How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special) animation divisions of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where Jones was under contract at the time. CBS, coming off the surprise success of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" a year before, allotted Jones and MGM a $315,000 budget, more than four times what Bill Melendez was offered to produce "A Charlie Brown Christmas". The original broadcast was sponsored by the Foundation for Full Service Banks whose sponsor plugs within the original airing were later edited out for subsequent broadcasts. The entirety of the book's text, with some slight embellishment, was adapted into the special; to pad the special to a full 30-minute time slot,
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