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ALL-NEW PRIMETIME PEANUTS SPECIAL "LUCY MUST BE TRADED" TO PREMIERE ON THE ABC NETWORK
New special based on the popular theme of baseball in the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz to air later this year
NEW YORK, NY - June 10, 2003 - United Media, a leading global licensing and syndication company, today announced that the ABC network will air an all-new primetime PEANUTS television special entitled "Lucy Must Be Traded." Produced and animated by the familiar team of Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, "Lucy Must Be Traded" will debut in 2003.
As with all PEANUTS television specials, "Lucy Must Be Traded" is based on content from the strip created by Schulz (also known to family and friends as Sparky), which featured over 1,800 individual strips on baseball alone. ABC's relationship with PEANUTS began in 2001, when it signed on to air "A Charlie Brown Valentine," at the time, the first newly created programming from the PEANUTS team in over eight years. ABC also began airing the three stalwarts of primetime television specials, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Loved by all generations of viewers, the PEANUTS specials have continued to experience strong ratings on ABC year after year.
"In 1966, 'Charlie Brown's All Stars' premiered, the second PEANUTS television special ever created," said Executive Producer, Lee Mendelson. "Since that time, Sparky and I always had an interest in creating baseball themed specials. Since the sport is such a popular theme in the strip, we have a lot of great content to pull from."
"Lucy Must Be Traded" begins at the start of another baseball season. Charlie Brown, the manager of a losing team, hopes that Lucy will not sign up to play. He and Linus believe that she is the worst player in the history of the game, and her terrible performance in right field is the cause of most of their 900 straight losses in a row. Being the lovable fussbudget that she is, Lucy does sign up for the team, and through a series of trades and mishaps, the story unfolds into another classic and always entertaining PEANUTS special.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1922, Charles M. Schulz began his fascination with comic strips early, reading the Sunday comics from four different newspapers with his father each week. With encouragement from his parents, Schulz enrolled in a correspondence course in cartooning. PEANUTS debuted in syndication on October 2, 1950 and nearly all the 2,600 newspapers that published the strip before Schulz retired continue to publish classic PEANUTS comic strips today. On February 12, 2000, Charles M. Schulz died in Santa Rosa, California of complications from colon cancer, only hours before his last original PEANUTS strip appeared in Sunday papers.
About Lee Mendelson (Executive Producer)
Lee Mendelson's association with Charles Schulz stretches back to 1963, when he approached the cartoon strip creator about bringing the PEANUTS gang to television. Mendelson had recently produced the well-received documentary on baseball great Willie Mays titled "A Man Called Mays" and thought it would be interesting to produce something on a less successful athlete, Charlie Brown. Schulz agreed, and the result was "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which debuted on CBS in 1965, with Mendelson as Executive Producer. The two men continued their long-term association until Schulz's death, working together on the numerous television programs and specials featuring the PEANUTS characters.
About Bill Melendez (Producer and Director)
Bill Melendez began his animation career in 1938, when he was hired by Walt Disney to work on such projects as Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo. From there, he signed with Leon Schlesinger Cartoons (later Warner Bros.), animating some of the most memorable short subject pieces featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. In addition to his work on PEANUTS, Melendez has animated numerous other characters including Cathy and Frosty the Snowman. The recipient of numerous awards, Melendez began his association with Charles Schulz in 1965, when he produced and directed "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
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