Charlie Brown | featured news

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?

In the wake of successful cinematic revivals for the Muppets, Winnie the Pooh, the Smurfs, the Chipmunks, and Yogi Bear, 20th Century Fox has announced plans for a new big-screen Peanuts feature.

Against mostly atypical competition, CBS’ regular Monday lineup dominated every half-hour in its return to originals last night after a week of repeats. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, a huge draw among total viewers, sucks out (mostly older) audiences from the competition. As they didn’t face Dancing with originals for the first time this season, CBS’ comedies boosted their viewership. How I Met Your Mother (4.5/12 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million total viewers) was up a tenth in the demo vs. two weeks ago and drew its largest audience with a regularly scheduled episode in almost three years. (since January 12, 2009).

It’s the Big Bang Theory, Charlie Brown! All the Thanksgiving specials Thursday night couldn’t hold a candle to a repeat of the CBS comedy, which delivered 11.2 million viewers and a 3.6 adult demo rating. Compare that to ABC’s Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (5.8 million, 1.8) and A Very Gaga Thanksgiving (5.4 million, 1.6 — more on that one here) and NBC’s 85th Anniversary of the Thanksgiving Day Parade (3.7 million, 1.1) and Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown (5 million, 1.6). The best-performing special was Fox’s Ice Age: Mammoth Christmas (7.1 million, 2.3), despite the network getting the holiday wrong. And at least we can take comfort in Charlie Brown topping Lady Gaga, right?

You've got a new owner, Charlie Brown....