Thanksgiving is a time to sit around, gorge yourself on yams and turkey, and watch football with your family.  Perhaps your Thanksgiving tradition is a tad bit different, but generally, it is a day of relaxation, you know, besides all the cooking.  I find it a little puzzling, then, that network television doesn't air new episodes of their TV shows on Thanksgiving night with much regularity.  ABC tried last year by airing a new episode of Grey's Anatomy – it didn't work, and the ratings were terrible.  Logically, it'd seem that everyone would be home, eager to watch their favorite shows.  For one reason or another, this is not the case.  CBS, this year, is trying a little hybrid situation with Survivor: Gabon.  They're trying to play Thursday's episode off as a new one in their promos and such, when in actuality Thursday's Survivor is a mere clip show. 

There's nothing wrong with this, of course.  The clip show of Survivor: Gabon on Thursday will feature new footage, as well as previously unseen audition tapes from the season's batch of castaways.  Given how great the season has been thus far, watching the highlights from the season so far will be entertaining enough, and can serve to bring in viewers who haven't given Survivor a chance yet this season.  I imagine word of mouth has to be pretty high for Survivor: Gabon right now.  I know I'll be trying to get my family to watch Thursday's quasi-new episode. 

Survivor has been on for so long that there are a great number of formerly avid watchers who gave up on the show sometime in the past.  It's hard to stay loyal to a series for nearly twenty seasons, especially with all the other enticing Thursday night programming available.  But still, I contend that Survivor remains the greatest of all reality shows.  It's the purest, most well-produced and most scenic offering available to today's reality fan.  It helps that this season has been the best in years.  I just know I'll be watching Survivor this Thanksgiving, and I advise you and your loved ones do the same.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)