To get you primed to ring in 2015, ABC will present two animated New Year’s favorites (and a bonus Charlie Brown special) back-to-back on Dec. 29.
First in the lineup is the 1986 Peanuts special Happy New Year, Charlie Brown in which our intrepid, yellow-shirted hero wonders if he should forgo the gang’s New Year’s Eve festivities to finish Tolstoy’s War and Peace before school resumes. Toting the tome with him from Lucy’s pre-party dance class to Marcie’s and Peppermint Patty’s New Year’s Eve bash in hopes of combining business and pleasure, Charlie finds himself distracted by dreams of welcoming in 1986 with a certain little red-haired girl.
Immediately following Happy New Year, Charlie Brown is 1980’s She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. In the half-hour special, Peppermint Patty heads to her first major ice skating competition with her canine coach Snoopy and ever-faithful cohort Marcie by her side. When disaster looms, it’s up to everyone’s favorite little yellow birdie Woodstock to save the day.
Rounding out the night is 1976’s Rankin/Bass stop-motion favorite Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, in which the famous red-nosed reindeer must help Father Time and Santa Claus find the baby New Year — aptly named Happy — or face the prospect of a Dec. 31 that never ends. Suspecting that the baby may have been whisked off to the Archipelago of Last Years, Rudolph must travel back through history (and a couple of fairy tales) to save the day — and the happy New Year.
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown and She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown air from 8-9pm ET on ABC. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year follows at 9/8CT.
“Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” photo: RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS
Peanuts image © 1958, 1965, 1986 United Feature Syndicate. All rights reserved.