Chuck E. Cheese Christmas Special will debut on Thanksgiving

Christmas television is about to get a whole lot cheesier. Forget Rodolphe. Take a hike, Frosty. Chuck E. Cheese is coming to television sets this holiday season.

The children’s pizza chain’s rodent mascot will appear in the company’s first animated holiday special this year. A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas will air on Amazon Prime Video on Thanksgiving Night. Don’t have Prime? You can also watch on the Chuck E. Cheese YouTube channel.

The debut of Charles Entertainment Cheese’s holiday spectacular will feature all the elements shared by the holiday specials you grew up with. Original songs? You bet! (After all, what is a Chuck E. Cheese cartoon? without Munch’s Make Believe Band?) Merchandise? Absolutely.

The special will also feature watch parties at Chuck E. Cheese locations across the country (because who doesn’t want to go to a pizzeria full of kids after gorging on a rich turkey dinner?).

The special will see Chuck E. and his friends (Helen Henny, Jasper Jowls, Bella Brinca, Munch and Pasqually) throw a surprise party to put Santa in the Christmas spirit. The show will open with two new songs, co-written by the songwriter behind the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” and the holiday standard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

This is just the beginning of a media expansion for Chuck E. Cheese. The restaurant chain previously announced a development partnership with Magical Elves, the producer of shows including Top Chef, to create a game show based on the arcade games that are taking over every location.

Chuck E. Cheese is fast approaching its 50th anniversary in 2027. The company says it has more nostalgic projects in store during the walk, intended to re-attract old fans as well as new ones.

The company was founded by Atari creator Nolan Bushnell, who has long since ended his involvement with the channel. It barely made it to 10 years old, but was saved by merging with its main rival Showtime Pizza.

Chuck E. Cheese, however, wasn’t always intended to be a mouse. When Bushnell first came up with the restaurant concept, there were no plans to use a rodent as a mascot.

“The project started as Coyote Pizza,” Bushnell explains. “We thought a Coyote would be a great mascot. I purchased what I thought was a Coyote costume from an amusement park costume seller and had it shipped to the company. When it arrived here, it was obvious to everyone except me that it was a rat costume.

“Rather than buy another costume, we decided to use a big rat as our mascot. Marketing didn’t like Rick Rats Pizza and came up with Chuck E. Cheese – as they called it a name with three smiles.”