'Tis the season for specials. And Fox got in on the holiday action Wednesday night with its best possible play for yuletide ratings: gathering the stars of Empire for a one-hour variety show.

Taraji and Terrence's White Hot Holidays debuted in the network's typical Empire time slot. Its ratings may have paled in comparison, but the average 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 5 million viewers was certainly a bump from anything else they could have swapped in there. Many of the broadcast networks have resigned to reruns until the new year.

It also cast more of a spell than NBC's Wednesday play for holiday special eyeballs. The network's one-two of Mat Franco's Got Magic (1.0 adults) The Illusionists (0.9 adults) put it in last place of the night.

Of course, CBS and ABC's Wednesday lineup still mostly aired originals. And CBS saw both Survivor, averaging a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49, and Criminal Minds (1.9 adults) rise — climbing a respective two- and three-tenths of a point in the key demo from last week.

The Middle (2.0 adults), The Goldbergs (2.0 adults) and Black-ish (1.7 adults) each held last week's scores, while Modern Family (2.6 adults) improved by two-tenths of a point. At 10 p.m., Nashville (0.8 adults) held steady.

As was the case the night before, the CW saw Arrow (1.0 adults) drop from last week's crossover with The Flash.