On October 27, 1966, the #Peanuts #Halloweenspecial #ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown aired for the first time on CBS. To celebrate the anniversary (and the Holiday), here’s an updated version of last years post on the topic:
On Sunday, May 8, 1988, two gunmen in ski masks entered Charles Schulzs’ home through an unlocked door, planning to kidnap his wife Jean. The attempt failed when their daughter Jill drove up to the house, prompting the criminals to flee. It was an attempted kidnap-ransom, one which if pulled off successfully would have made the would-be wife snatchers very rich, for Schulz was one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world. At the time he was raking in $30-$40 million per year in merchandise and endorsements for his Peanuts comic strip. When Metropolitan Life Insurance licensed the rights to use the Peanuts as the cornerstone to their advertising campaign from 1985-2016, the deal was worth an estimated $12 Million per year. “Get Met, It Pays” made the insurance giant a household name. “Mother Met” (as my Met-employed grandfather used to call it) was now famous thanks to Snoopy and his pals; just another example of advertisers co-opting lightning in a bottle creativity. At its height, Peanuts was published daily in 2,600 papers in 75 countries in 21 languages. Met Life successfully bought their way into some seriously cozy cultural currency.
34 years later, the kidnaping attempt succeeded. Only this time, Apple has abducted the entire Peanuts gang and demanded an Apple TV+ subscription as ransom. Last year, as the pitchforks came out in the form of online petitions (maybe there’s something good about Social Media after all), Apple bowed to pressure and was forced to forge a partnership with PBS in order to broadcast it the old fashioned way. This year, as the outrage fades, Apple TV+ is providing a four-night window for all to stream the beloved holiday specials free of charge. You can bet it will only be a matter of time before they put it under lock and key for good.
Good Grief ! Is nothing sacred? In a desperate effort to buy their way into our hearts, Apple had stabbed us in the back!
I don’ know about you, but all the candy in the world won’t get this bad taste out of my mouth.
Happy Halloween !!
