 In 1965, when the television executives at CBS first saw Charles Schulz's "A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, they thought the program was too slow (or so says executive producer Lee Mendelson, who produced the program). But, in the end, the holiday special was an immediate and smash hit with both viewers and critics. Forty years later, the program remains one of the most cherished of all the Christmas television programs. Schulz, who passed on in 2000, considered the Christmas special his favorite of the Charlie Brown television programs. The program was directed by animator Bill Melendez and airs every Christmas season. This year it is paired with "Charlie Brown Christmas Tales," based on Schulz's work, and which features all of the Peanuts characters, including the lovable Snoopy, in individual viginettes.
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