It's the Great Pumpkin!

Television executives wanted a "blockbuster," and Lee Mendelson promised them one — not having a clue what it would be.

Never mind that their animated "A Charlie Brown Christmas" show had been a surprise hit, far surpassing expectations. Never mind that their second "Peanuts" show, on baseball, had come in at No. 1 in the ratings. In television, it's all about the next big hit. And the "suits" promised that if this third cartoon wasn't a "blockbuster" — an evergreen show that could be run year after year — there would be no more "Charlie Brown" specials.

So Mendelson, who produced the first two shows, did what anyone would do in that circumstance — he promised to deliver. Then called his partners in the endeavor, creator Charles Schulz and director Lee Melendez, in a panic. What could they do?

The three men got together. But, where the idea for the Christmas show had come almost miraculously overnight, this one was "like a faucet dripping, like watching grass grow," said Mendelson during a telephone chat from his California home.

They began tossing around ideas:

• The way Lucy always pulled the football away from Charlie Brown — that would be fun to animate.

• Snoopy as the Red Baron — that was a fun idea. Too bad he couldn't actually fly. Well, said Melendez, with animation he could.

• Schroeder and his piano — that had possibilities.

"We were quite literally going minute by minute," said Mendelson. But so far, nothing said "blockbuster." Then Sparky (Schulz's nickname) began talking about their Christmas show, and the fact that he'd always been a bit ambivalent about Santa Claus because so many children didn't get a visit or presents from him, and so that's what his strips on the Great Pumpkin were all about.

And suddenly everything just clicked, said Mendelson. They were still a bit nervous, because "there had never been a Halloween special. But we thought that the fact that Linus gets his holidays mixed up would be the basis for some humor. We could do the Red Baron, as a Halloween costume idea, and his flying doghouse had great animation potential. And fall would be a great show for color."

And "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was born.

They got Vince Guaraldi to do the music again, and almost the same cast of kids from the Christmas show, and put the special together. "We thought we had a good show," said Mendelson. But a blockbuster? "We still worried it would be three-and-out for 'Charlie Brown."'