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There are few days that make me smile more than Charlie Brown Christmas night. I am a huge Peanuts fan (my wife has “Linus and Lucy” as her ringtone for me) and I have them on VHS and now DVD, but catching it on television is a pure joy for me.

NPR did a wonderful story this morning on how the show was nearly killed by CBS execs that thought mixing jazz with animation and the adult themes would not resonate with kids.

CBS “didn’t think jazz fit properly,” Mendelson recalls. The network also wanted professional child actors to do the voices of the characters, not the untrained youngsters Mendelson recruited.

He says the network also objected to the adult themes; they didn’t think the topics of materialism and faith were appropriate for children.

The show went on the air to a 50 share (according to the audio) and has become a staple of holiday viewing for millions of kids. We’re one of the families that Felix Contreras talks about at the end of the piece regarding the third generation. I plan to sit down on Christmas Eve with my folks, my wife, and our two year old daughter to watch the show.

Every network exec should hear this story of what happens when you stop underestimating the audience.