'Peanuts in Space' Short Coming to Apple TV App in May

[adamjackson]

No sarcasm. I'm looking forward to this.

 

[bbeagle]

I’m old enough to have read a lot of the Peanut newspaper comics during their original run. I’m old enough to remember watching Merry Christmas Charlie Brown in 1965 on tv. I liked and still do like Peanuts.

But most people either don’t remember them or don’t care. They’re forgotten by many and never known by even more. Apple needs to connect with today’s generation and not with mine. Come up with relevant shows for now not the 60’s to 80’s.

Mickey Mouse was the same way when I grew up in the 1980s. Most people didn't remember him or really care.

Disney's Mickey Mouse Club ended in 1959... a failed reboot tried in 1977, and we had Sunday Night Disney movies, but Disney Movies weren't that good, and there were no new Mickey cartoons.

But Mickey came back, with tons of new cartoons, and he's on TV all the time for my little ones.

I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[wigby]

Good parents make their kids watch peanuts.

Sounds like eating vegetables and doing homework. I loved Peanuts on CBS TV when I was young because their specials were both unique and holiday events that I could look forward to. But as an adult, when I see the cartoons or comic strips now, I would liken them to child abuse. Awful.

 

[lunarworks]

Please could someone explain why it’s called ‘Peanuts’? I’ve always just referred to ‘Snoopy’ - maybe that’s a colloquialism or from not being in the USA?

It was an editorial decision forced upon him by the syndicate, and his original choice was "Lil' Folk". He always hated the Peanuts name, but by the time it was popular enough it was too late to change it.

 

[DoctorTech]

Excellent! Of course, it may be more meaningful to us old timers than to the youthful demographic that Apple likes to target.

I think Apple is sticking with their "family friendly" theme and trying to introduce a new generation to some of the classics from our generation. I'm happy to see them doing this for broad audience appeal and I am sure they will have other content more directly focused on the younger demographic.

 

[w5jck]

Im not even sure my kids will watch this...

Agree. I watched the original Peanuts TV specials back in the 1960s and read the syndicated cartoon strip when it was in the newspapers during that decade. But Peanuts appeal really only extended to about the level of an 8 or 10 year old. Before the end of the 1960s Peanuts had long since lost its appeal and had become really lame as I grew older. I occasionally try to watch one of the holiday TV specials from the 1960s for nostalgia, but I never seem to get past the first few minutes before thinking, "Wow, this was really lame! How did I watch this even when I was just 6 years old?" Kids today have grown up with superheroes and caped garbage for cartoon characters, I cannot imaging they will give a care in the world for Charles M. Shultz's lame creation from a long gone era, especially since it highly reflected his religious beliefs and values. I suspect the modern version will be stripped of all, or most. of the religious undertone, but still I cannot see this as anything but lame for almost any age group.

 

[sov33]

I’m old enough to have read a lot of the Peanut newspaper comics during their original run. I’m old enough to remember watching Merry Christmas Charlie Brown in 1965 on tv. I liked and still do like Peanuts.

But most people either don’t remember them or don’t care. They’re forgotten by many and never known by even more. Apple needs to connect with today’s generation and not with mine. Come up with relevant shows for now not the 60’s to 80’s.

My daughter loves watching peanuts cartoons. you don't speak for 'most people'.

 

[Rustus Maximus]

Please could someone explain why it’s called ‘Peanuts’? I’ve always just referred to ‘Snoopy’ - maybe that’s a colloquialism or from not being in the USA?

Well, Schulz didn't pick the name 'Peanuts', we can thank some random syndicate editor for that. Schulz never liked it. His original name for the strip was 'Li'l Folks'.

The world has moved on from Peanuts. They're an artifact of a different time. That's not to say they can't be made relevant again, like how the Marvel universe got remade. But the characters as they were? That's a loser. Tom & Jerry? Bugs and company? They've gone the way of the three stooges, abbot and costello, and the little rascals. The world has changed, and how kids watch TV has changed. Warmed up boomer and GenX nostalgia won't bring them back.

Well, based on personal experience with my own children and their friends, I'd have to disagree. A great deal of the content they consume on Netflix, Hulu, etc. are some these very artifacts you're denigrating. The world has changed, but change is not always positive as not all movement is forward, no matter how many times one is told it is. What would be a better Charlie Brown for today? Charlie is struggling with a hidden drinking problem while Snoopy's carefree bachelor lifestyle may get him into trouble as his promiscuous past catches up with him at a local puppy mill?

The point being the younger generations apparently do find some value in these dinosaurs from days gone by and, frankly, that's a good thing. It gives us some inter-generational common ground and restores some of that cultural homogenization that binds people together. Netflix and their like have facilitated this revival and it will continue. The old and whatever form the new versions take can coexist just fine, and should.

...I watched the original Peanuts TV specials back in the 1960s and read the syndicated cartoon strip when it was in the newspapers during that decade. But Peanuts appeal really only extended to about the level of an 8 or 10 year old. Before the end of the 1960s Peanuts had long since lost its appeal and had become really lame as I grew older...

I agree w5jck. If they are going to make new Peanuts content, base it on how the characters were in those strips from the 1950s and early 1960s. That was its prime and when it was its funniest. Peanuts was lost the moment Schulz started letting his characters shill for commercial companies...like everything else that gets too corporatized...one of the main reasons Calvin and Hobbes was one of my favorite strips from the days of comics.

 

[orbital~debris]

The point being the younger generations apparently do find some value in these dinosaurs from days gone by and, frankly, that's a good thing. It gives us some inter-generational common ground and restores some of that cultural homogenization that binds people together. Netflix and their like have facilitated this revival and it will continue. The old and whatever form the new versions take can coexist just fine, and should.

I love this comment.

Very well said @Rustus Maximus! I agree with your observations.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Do any kids even know what Peanuts are? I think it's made for nostalgic adults who want to get their kids into these characters. Kind of like Star Wars - now I feel old.

Yes. The Christmas and Thanksgiving specials are still run on TV every year. There was a movie not too long ago. If your kids don't know and like Peanuts its because they are neglected and have terrible edgelord parents.

 

[DeepIn2U]

This actually sounds pretty cool.

I know right?!

Excellent! Of course, it may be more meaningful to us old timers than to the youthful demographic that Apple likes to target.

Definitely meant for the older demographic ... to be fair this kind of cartoons (and those of this era and prior) have ALWAYS been meant to destress adults before kids. The mature dialog of jokes many preschoolers or K1-5 graders just wouldn't understand.

Sounds fun. Kids will like it I think.

I really sincerely hope you're right.

Now I have my hopes up for a new cartoon movie based on Dr Seuss characters

 

[sittnick]

But most people either don’t remember them or don’t care. They’re forgotten by many and never known by even more. Apple needs to connect with today’s generation and not with mine. Come up with relevant shows for now not the 60’s to 80’s.

I respectfully disagree with your premise. Peanuts belongs in the same category with Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, characters that are universally recognized in all age brackets. The Peanuts Movie did a healthy 130 million just three years ago, and a large sub-group of parents like me provide Peanuts DVDs (with new ones based on 50 years of comic strips still being churned out) for our children as an alternative to Cartoon Network fare.

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder and Pigpenare universally identified, and you will struggle to find a source with more tropes that have their origin in Peanuts (e.g. "Happiness is a warm puppy", Linus' security blanket, Lucy taking the football away).

It is true that the Schulz estate limits how Peanuts can be redone, so that will limit commercial opportunities, but Peanuts is beyond those comic characters who had their day and no longer appeal to modern tastes (Smoky Stover, Barney Google, Mutt & Jeff), and is closer to the pantheon that includes Dr. Seuss' creations and Winnie the Pooh.

 

[scottrngr]

Do any kids even know what Peanuts are? I think it's made for nostalgic adults who want to get their kids into these characters. Kind of like Star Wars - now I feel old.

My 14 year old loves Peanuts. Her wardrobe consists of Snoopy shirts, and hockey jerseys. Will she beg to subscribe to the Apple TV service? No.
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To the writer of this story, it's "Schulz", not "Schultz"!

Love Peanuts, dislike the kids' greed (Schulz permitted very few commercial uses of his characters--Met Life being a major exception), but thought the panel shown here of the characters as astronauts was quite cute.

Given Ron Howard's involvement, and even the family's concern for faithful renderings of the characters, the new production will be in good hands.

Should be fun!

You forgot about Dolly Madison snack cakes. Besides the shows themselves, that is what people my age remember most about the old TV specials. But speaking of greed, we have almost every Peanuts DVD there is. The shows/movies from the 70's are terrible. Poorly written, and the backgrounds are terrible. Charles Schulz should've pulled the plug on those himself.

 

[Regbial]

One of the most uninteresting and annoying "old school" cartoons for me... Same as Garfield. Ugh.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

This is news? Are we going to have articles on the latest TV Shows and Movies coming to AppleTV soon too?

 

[JosephAW]

The Apollo 10 Lunar Module was code-named Snoopy and the Command Module, Charlie Brown!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rs-believe-spotted-module-moon-want-back.html

 

[Nebula29]

Peanuts and Snoopy forever! And in response to some of those who think that the younger generation don't know or are not interested in Peanuts - not so. I might be an old bat, and Snoopy besotted, but all the children of my children's friends absolutely know and love the Peanuts characters. And as with other characters where the original creator went to that great art studio in the sky, the show must go on, and has done surprisingly well. I feel that the creators would also want to know that their legacy had been passed down to others with the talent to carry it on. Shultz will always be synonymous with Peanuts, nothing will change that, but let them continue to live through the hands of a surrogate. PS: If they come out with a t-shirt with that design, please someone let me know.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Yeah, you missed a lot:

1. The Peanuts strip is still running in syndication. They are re-runs of the originals written by Schulz.
2. There have been eight new Peanuts TV specials since Schulz's death.
3. "The Peanuts Movie" was the #24 box office release of 2015.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Schulz didn't want it continued. Now, he's dead so what he wanted doesn't really matter, but only your #1 is actually Peanuts. The others are something different. They're kind of Peanuts-ish, much like the new things that they're calling 'Star Trek' aren't really Star Trek, no matter how popular they are or how good they may be in their own right.

 

[Chis200]

Please could someone explain why it’s called ‘Peanuts’? I’ve always just referred to ‘Snoopy’ - maybe that’s a colloquialism or from not being in the USA?

It was supposed to be called "Good Ol' Charlie Brown" but the newspaper editor changed it to "Peanuts" because that was familiar with 50's children, Schulz always said he hated that name but he got the Sunday strips to say "Peanuts featuring Good Ol' Charlie Brown".

 

[Vjosullivan]

I agree.