How to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in 2022

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Maybe this time Lucy will let Charlie Brown actually kick the football. (Image credit: Peanuts Worldwide)

While the Christmas holidays are making an appearance earlier than each year, up first in the United States is Thanksgiving. And that means one thing. Food. It also means Black Friday deals. And football. OK it means a lot of things — and one of those is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

The Peanuts holiday classic (one of three originally created by Charles Schultz along with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas), A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is one part history lesson, one part feel-good morality and a good dose of old-fashioned fun. The cartoon special made its premiere on Nov. 20, 1973, won an Emmy and quickly became an annual TV tradition. It's a short watch — just 25 minutes — but it's also managed to stand the test of time.

However, things change, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving isn't playing on TV this year. But don't worry, it's still around, you just have to know where to look. Let us tel you how to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in 2022.

How to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Charlie Brown has made the move to streaming, as Apple TV Plus is the streaming home for him and the rest of the Peanuts gang. In addition to brand new originals like Snoopy in Space, you'll be able to watch all of the Peanuts holiday classics.

Specifically for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the special is available to stream right now on the service. Apple TV Plus costs $6.99 a month after a free seven-day trial. (You'll get a free three-month subscription, however, with the purchase of a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch.) Apple TV Plus, in addition to being available on all Apple devices, also is on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, select smart TVs from LG, Sony, Vizio and Samsung and is available on the web.

This is actually the third year that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has streamed on Apple TV Plus, but it is the first year that there is not going to be a special airing on PBS after doing so in 2020 and 2021. 

However, for anyone who is not looking to add another streaming service to their monthly bill just to watch the Peanuts gang, Apple TV Plus is getting into the holiday spirit. From November 23 through November 27, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving can be streamed on the service for free by anyone.

Now that you know how and where to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving this year, we just can't help but show the classic clip from the special featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.