Ratings: Thanksgiving makes a mark on ‘Survivor: Philippines,’ ‘Chicago Fire’

We say this just about every year, but for whatever reason networks never listen: why in the world are you airing new programming on Thanksgiving? This is a day when routinely there are very few people with the time or the patience to tune in to new episodes, especially when there is everything from travel plans going on to prepping for the big turkey dinner.

Really, there were not any programs that actually proved save for “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” (which drew a surprisingly-strong 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic), as everything else dropped by a pretty wide margin. Usually “Survivor” opts to air a recap episode right before Thanksgiving, but not this time! Despite having a stellar season, Wednesday night’s episode drew a season-low 2.3 rating, which CBS will probably not chalk up to being a big deal. As for Fox, the 2.2 for “The X Factor” is pretty bad news considering that there is also a results show airing on Thursday night.

Perhaps the shows that were hit the worst were the scripted ones. “Chicago Fire” fell to a 1.4, while both “Whitney” and “Guys with Kids” stumbled along to 1.1 ratings that were both horrendous, and suddenly make the now-canceled “Animal Practice” look average by comparison.  “Private Practice” hit a series low with a 1.0, but you can chalk this up to both Thanksgiving and ABC more or less burning off an episode that was delayed by so many preemptions earlier this season thanks to everything from the Presidential election to Hurricane Sandy.

We ask this question every year, but it is always appropriate: do you like having no programming on Thanksgiving Eve rather than marathons, or is this incredibly frustrating to you since it pretty much forces you to have a DVR?