A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving benefits from a comparative lack of competition when it comes to holiday specials. There simply aren't as many beloved Thanksgiving specials as there are for Halloween and Christmas. While the classic Peanuts specials of those holidays have to stand out amid a series of rivals, the Thanksgiving version has a much less crowded field. That helped it finalize a rump trilogy of Peanuts holiday classics, while adding the 10th of what became a whopping 51 TV specials featuring Charles M. Schultz's beloved characters.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving also carries a singular distinction: it was the first Peanuts special written for the screen, without being based on any of Schultz's earlier comic strips. It was a step outside the franchise's comfort zone, though it didn't stray too far, as Schultz still wrote the screenplay. All the same, it acknowledged for the first time that Charlie Brown and...