Even if you've never watched the animated TV special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, you've almost certainly seen the timeless meme of Lucy snatching the football away from Charlie Brown, who kicks, misses and falls flat on his back in utter despair, having been fooled by the same old trick yet again.

Lucy's cruel prank serves as a cold opener to the 1973 holiday cartoon, but the main plot soon kicks in. As Charlie Brown prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving at his grandparents' house, Peppermint Patty invites herself and several more friends from the Peanuts gang over to "Chuck's house" for a holiday dinner.

A disastrous toast and popcorn Thanksgiving dinner for the kids ends in hurt feelings, but the Peanuts friends work through their personal dynamics to find a happy ending "over the river and through the woods."

Apple TV acquired the streaming rights to all the Peanuts specials back in 2020, which eventually removed the holiday cartoons from broadcast TV. However, the streaming service offers free viewing of the classics for limited windows, and the time for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is this weekend, Nov. 15 and 16. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the free broadcast period and how it works.

How do I watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for free on Apple TV?

You don't need an Apple TV subscription to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but you do need a free Apple account. If you don't already have one, follow the instructions on the Apple website, which includes directions for iPhones, iPads, Vision Pros, Macs, Windows PCs and web browsers.

As long as you're logged into your Apple account, you should be able to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for free on Apple TV when it becomes available this weekend.

Apple doesn't list specific times for when the special broadcast period will begin or end. The service generally releases its new shows at midnight ET, so it's reasonable to expect that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will be available for free from 12:01 am ET on Nov. 15 to 12:01 am ET on Nov. 17.

Why isn't A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on broadcast TV?

The Peanuts Thanksgiving special first aired on CBS on Nov. 20, 1973, and the network broadcast the show annually (except in 1982, 1983 and 1988) until 1989. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was claimed by Disney and Nickelodeon during the 1990s, and then acquired by ABC, which aired the cartoon every year from 2000 to 2019.

Apple struck a deal to broadcast the Peanuts Thanksgiving and Christmas specials on PBS and PBS Kids in 2020 and 2021, but the contract was not renewed in 2022, and the specials haven't been shown on PBS since.

How else can I watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?

If you want to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving any day of the year (and you have a DVD or Blu-ray player) you can purchase the title on Amazon right now. The remastered 40th anniversary edition is currently available for $11 on DVD (cheaper than one month of Apple TV) or $15 on Blu-ray. 

The DVD/Blu-ray editions also include The Mayflower Voyagers, the first episode of the educational series This Is America, Charlie Brown and the featurette Popcorn & Jellybeans: Making a Thanksgiving Classic.

If you're not willing to plunk down $11 for the DVD, search your local library. Mine has three copies (which are all currently checked out, of course).

What about A Charlie Brown Christmas?

Apple TV has confirmed that it'll show A Charlie Brown Christmas for free this holiday season on the weekend of Dec. 13 and Dec. 14, 2025. The free period should work exactly the same as for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. As long as you're signed in with your Apple account, you should see A Charlie Brown Christmas become available to watch free on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 13.