Another thing about the good ole days was that you could always count on CBS to bring you It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown like clockwork. And you didn’t have to download apps just to see one special! You checked the TV listings, turned on the television, and made sure you were there when it started.
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This old CBS promo brings back that anticipation: Garfield’s Halloween Adventure and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown together for a night of Halloween cartoons. Garfield and Odie went looking for candy and wound up facing ghost pirates, while Linus waited patiently in his pumpkin patch and Charlie Brown kept getting rocks!
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The Great Pumpkin first aired on October 27, 1966—60 years ago this Halloween season. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure arrived on October 30, 1985, paired with Charlie Brown on CBS. That was a pretty good reason to get your homework finished early.
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The music helped make these specials stick with us, too. Vince Guaraldi gave the Peanuts gang that unmistakable jazz sound, while Lou Rawls sang “This Is the Night” and “Scaredy Cat” for Garfield. Those cartoons had some serious musical talent behind them.
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And Garfield’s adventure could get surprisingly spooky. That old man telling the story of the pirates, the ticking clock, and those ghosts arriving were a lot more unsettling than you might expect from a cat usually concerned with lasagna!
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There was something special about knowing other families were watching at the same time. The commercials, the previews, the rush to get back before the show started—it was all part of the evening.
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Did you watch both of these on CBS? And did Garfield’s ghost pirates scare you?
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CBS Halloween Nights—Charlie Brown, Garfield & No Apps!
