Why ‘ A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Almost Didn’t Make it to Television

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" – one of, if not THE, most beloved Christmas specials of all time -- debuted on CBS 49 years ago this week. The hour-long TV special was first broadcast in 1965, and has aired every year since. But it almost didn’t happen. 

CBS executives, worried that the audience wouldn’t sit through Linus reciting quotes from the Bible, refused to air it unless the scene was taken out. But it was important to Charles Schulz that the verse about the birth of Christ be in the special, and he refused to back down. The above scene is now acknowledged as the heart of the whole show.