‘Duck Dynasty Christmas Special’ Snags Almost 9 Million Viewers, New Episodes On The Way

Duck Dynasty and A&E celebrated the holidays in a big way.

Proving that the cable network’s hit series is still going strong, the Duck Dynasty Christmas Special reportedly brought in an impressive 8.9 million viewers during its 10 pm broadcast. According to Variety, viewership was up 37 percent overall from last year.

The holiday special also performed very well in its demographic. Nearly 4.5 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 tuned in to check in with the Duck Dynasty group. In fact, the show pulled in nearly as many viewers as NBC’s hit sitcom Modern Family.

Since you really can’t celebrate anything without someone dumping a bucket of ice cold water on the occasion, the folks at The Hollywood Reporter point out that the Christmas special didn’t match the numbers posted by the series earlier this year. The show generated a whopping 11.8 million viewers during a particularly popular episode back in August.

However, it’s doubtful A&E is really sweating the numbers right now. The Duck Dynasty Christmas Special is a hit for the network, and effectively paves the way for the handful of new episodes that are currently looming on the horizon.

After working through contract negotiations with the Robertson family during the summer, A&E finally has several new installments ready to roll. Once the holidays wrap up, the cable network will bring the series back with a pair of episodes on January 15.

If you need something to keep you occupied while you’re waiting on the next batch of Duck Dynasty episodes, the folks at Deadline report that the Robertson family has their very own Chia Pets available for purchase this holiday season. Instead of growing hair on an animal, you can help one of the cast members sprout a green beard. The Duck Dynasty Chia Pet tie-ins are actually kind of mesmerizing in their own weird way.

Here’s a video of someone trying to get Uncle Si’s beard to grow.

According to Billboard, the Duck Dynasty Christmas album was also a pretty big hit with fans this season. Sadie Robertson told the website that the whole family was a little shocked by how well the festive collection of tunes sold this year.

“We didn’t see any of that coming. We sing in Church and stuff, but there’s a lot of people there, so you don’t really hear just the family members. We would never sing in front of each other because you’ve got to have thick skin in our family because they will make fun of you until the day they die. We were very surprised with each other,” she said.

Did you check out the Duck Dynasty Christmas Special?