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Grey's Spinoff Ratings Not Quite Red Hot

Fri., May. 4, 2007 2:08 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

They came, they saw, they compared. But, more importantly, they put down their remotes.

An estimated 21 million viewers sat through last night's Grey's Anatomy's expanded two-hour episode, which served as a potential launch pad for the series' would-be Addison-centric spinoff.

The highly anticipated episode, which featured Kate Walsh's character taking a leave of absence from her melodramatic gig at Seattle Grace Hospital for an even more melodramatic stint at Los Angeles' Oceanside Wellness Clinic, was the clear winner in the ratings war, easily besting its competition in both hours.

But while Grey's Anatomy trumped CSI's 18.9 million viewers and trounced ER's paltry 8 million, the one force the show struggled against was its own expectations.

For all the hype—and there was plenty—the installment essentially attracted the same number of viewers as Grey's has over the course of the year. The show's third season average is 19.1 million with two episodes left.

While the over figures might seem like status quo, ABC will no doubt look behind the numbers before deciding whether to green-light the spinoff.

In the much prized 18-to-34-year-old demographic, Grey's Anatomy was at the top of the Nielsen pack, nearly tripling the number of advertiser-friendly viewers the show logged in that category at the same time last year and earning the network its highest numbers in that demo in nearly 10 years.

Even more appealingly, at least for ABC execs who will decide the fate of the still unnamed spinoff, the episode pulled the net's largest figures in nearly 13 years in the 18-to-34-year-old female demo, the sweet spot for the Addison series.

While the expanded episode drew in viewers, the jury's still out on whether they were won over, with message boards lighting up with both insta-fans of the would-be series and critics complaining about the jarring juxtaposition between the muted Grey's and the sun-infused Whatever.

Also drawing complaints from the fan forums were the overloaded bits of back story worked, with various degrees of success, into the Addison-specific portions.

During the episode, Walsh's character heads down to Los Angeles in a cherry-red convertible (natch) to visit with her estranged college roommate and best friend, a fertility specialist at a wellness clinic that is both replete with attractive, if slightly more mature, doctors and an empty office space for an obstetrician.

However, from the get-go, Addison and her A-list costars, including Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman and Paul Adelstein, make it clear that their trials and tribulations won't simply be a Grey's redux, with Addison proclaiming just after her arrival that they should "never 'Mc' anything."

Except, of course, the McRatings.

ABC will announce whether the spinoff has been picked up on May 15, when the network unveils its fall programming schedule to advertisers. The season finale of Grey's is set for May 17.