Special Episode Of Grey's Anatomy To Follow Superbowl XL

“GREY’S ANATOMY” TO AIR SPECIAL EPISODE FOLLOWING SUPERBOWL XL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2006
Released by ABC

“GREY’S ANATOMY” TO AIR SPECIAL EPISODE FOLLOWING SUPERBOWL XL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2006

“Grey’s Anatomy” will continue to dominate its Sunday night time period by airing immediately after Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006, it was announced today by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment. With the game slated to start at 6:00 p.m., ET, it is expected that the highly anticipated original episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” will begin immediately following all post-game coverage around 10:00 p.m., ET.

“’Grey’s Anatomy’ is a huge asset for this network and is fast becoming one of America’s favorite Sunday night events,” said McPherson. “The producers are preparing a great episode that will appeal to new viewers as well as devoted fans. It’s the perfect conclusion to one of TV’s biggest days.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” is the fourth-highest-rated TV show this season in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic and stands as the No. 2 television program among Women 18-34 (10.3/26), behind only ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” ABC’s sophomore hit is TV’s No. 1 10 o’clock show on any night of the week for the second season in a row, across all key adult demographics. In its hour, the ABC drama defeats its nearest competition by 5.9 million viewers (18.2 million vs. 12.3 million – NBC’s “Crossing Jordan”), and outperforms the combined deliveries of CBS (“Sunday Movie”) and NBC (“Crossing Jordan”) in the hour by 32% in Adults 18-49 (8.2/20 vs. 6.2/15) and by 16% in Adults 25-54 (9.2/20 vs. 7.9/18). “Grey’s Anatomy” is substantially improving the time period for ABC (+54% in Total Viewers & +78% in Adults 18-49), generating the Network’s strongest series numbers in the hour in five years – since “The Practice” during the 2000-01 TV Season.

“Grey’s Anatomy” stars Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd, Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang, Isaiah Washington as Preston Burke, Katherine Heigl as Isobel “Izzie” Stevens, Justin Chambers as Alex Karev, T.R. Knight as George O’Malley, Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey and James Pickens, Jr. as Richard Webber.

Guest starring is Kate Walsh as Addison Shepherd.

Shonda Rhimes is creator and executive producer of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Mark Gordon, Betsy Beers and Jim Parriott are executive producers. Peter Horton is co-executive producer. “Grey’s Anatomy” is a Touchstone Television Production.