THE PEANUTS GANG RINGS IN THE NEW YEAR WITH CHARLES SCHULZ' ANIMATED SPECIAL, "HAPPY NEW YEAR, CHARLIE BROWN,"

The ABC Television Network and the PEANUTS gang will ring in the new year with the half-hour animated PEANUTS special, "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown," created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, airing with Spanish audio via SAP WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. (Rebroadcast: OAD on ABC: 12/30/08)

Starring an unlikely round-headed hero and a unique cast of young characters wiser and wittier than their years, Charles Schulz's PEANUTS is not just the best-known, most-loved comic strip ever created, but a true global phenomenon. The PEANUTS characters are featured in 2200 newspapers, in classic television specials and on re-mastered DVDs, on stage, in hundreds of books and across the Internet. They have inspired every kind of consumer product from T-shirts to toothbrushes. And while translated into 25 languages, PEANUTS has introduced a vocabulary all its own: "Good grief!," "security blanket," "Happiness is...," "You blockhead!" As PEANUTS approaches its 60th anniversary in 2010, "Good ol' Charlie Brown" and his inseparable gang remain as fresh and vital as ever.

Over the past four decades, the library of PEANUTS animation has received five Emmy and two Peabody Awards. It has also received one Academy Award nomination, three Grammy nominations and fifteen additional Emmy nominations.

In "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown," the PEANUTS gang is ringing in 1986 and Marcie and Peppermint Patty are throwing a big New Year's Eve bash. Charlie Brown plans to celebrate the holiday by curling up with a big book that weighs nearly as much as he does: Tolstoy's War and Peace. The book's weight doesn't stop him from lugging it to Lucy's pre-party dance class, where he cuts a mean rug with a rollicking Patty. With just 1131 pages to go, Charlie Brown takes another break, this time for the party, and summons the courage to invite his true love, the little red-haired girl. She doesn't respond, but hapless Chuck shows up anyway � with Tolstoy in tow. Then he settles down with the book � on a porch swing in a snowstorm, and in so doing, misses the evening's big surprise.

The cast includes Chad Allen as Charlie Brown, Melissa Guzzi as Lucy, Jeremy Miller as Linus, Kristi Baker as Peppermint Patty, Elizabeth Lyn Fraser as Sally, Aron Mandelbaum as Schroeder and Jason Mendelson as Marcie.

The special was executive produced by Lee Mendelson and created and written by Charles M. Schulz. Bill Melendez is the producer. It was directed by Bill Melendez and Sam Jaimes. The music is by Desiree Goyette and Ed Bogas. This program will air with Spanish audio via SAP and carries a TV-G parental guideline.