We report on the first optical measurements of the rare-earth tri-telluride charge-density wave systems. Our data, collected over an extremely broad spectral range, allow us to observe both the Drude component and the single-particle peak, ascribed to the contributions due to the free charge carriers and to the charge-density wave gap excitation, respectively. The data analysis displays a diminishing impact of the charge-density wave condensate on the electronic properties with decreasing lattice constant across the rare-earth series. We propose a possible mechanism describing this behavior and we suggest the presence of a one-dimensional character in these two-dimensional compounds. We also envisage that interactions and umklapp processes might play a relevant role in the formation of the charge-density wave state in these compounds.