'Charlie Brown Thanksgiving' draws biggest audience in 4 years

By James Hibberd, EW

November 23, 2012 -- Updated 1853 GMT (0253 HKT)

"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" has been airing for decades.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" delivered 8.1 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in the adult demo
The ratings were up 22 percent from last year
Other regular programming slipped

(EW.com) -- It's remarkable how strong the Charlie Brown specials continue to perform in the ratings, year after year.

"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" is not the most popular entry in the beloved animated franchise (both "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and It's the "Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" deliver bigger numbers). Yet the program still managed to hold its own against CBS' "Survivor" and Fox's "The X-Factor" (in fact, the special edged out Factor in total viewers, see below). Plus,"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" delivered its biggest audience in four years — 8.1 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in the adult demo, up 22 percent from last year. Pretty spry for a 39-year-old repeat, huh?

As for the rest of the programs last night, well ... only the most masochistic of TV showrunners and network executives even look at ratings during a holiday week (which is to say, pretty much all of them). Everything slipped from last week, with CBS' "CSI" dropping the least (only 8 percent) and NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" falling the most (down 24 percent).

If you're wondering what to watch today, check out our guide to all the Thanksgiving weekend TV marathons that networks have planned.

EW Daily Poll: What will you do on Black Friday?

Here's your full chart, repeats marked with an "R":

RANK IN DEMO ADULTS 18-49 RATING TOTAL VIEWERS (+000)

FOX 8-10P X-FACTOR #4t 2.2 7,177

ABC 8-9P CHARLIE BROWN R #4t 2.2 8,092

9:00P MODERN FMLY R #6 1.7 5,833

9:30P SUBURGATRY R #9t 1.1 3,828

10-11P PRIVATE PRCTC #12 1.0 3,682

CBS 8-9P SURVIVOR #2t 2.3 9,360

9-10P CRIMINAL #1 2.7 11,470

10-11P CSI #2t 2.3 10,668