Not A Good Deal For "Grey's Anatomy"

NBC has discontinued their Thursday night telecasts of the hit game show "Deal Or No Deal" in an attempt to return to the glorious days of their Must-See comedy line-up. That was not a good deal for ABC's "Grey's Anatomy".

Although the red-hot medical drama still managed to easily beat CBS's procedural in the 18-49 demo, "C.S.I." won the hour in total viewers (23,83 million vs. Grey's 20,96). Obviously, NBC's decision to air comedy instead of "Deal Or No Deal" made a greater deal of that audience flock to CBS, which could help the show once again become the #1 scripted drama on television after two months of trailing both "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives".

So how did that reinstated comedy line-up do on NBC? Not that great. The network aired three special, super-sized episodes of their comedies "My Name Is Earl", "The Office" and "30 Rock". Although the first two began the evening with 8,9 million viewers, "30 Rock" simply does not click with the audience, as it plummeted to unacceptable lows (4,96 million). NBC does need to remain patient with the comedy line-up, but "30 Rock" might not be a part of it for long.

Elsewhere, "The O.C." remained stable at 3,78 million viewers. Still the numbers are too low to warrant a full season pick-up; the teen drama was reduced to 16 episodes in what may very well be its final season.