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That time Charlie Brown went to the Super Bowl (and why you can't watch it)

Yes, Woodstock and his friends wear Eagles jerseys

Lucy and Charlie Brown with a Football in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Image credit: CBS

Once upon a time (it was 1994), Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang almost took a trip to the Super Bowl. No, really. In You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown, the gang enter a Punk, Pass, and Kick contest to try to win tickets to the Superbowl. The gang tries... and fails to a girl who Linus has fallen in love with (breaking Linus' heart along the way).

But that doesn't mean we don't get any professional football action in this special. Snoopy actually takes on the role of a football coach, coaching "The Birds" (Woodstock and friends in Philadelphia Eagles outfits) for the "Animal Football League" game. We won't spoil who wins for you (but there is a lot of dunking of "Chirpade").

You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown sounds like a ton of fun and it's clearly tied to a big annual American tradition, so why isn't it part of the annual Peanuts watching schedule like the Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas specials? Well, for one, it's not available for streaming on Apple TV+ with the rest of the Peanuts specials. In fact, you can't even buy it on DVD, Blu-Ray, or digital at all. This is because, unlike all of the Peanuts specials we watch all year, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video don't have the distribution rights to this particular special. While at a certain point, you could have nabbed the VHS at some Shell gas stations, if you missed out on that, the best you'll be able to do is watch clips on Youtube.

Here's hoping that someday, the distribution rights to You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown lands in the hands of a company who wants to put it back out there. Who knows? It may just become the next big Super Bowl tradition.


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Tiffany Babb

Tiffany Babb: Tiffany Babb is a professional lurker (aka critic) who once served as Popverse’s deputy editor and resident Sondheim enthusiast.

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