Thanksgiving is a time to reflect upon the prior year, be thankful for what we have, gorge ourselves until we’re near bursting, and then settle into our favorite chairs and watch the first half of a TV show before the tryptophan kicks in. If you usually spend your post-meal time falling asleep to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, you won’t find it on the usual broadcast or cable channels–it’s exclusively on Apple TV.
Before you wave that turkey drumstick in the air and curse the state of television and all the darn streaming services you need subscriptions for—yes, I’m talking about you, Uncle Fred—you don’t need a subscription to Apple TV to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Apple is making the show available to anyone for a limited time. If you are an Apple TV subscriber, however, you can watch it anytime.
How to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for free on Apple TV
On November 15 and 16, anyone with an Apple ID can watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If you own an Apple device, you have one, but if not, Apple IDs are free and you don’t need a credit card to sign up. Once you have signed up, you can watch in several ways:
- Through the TV app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
- On smart TVs with the Apple TV app.
- On the web at tv.apple.com.
- On an Apple TV device.
As we noted when Apple did this same deal with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Apple has all the classic Peanuts specials for the holiday season that used to air over broadcast TV. Apple TV also has A Charlie Brown Christmas that will have its free airing on Dec. 13 and 14. Apple TV also has Happy New Year, Charlie Brown but it is not listed as free-to-view.
A few years ago, Apple acquired the rights to the Peanuts cartoon series that stars Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, and other memorable characters. Since then, Apple has aired new Peanuts shows such as The Snoopy Show and Snoopy in Space, and new movies, including Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10, Lucy’s School, and It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown.
The Apple TV subscription television streaming service is $12.99/£9.99 per month and can be renewed annually for $99/£99. Apple TV+ is also included in the Apple One subscription bundles, which include other Apple services, such as Apple Music, Apple News+, and iCloud storage. Apple One bundles are priced between $19.95/£19.95 and $37.95/£37.95 per month.
For more information about Apple TV, read our Apple TV FAQ. We also have a detailed list of current Apple TV shows and upcoming shows.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.