PAULA KERGER

The Peanuts gang will appear on broadcast TV again this month with the Thanksgiving special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” set to air on PBS and PBS Kids stations. It is also available for streaming on Apple TV+. >> Related: PBS, Apple TV+ join forces to bring Snoopy back to broadcast televisionLast month, the stations aired 1966′s “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” for the first time. “During these challenging times, public television continues to be a free and easily accessible source of comfort, inspiration and education for millions of Americans.”>> Related: Here are 5 fun facts about ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’“A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” first aired on CBS in 1973. In 2020, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” aired for the first time on PBS after Apple announced a partnership with entertainment company WildBrain, Peanuts Worldwide and Lee Mendelson Film Productions, which made Apple TV+ the home of all things Peanuts.

PBS Diversity FILE - PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger speaks during the PBS Executive Session at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Feb. 2, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. PBS is taking steps toward increased diversity to be overseen by a new executive hired for the task. Cecilia Loving is joining PBS as senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, reporting to Kerger. Loving has been serving as a deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer for the New York City Fire Department. On Tuesday, Kerger said her understanding of how PBS approaches diversity has grown since those remarks, based on conversations with the filmmakers and what she called a variety of stakeholders. PBS highlighted the intended effect on PBS Kids’ programming and its mission.

The chief executive of PBS says the public broadcasting service has fallen short on some aspects of diversity.

FILE - Ken Burns, director of the PBS documentary series "Country Music," takes part in a panel discussion during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on July 29, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Speaking Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, to the Television Critics Association in a virtual Q&A, PBS chief executive Paula Kerger rejected a filmmakers claim that public TVs long relationship with Burns has come at the expense of diversity. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES – The chief executive of PBS rejected a filmmaker’s argument that public TV's 40-year relationship with documentarian Ken Burns has come at the expense of diversity. “We create lots of opportunities for many filmmakers,” Kerger said. "The stuff that’s coming up is incredibly diverse in every sense of the meaning of that word,” Burns said.