Apple or Peanuts?

This was something I caught a glimpse of a week and a half ago. Only in the last couple of days did I look into it. Peanuts is a comic strip created by Charles Schulz. It was run for half a century from 1950 to 2000. They are still featured on newspapers. Everyone knows Charlie Brown and his friends. The holiday specials (and the other big specials) are ingrained in many people's memories. But the reaction of not seeing it on basic television tells a different tale. The specials have either been aired on CBS or ABC. But ABC don't have the rights anymore.

Instead, it was given to Apple TV back in 2018. I'd like to point out that its a digital only service. This is on the guys that hold the rights to Peanuts. If it were certain other programs, I don't think the negative responses would be as strong. But the specials have aired for over 50 years. This is something people anticipate. Especially, Christmas time where you have the specials airing all through that month. Not so much with Halloween, but you'll get some stuff here and there.

Naturally, people are upset. But you have these assholes who say stuff along the lines of "Buy the DVD" or "Watch it for free", which the latter does allow a couple of days on Apple TV. Let me explain It's a Wonderful Life. When NBC got the rights in the 90s, it only aired once on Christmas Eve. They've laxed on it in the last few years with multiple airings and having it on USA Network. Sure, there's DVD's of the film, but it's tradition for some. And that applies to the Peanuts gang. Even if some have the DVD's, there's a specialty to watching it on television.

With streaming, it's not always viable. Not everyone gets the same speed. With all the added competition, everyone can't subscribe to everything. The costs do add up. If I'm being honest, most other apps seem more enticing that Apple. Peacock has put up new Psych material and giving people access to some of NBC's old shows along with potential reboots. HBO Max has a lot of new content and reboots in their pipeline. Obviously, Netflix with their line of shows and films over the last decade. Apple TV will be a year old, but Peanuts is not going to magically get people subscribing to it. It's not like FXX in 2014 where people went for it because it got The Simpsons.

Eventually, everything will be on streaming, but when, I'm not sure. Peanuts will be no different. That being said, the exclusivity to a service that is still very young is a bad move. Going to any service would still be bad, but it wouldn't sting that bad. I'm not the biggest fan of Peanuts, but you don't mess with traditions. I don't see where a deal could have been made to be on TV and on a service. Exclusivity does not always make it a good situation. I wouldn't mind making a blog like this again in a month when we start seeing more Christmas films and programs.