cast is a group of kids under the age of 10, doing normal child-like activities like playing baseball, going to school, and ice skating. But these kids also talk about Beethoven, theology, and The Brothers Karamazov. They throw around words like "depressed" and "neurotic," and one of them puts up a "Psychiatric Help" stand instead of selling lemonade. The strip balances hilarity with the fragility of life and the pain of existence, and that balance surfaces in Peanuts' first two big-screen adventures, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home (both available this week as a two-disc DVD from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment).

It's a dire genre – witness Bill Murray's nadir in Garfield 2 – but with Dilbert in production, what next? Your suggestions, please

Films based on TV shows are one thing. Films based on video games are another. But films based on newspaper comic strips are unquestionably the worst thing in the entire world. There's literally nothing worse than a film based on a newspaper comic strip. Literally.

They're the sort of thing that can decimate legends. The only thing stopping Garfield from being the lowest point of Bill Murray's career is the sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. And even though it was only 13 minutes long, 1985's Rupert and the Frog Song was enough to single-handedly transform Paul McCartney from an incomparable musical genius to a mulleted thumbs-aloft twit. Unequivocally speaking, only a fool would make a film out of a newspaper comic strip.

And that's partly why it's...

Discovery has a Dirty Jobs marathon all night. At 7, ABC Family has A Boy Named Charlie Brown, followed by Snoopy, Come Home. Espn has College Football at 7, Arkansas vs. Lsu. At 8, ABC has College Football, Notre Dame vs. Stanford. Fox has a new Cops at 8. Hgtv has Sandra Lee Celebrates Holiday Homecoming at 8. Nickelodeon has a new iCarly at 8, then the movie Big Time Rush. At 9, Fox has a new America's Most Wanted. Syfy has the movie Beyond Sherwood Forest at 9. BBC America has a new Robin Hood at 9. Animal Planet has a new Dogs 101 at 9. Also at 9: CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show. At 10, CBS has a new 48 Hours Mystery. At 11, Fox has a new Wanda Sykes Show.

Check your local TV listings for more.

 

Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free

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Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanut gang has been repackaged dozens of times over: the comic strip, storybooks, Broadway plays and, of course, the cartoons. Some of the cartoons have become staples of holiday tradition while others have been marginalized with nowhere near the same attention. Charlie Brown’s miserable Christmas tree, the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’s sad walking music and Snoopy’s suppertime dance have permeated pop culture in ways guaranteed to make you smile. This latest assembly of (almost) all of the original 1960s cartoons reminds us what makes them so iconic even with noticeably aged animation – these things are classic.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965)

A yuletide masterpiece, this tale of Charlie Brown’s Christmas woes has a very traditional bent to it: the man of infinite melancholy just can’t seem to get into the holiday cheer. Can Charlie Brown’s friends help him out? Will...

Bill Melendez, best known for bringing the Peanuts characters to life with such classics as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," died Tuesday at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. He was 91.

Melendez, the only animator permitted by Charles M. Schulz to work with the Peanuts characters, earned eight Emmy Awards, 17 Emmy nominations, one Oscar nomination and two Peabody Awards. He began his career at Disney and Warner Bros., working on classic characters at those studios, and spent more than 70 years in the entertainment industry.

In 1948, the Mexican native left Warner Bros. and for more than a decade served as a director and producer on more than 1,000 commercials and films for United Productions of America, Playhouse Pictures and John Sutherland Prods.

It was at UPA that Melendez started doing work for the New York-based J. Walter Thompson ad agency, whose client included Ford. The carmaker...