# Great Pumpkin sighting. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pumpkin-sighting/424252 "2007-10-27T19:13:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pumpkin-sighting/424252/1 "2007-10-27T19:13:46Z")
Here’s a head’s up for Great Pumpkin fans: ABC will be showing it on Tuesday the 30th at 8:00 PM. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pumpkin-sighting/424252/2 "2007-10-27T19:30:02Z")
Thank you. It’s valuable information like this that makes the Dope worth whatever it costs ($14? Something like that). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pumpkin-sighting/424252/3 "2007-10-27T20:03:45Z")
When was a kid, my Grandpa always used to call us up and let us know when something like this was going to be on TV. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pumpkin-sighting/424252/4 "2007-10-30T19:19:02Z")
_It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!_ originally aired on October 27, 1966 on CBS. The first two _Peanuts_ specials- _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ and _Charlie Brown’s All-Stars_- were big ratings hits for CBS, and the network was looking for another “blockbuster” that could be repeated annually like the Christmas show. Animator Bill Melendez and producer Lee Mendelson spoke with Charles Schulz about what the theme of the show could be. When looking at the current themes which appeared in the strip, Melendez hit upon Snoopy’s recently-added imaginaton sequences as the World War I flying ace, which both he and Schulz thought would be fun to animate. Mendelson suggested a scene with Charlie Brown attempting to kick the football, but something was still needed to tie the scenes together into a story. The trio eventually got to talking about the Great Pumpkin, and Schulz decided that maybe a Halloween show might be interesting- it hadn’t been done before. Melendez came up with the now-famous running gag of Charlie Brown getting a rock instead of candy each time he goes to a house, and additional gags taken from the strips, plus the voices of actual children and the music of the immortal Vince Guaraldi, helped tie the show together. It worked- the show tied _Bonanza_ for first in the ratings, gaining 31.6 million viewers and 49% of the audience, causing Lucy van Pelt to scream in a trade ad: “Good grief, Charlie Brown, you tied Hoss!” The _Hollywood Reporter_ screamed, “Lucy Ball loves Charlie Brown: Their specials take top Nielsen, For first time movies out of Top Ten.” CBS ordered four more _Peanuts_ specials, and continued the Mendelson/Melendez/Schulz legacy which has lasted for over 40 years and led to four Emmy awards, two Peabody awards, and countless other accolades and praises from both industry and fans. The complete _Peanuts_ animation library will be coming to DVD courtesy of Warner Home Video beginning in 2008. Tonight’s ABC broadcast will be an hour-long- ABC has done this starting in 2006 to show the _Great Pumpkin_ uncut. The remainder of the hour will be filled with the 1972 special _You’re (Not) Elected, Charlie Brown_, which features a climatic scene involving the Great Pumpkin. United Media, the folks who bring us _Peanuts_, has some [Great Pumpkin](http://www.peanuts.com/comics/peanuts/greatpumpkin/) downloadables on their official website. Some of the information in this post comes from [The Peanuts Animation and Video List](http://web.mit.edu/smcguire/www/peanuts-animation.html) and _“It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown:” The Making Of A Television Classic_ by Lee Mendelson (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).