Charlie Brown's luck finally has changed.

        The lovable loser gets a valentine on the first new “Peanuts” TV special since Charles M. Schulz died two years ago, A Charlie Brown Valentine (8 p.m. Thursday, Channels 9, 2).

        The cartoonist approved the story before his death, say Charlie Brown TV producers Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez.

        “He felt after 32 years, Charlie Brown should get a valentine,” says Mr. Mendelson, who has produced all 45 “Peanuts” TV specials.

        Mr. Schulz, who died on Feb. 12, 2000, had discussed ideas for at least five new shows with his TV partners.

        On the drawing board are another baseball show, Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, and a third Christmas show, Snoopy's Holiday Adventure, Mr. Mendelson says. The Valentine show is the first original Charlie Brown since the seldom-seen 1992 It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown.

        A Charlie Brown Valentine premieres on ABC, which obtained the rights when CBS ended its 35-year relationship with “Peanuts.” ABC has aired the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas shows this television season.

        “We wanted to revisit the subject (because) Valentine's Day is very hard on Charlie Brown,” Mr. Mendelson says.

        It's still not all hearts and flowers. Charlie Brown finally calls “the little red-haired girl,” but he misdials and gets Peppermint Patty by mistake. He ends up going to the dance with Patty and Marcie, two characters whose roles were not as developed when Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown debuted in 1975.

        “That's the reason we wanted to do a new show, to show the new romances,” Mr. Mendelson says.

        Some things haven't changed. Charlie Brown wears the same yellow shirt. He still has a rotary phone. (Would his luck change with a touch-tone or cell phone?)

        The new TV scripts are drawn from Mr. Schulz's 18,000 “Peanuts” comic strips, so his fans will see plenty of familiar themes.

        “There's so much in this Valentine's Day show of his material that it's like he's there with us,” Mr. Mendelson says. “I know he's watching us, and we have to be careful that we only use his material.”

        When Mr. Schulz announced his retirement in 1999, after colon cancer surgery, he told his collaborators what he'd like to try on their TV specials. “But, of course, he didn't have a chance to,” says Mr. Melendez, the director-producer who does Snoopy's voice.

        The producers want to make a new Charlie Brown show each year. United Media, a division of Cincinnati's E.W. Scripps Co., owns the licensing rights to the strip and characters.

        “He left us with several thoughts and ideas about things that he wanted to do,” Mr. Melendez says.

        On Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown realizes his team is losing “because he had a lousy right fielder,” Mr. Mendelson says.

        Maybe he'll have better luck on the baseball diamond without Lucy Van Pelt. Maybe some day he'll finally kick that football.

        Naw, some things will never change.

        Contact John Kiesewetter by phone: 768-8519; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.
       

Romance, made to order
Missing - the big man on campus
Surprises in Oscar also-rans
Complete list of Oscar award nominations
Say love with special prune cake
Smart mouth
Wine stores select sweet bargains for some tough times
Body & mind
Give up some fat for Lent, too
Seminar to focus on black women's health
Charles Schulz left us a valentine
Get to it