Peanuts join snowman-building leagues and criticize Charlie Brown when he insists on building his own snowmen without leagues or coaches. "Peanuts" touched on religious themes on many occasions, most notably the classic television special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in 1965, which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible (Luke 2:8–14) to explain to Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about (in personal interviews, Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side). Because of the explicit religious material in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", many have interpreted Schulz' work as having a distinct Christian theme, though
What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! is the 17th primetime animated TV special based upon the comic strip "Peanuts", created by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on Thursday, February 23, 1978, at 8:00 P.M. ET/PT on CBS. The special is unusual in that Snoopy and Charlie Brown are the only members of the "Peanuts" cast to appear in it. The plot is similar to that of Jack London's "Call of the Wild". This was the first special Bill Melendez directed since 1973's "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". In June 2010, the special was released on