A Charlie Brown Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special based on the comic strip "Peanuts", by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on CBS on December 9, 1965. In the special, lead character Charlie Brown finds himself depressed despite the onset of the cheerful holiday season. Lucy suggests he direct a neighborhood Christmas play, but his best efforts are ignored and mocked by his peers. After Linus tells Charlie Brown about the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown cheers up, and the Peanuts gang
Peanuts picked up by United Feature Syndicate, they decided to run the new comic strip he had been working on. This strip was similar in spirit to the panel comic, but had a set cast of characters rather than different nameless little folk for each page. The name "Li'l Folks" was very close to the names of two other comics of the time: Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" and a strip titled "Little Folks", so to avoid confusion, the syndicate settled on the name "Peanuts", after the peanut gallery featured in the "Howdy Doody" TV show. The title "Peanuts" was chosen by