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An upcoming Apple TV special featuring the characters from the Peanuts comic strip will promote same-sex families in the latest example of children’s programming incorporating LGBT-related content. On Friday, Apple TV released a trailer for an upcoming Mother’s Day special titled “Snoopy Presents To Mom (and Dad), with Love.” The special, scheduled for release Friday, stars the characters from the Peanuts comic strip including Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy, Woodstock and others. The trailer lists some tips on celebrating Mother’s Day, accompanied by video footage of Charlie Brown’s attempts to provide his mother breakfast and cake for the...

Charles Schulz, the award-winning creator of the Peanuts comic strip going back to 1950, was a devoted Christian who included the gospel in more than 560 of his 17,800 creations. One of the most recognizable examples of his theological messages is packaged in A Charlie Brown Christmas television special that has aired annually for 54 years. On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas first appeared on television screens at 7:30 p.m. ET throughout America. The special was a collaboration between Schulz, producer Lee Mendelson, and director Bill Melendez, with a music score by Vince Guaraldi. The reviews were outstanding....

Charles Schulz insisted on one core purpose: A ...Charlie Brown Christmas had to be about something. Namely, the true meaning of Christmas. Otherwise, Schulz said, “Why bother doing it?” To Coca-Cola’s credit, Mendelson says, the corporate sponsor never balked at the idea of including New Testament passages. The result — Linus’s reading from the Book of Luke about the meaning of the season — became “the most magical two minutes in all of TV animation,” the producer says....

Reviews are beginning to appear for Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis, and they are renewing an age-old question among fans of Schulz: What did Schulz believe about God? Newsweek deals with the question in this paragraph: The portrait of the artist as flawed human being has become a cliche, and Michaelis admirably steers clear of it. What he gives us instead is both a dynamic character study and a penetrating literary analysis. For the first, he dispels the myth of “Saint Charles,” recounting — with great sympathy, considering — how a father who created the best-known cartoon...

NEW YORK – You've got a new owner, Charlie Brown. Newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps Co. is selling licensing rights for Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" gang to Iconix Brand Group Inc., the licensing company that owns Joe Boxer and London Fog. The family of the late "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz will also own part of the business too, giving it more control of and money from the comic strip's legacy. Heirs say the deal announced Tuesday for for the 60-year-old comic strip is what the artist would have wanted. Schulz worked for decades to win back...

Very early in my ministry, I found myself in a bitterly divided congregation. I saw things I wished I’d never seen and heard things I wished I’d never heard. More depressingly, I thought things I wish I’d never thought. Finally, I did the best thing I knew to do for my family and for me, and resigned my position. While the church voted to accept my resignation, I sat at home wondering if I really wanted to serve in church ministry—or even to go to church—knowing what I knew about human depravity. I turned on the television for some background...

How A Charlie Brown Christmas Came to PassThe unlikely beginnings of a holiday classic by Holly Hartman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first of nearly 50 Peanuts television movies, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the longest-running cartoon special in history, airing every year since its debut in 1965. Whimsical, melancholy, and ultimately full of wonder, it is a holiday favorite for countless families. But this cartoon classic almost didn't make it on the air. A Movie No One Wanted In 1963 producer Lee Mendelson made a short documentary about Charles Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown. It included a few minutes of...

Dear ABC: Rats! Promotions strip away 'Christmas' innocence By David Bianculli Thursday, December 11th, 2003 Television executives often show little respect for the viewers, but what ABC brass did during last week's telecast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" wasn't just irresponsible - It was reprehensible. 'Charlie Brown' was interrupted by commercial breaks... ... featuring smutty clips from 'Trista and Ryan's Wedding.' Network programmers soiled the show - and ruined a family viewing experience - by running willy nilly with their own in-show promotions. The venerable animated special, based on the beloved and sweet characters by the late Charles M. Schulz,...

"Th' hell this ain't th' most important hole in th' world. I'm in it."

Tue Dec 3,12:03 PM ET Charlie chats with Linus in the snow in this frame from ABC's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.' The seasonal special airs on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m., EST, with a repeat the following Friday, Dec. 13 at 9 p.m., EST. (AP Photo/ 1965 United Features Syndicate Inc.)

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