Quick Take for Thursday, January 15, 2009 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

On an Atypical Thursday with the Presidential Address and CBS' Pivotal "C.S.I," ABC is a Solid No. 2 in Viewers and Adults 18-49, while Dominating in Adults 18-34

Jumping Over its Lead-in and Building Sharply Opposite CBS' High-Profile "C.S.I.," in Viewers and Young Adults, "Grey's" is Up Week to Week Across the Key Men Demos

"Grey's Anatomy" Qualifies as Thursday's No. 1 Series Telecast Among Adults 18-34 for its 6th Straight Original Airing This Season

Facing All Original Competition This Week, "Private Practice" is Up from Last Week's Thursday Night Premiere in Young Adults, Achieving a Season-High in Adults 18-49

"Private Practice" Wins the 10pm Hour in Adults 18-34 and Key Women and Beats NBC's "ER" for the 2nd Week in a Row with Viewers and Young Adults

"Private Practice" Generates Best-Ever Retention for Any Series Telecast Out of an Original "Grey's" in Key Women and Best-of-Season Retention in Young Adults

Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

On an atypical Thursday, with the Presidential Address pre-empting "Ugly Betty" in the 8 o'clock hour and with CBS' high-profile installment of "C.S.I." as a pivotal character left the show, ABC earned a solid second place in Total Viewers (9.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.5/9). ABC topped third-place NBC on the evening by over 2.0 million viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (7.0 million & 3.0/7) and fourth-place Fox by nearly 5.0 million viewers and by 94% in Adults 18-49 (4.2 million & 1.8/4). ABC dominated the evening among Adults 18-34, beating out its nearest competitor by 21% (3.4/9 vs. 2.8/8 � NBC).

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Jumping from its lead-in coming out of the Presidential Address and a repeat "Scrubs," ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" earned second place in the 9 o'clock hour to CBS' highly-promoted "C.S.I," featuring the departure of Grissom, in Total Viewers (12.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.2/12). Dominating its time slot, "Grey's" registered as Thursday's No. 1 TV series in Adults 18-34 (5.1/13) for its 6th consecutive original airing this season and for the 8th time in the last 9 telecasts. From start to finish, "Grey's" grew by 1.1 million viewers (12.4 million to 13.5 million) and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (4.9/12 to 5.5/13).

� Opposite the increased competition from CBS, "Grey's Anatomy" retained 100% of its Adult 18-49 audience week to week, while growing across each of the key Men demographics: M18-34 +11% (3.1/8 vs. 2.8/8), M18-49 +11% (3.0/7 vs. 2.7/6) and M25-54 +9% (3.6/8 vs. 3.3/12).

"Private Practice" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Continuing to deliver improved lead-in retention for ABC in the 10 o'clock hour, "Private Practice" ranked No. 1 among Adults 18-34 (3.3/9), Women 18-49 (5.0/12) and Women 18-34 (4.9/13), beating all original competition on CBS ("C.S.I."/"Eleventh Hour") and NBC ("ER"). In fact the ABC sophomore series defeated "ER" for the second straight week, topping the NBC veteran drama by 1.7 million viewers (8.7 million vs. 7.0 million) and by 26% in Adults 18-49 (3.4/9 vs. 2.7/7).

� In Adults 18-49 (65%) and Adults 18-34 (65%), "Private Practice" delivered best-of-season audience retention for any original series telecast coming out of an original "Grey's Anatomy." It was the best-ever retention for an original series out of "Grey's" with Women 18-34 (68%) and Women 18-49 (68%).

� Although it faced original competition on CBS in the hour this week, "Private Practice" was up from its week-ago Thursday premiere in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across the key Men demos. The show achieved a season-high among Adults 18-49

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 29% currently, from 22% at the same point in 2008. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 1/15/09.