'The Charlie Browniest'

As Lucy Van Pelt famously told Charlie Brown, "We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know."

Well, it turns out that syndicate actually might be on the other coast, in Burbank. The Disney-ABC Television Group there currently has the broadcast rights to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- the beloved TV special that first aired on CBS 42 years ago tonight. And after all this time, the special continues to do big business.

A brief in the Dec. 10 Business Week (2nd item) notes that the 2006 broadcast on ABC drew 21 million viewers and $8.7 million in advertising -- or a primo $218,000 for a 30-second spot.

Business Week also points out that the soundtrack with Vince Guaraldi's music for the special has sold 2 million-plus copies. That should please the program's creators, given how little CBS liked the music when the program was first produced, as recounted in a NPR story last year (streaming audio linked top left).

Fun fact: At one point Linus is seen knocking over a can with his blanket. In the original broadcast, this was a can of Coca-Cola, the program's original sponsor. There also was a Coke sign in the skating rink, but those references were edited out in subsequent versions to make room for more traditional advertising.