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ABC Pulls Another 'Grey's' Switch

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

02:18 PM PT

Judging from its impressive Nielsen figures, not many people missed Sunday's episode of "Grey's Anatomy." But just in case, ABC is giving viewers another chance to see it.

As it did last week, ABC will rerun the episode at 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday (Feb. 16), following "Dancing with the Stars." Normal time-slot occupant "Crumbs" will get its second straight week off opposite the Winter Olympics on NBC.

"Grey's Anatomy" is coming off the two best weeks in its short history. The show drew 38 million viewers in its post-Super Bowl slot on Feb. 5 and followed that up Sunday with an audience of 25.4 million people for the conclusion of the two-part "code black" story.

Sunday's episode beat both NBC's Olympic coverage for that hour and its ABC lead-in, "Desperate Housewives." It was the first time "Grey's" had improved upon an original episode of "Housewives."

The Thursday, Feb. 9 rebroadcast of the Super Bowl episode drew just under 10 million viewers. From 9:30 to 10 p.m. it averaged about 10.6 million viewers, on par with what "Crumbs" has been doing in that spot. "Grey's" performed a little better among adults 18-49, drawing a 3.6 rating in its first 30 minutes compared to "Crumbs'" season average of 3.2.

An abbreviated edition of "Primetime" will follow "Grey's Anatomy" at 10:30 on Thursday.