UPDATED: Halloween TV: It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown AIRDATE!

Having missed the airing of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XX this past weekend, I got a little panicky about missing my annual viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown so I did a little digging and found the press release on ABC with the schedule. 

UPDATED:  The legendary Halloween special will be airing on BOTH Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 8pm ET with another Peanuts special and then AGAIN, on its own, on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 8pm ET on ABC.

Some interesting trivia:  This is the 43rd Anniversary of the special on television.  It originally aired on October 27, 1966 on CBS.  I will now pause for the CBS Special Presentation logo...



Ok, now where were we?
Ah, yes.  Trivia.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown didn't start airing on ABC until October 30, 2001.

And don't forget to read a previous POST of mine where Charles M. Schulz himself reveals in a 1966 interview about how he came up with the idea for The Great Pumpkin.

The full ABC Press Release is below for your reading enjoyment, but I think we pretty much know the synopsis of the storyline of the special.   Really is there any one on the planet who's reading a synopsis of the special and going "Hmmm... what's this 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' special?  Lessee... 'Linus hopes he will be visited by the Great Pumpkin this year.'  Hmmm... well that sounds inviting..."

CHARLES SCHULZ’ ANIMATED CLASSIC HALLOWEEN

SPECIAL, “IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN,”

AIRS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28 ON ABC

Animated Special Also to Be Broadcast in Spanish via SAP

The classic half-hour animated Halloween-themed PEANUTS special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, returns WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. (Rebroadcast. OAD: 10/30/01 on ABC). The special will air in Spanish via Secondary Audio Programming.

Note: This program replaces the episode of “Hank” which had been scheduled.

Starring an unlikely round-headed hero and a unique cast of young characters wiser and wittier than their years, Charles Schulz’s PEANUTS is not just the best-known, most-loved comic strip ever created, but a true global phenomenon. The PEANUTS characters are featured in 2200 newspapers, in classic television specials and on re-mastered DVDs, on stage, in hundreds of books and across the Internet. They have inspired every kind of consumer product from T-shirts to toothbrushes. And while translated into 25 languages, PEANUTS has introduced a vocabulary all its own: “Good grief!,” “security blanket,” “Happiness is…,” “You blockhead!” As PEANUTS approaches its 60th anniversary in 2010, “Good ol’ Charlie Brown” and his inseparable gang remain as fresh and vital as ever.
Over the past four decades, the library of PEANUTS animation has received five Emmy and two Peabody Awards. It has also received one Academy Award nomination, three Grammy nominations and fifteen additional Emmy nominations.
In the 1966 half-hour animated special “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” The PEANUTS gang celebrates Halloween, with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin, while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party. Cast members include Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) and Christopher Shea (Linus).   The cast also includes Sally Dryer as Lucy, Chris Doran as Schroeder, Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Kathy Steinberg as Sally, Tracy Stratford as Violet and Ann Altieri as Frieda.
The special was executive-produced by Lee Mendelson and created and written by Charles M. Schulz.  Bill Melendez is the producer and director and Vince Guaraldi is the music composer.
This program carries a TV-G parental guideline and is broadcast with Spanish audio via SAP.