Peanuts The strip's humor (at least during its '60s peak) is psychologically complex, and the characters' interactions formed a tangle of relationships that drove the strip. "Peanuts" achieved considerable success with its television specials, several of which, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", won or were nominated for Emmy Awards. The "Peanuts" holiday specials remain popular and are broadcast on ABC in the U.S. during the appropriate seasons. The Peanuts franchise also had success in theatre, with the stage musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" an oft-performed production. In 2013, "TV Guide" ranked the
'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977 TV special) casting Martha Raye as his mother-in-law, telling an interviewer: "It's my chance to repay her for all the times she used me in her NBC "Comedy Hour" back in the 1950s." George Gobel's casting in this production was an apparent coincidence and not related to his appearance three years earlier in a holiday special of the same name, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974 TV special). For the climactic recitation of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," Lynde was not allowed to rely on cue cards because director Tim Kiley felt they would distract the child actors in the cast. Lynde