Good grief: ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ moves exclusively to Apple+ streaming

Those whose spooky season traditions include waiting eagerly with Linus for the Great Pumpkin to appear won’t catch Charles Schultz’s beloved “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on basic television this year.
After decades in its primetime TV slot, the classic is Apple’s only, and available exclusively through AppleTV+ streaming.
“The Great Pumpkin” made its TV debut in 1966, one year after “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first delighted viewers. Since then, the holiday staples have aired first on CBS and then ABC annually (excepting the year 2020, when AppleTV+ acquired the rights to all Peanuts specials).
Last year, Apple partnered with PBS, and “The Great Pumpkin” returned to televisions across the country.
That partnership has ended.
“Regretfully, PBS does not have the rights to distribute the Peanuts specials this year. We’ll all have to watch for the Great Pumpkin in a different pumpkin patch this Halloween,” PBS KIDS tweeted Sept. 28.
That different pumpkin patch, it turns out, is AppleTV+.
In a press release issued earlier this month, the tech giant announced it will offer free streaming of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” to non-subscribers from Oct. 28 through Oct. 31.
During that three-day window, folks eager to join the Peanuts gang for a trick-or-treat extravaganza may visit tv.apple.com or download the AppleTV+ app for what could be the last time Snoopy’s battle with the Red Baron and Charlie Brown’s literal rock candy are available at no charge to non-subscribers.