[ARTICLE] 'Peanuts' Steward Jean Schulz on Partnership With Apple TV Plus

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From Variety.com ...


'Peanuts' Steward Jean Schulz on Partnership With Apple TV Plus
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Known to friends and family as Sparky, "Peanuts" creator
Charles M. Schulz died in 2000. Since that time, Schulz's work
has remained almost universally beloved - as was demonstrated
in October when the internet erupted in outrage at Apple TV+'s
announcement that it would become the exclusive home to three
"Peanuts" holiday specials. (A subsequent deal with PBS ensured
that two of the specials would be available outside the Apple
ecosystem for at least 2020.) Apple is also home to the first
new "Peanuts" television projects in roughly two decades.

On Feb. 5, "The Snoopy Show," a full-length animated comedy
series produced in collaboration with Schulz's family, will
debut. Jean Schulz, Sparky's wife of 27 years, spoke with
Variety about the venture.


How has Apple been as a creative partner?

We are so happy to have this relationship with Apple TV+,
because they were one of the only places we talked to who wanted
to do new material and be under the guidance [of ] Creative
Associates, our creative arm here - people who are steeped in
the "Peanuts" lore.


Apple was one of the only companies that you talked to who
wanted to do new material with you?

New material in creative cooperation with us. Yes, Pixar would
do it; other people would do it. But it would be their own
project, not a collaboration. I think that probably would be
what everybody would want. They want to have control and want
it to be what they think is salable. Our interest is in keeping
it as true to "Peanuts" as we can - to the comic strip, to my
husband's kind of humor and the humanity that comic strip
showed.


What are the creative elements in "The Snoopy Show" that you feel
fit alongside the original "Peanuts" work?

The stories. The stories are taken from the comic strip, and the
comic strip always showed that even though there are arguments,
friendship wins out in the end and people come together. So
that's maybe a lesson that might go worldwide these days.


Were you surprised that there was backlash when Apple announced
it was going to be the exclusive home for the old specials?

We were aware that that would be a reaction. What I have been
pleased with is Apple's solution to share them with PBS so that
people like me, who just want to go and turn on a TV channel, can
get them and don't have to do other things that are more modern.


The daily "Peanuts" comic strip ended more than 20 years ago, but
images from it are constantly being shared on social media. Why
do you think the strip's endured?

We had an exhibition at the Schulz Museum about the overlap
between Charles Schulz's work and "Alice in Wonderland." That was
on the 150th anniversary of "Alice." I can believe that in another
150 years, they're still going to be talking about Lucy pulling
away the football. They're still going to talk about Linus and his
security blanket and Charlie Brown and his kite string. These are
images in the comic strip that are useful today.


The strip was very rarely political. But it had a well-defined
morality. What do you think your husband would have made of what's
happening now with Trump sewing chaos and inciting violence?

He would think it was a disgrace. If he were drawing comics, that
wouldn't go in comics. But everything that went on on the world
was reflected in the comic strip. And periodically I wonder [which
characters] would be reflecting some of the history that's going
on now.


What do you think your husband would have made of kids entertainment
today?

I think there undoubtedly are things that he would like a lot. What
he tended to get impatient with in cartooning was cartoonists who
were just lazy and went for the easy, obvious jokes. He wanted
something that had more thought, more meat to it.


Things you didn't know about Jean Schulz ...

- Age: 81
- Birthplace: Mannheim, Germany
- Humble beginnings: She was born to British parents who
ran a Berlitz Language School
- Cause she cares most about: Canine Companions for
Independence, a nonprofit organization she founded that
aims to enhance the lives of adults, children and
veterans with disabilities by providing highly trained
assistance dogs.


<https://variety.com/2021/tv/features/jean-schulz-peanuts-snoopy-show-apple-tv-plus-1234890306/>