The frisky doctors of Grace Hospital are ready for some football.

ABC has appointed Grey's Anatomy to staff its prized time slot following February's Super Bowl.

The honor is the latest notch in the medical drama's black bag. Since premiering last March, Grey's Anatomy has pushed Boston Legal out of ABC's Sunday lineup, picked up three Emmy nominations and supplanted ER as TV's most watched hospital series.

This season, Grey's is averaging 17.9 million viewers, compared to the still-sturdy ER's 13.4 million.

Sunday's episode proved to be the TV week's second-most watched show among 18- to 49-year-old potential car buyers. Overall, the show ranked eighth, with 16.67 million viewers, per Nielsen Media Research.

In being allowed to strut its stuff in an all-new episode following Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5, Grey's Anatomy follows in the tradition of The A-Team, The Wonder Years, Friends and Survivor. All were pet shows that got shots at what is traditionally TV's biggest captive audience.

Of course, MacGrouder & Loud, a long-forgotten ABC cop show, was a Super Bowl night pick, too, so there's no exact science to this anointing business.

Elsewhere in the TV week ended Sunday:

The lowest rated World Series in history led Fox to wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, and prompted the competition to surrender with reruns, à la a slightly used Lost on ABC (44th place, 9.1 million). Failure is relative. NCIS will be satisfied with nothing less than world domination. For the fourth straight week, the formerly no-profile CBS series hit a series high in viewers, now topping out with 18 million (fifth place). CBS' Two and a Half Men (seventh place, 16.8 million) cracked the top 10 for the first time this fall. Now, if only it can keep Lost and Desperate Housewives (14th place, 14.1 million) in repeats 'til May... How powerful is the Great Pumpkin? An ABC broadcast of the 39-year-old It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (27th place, 11 million) helped lift According to Jim (42nd place, 9.2 million) to its "strongest performance in seven months." Success is relative. Fox's Prison Break (34th place, 10.1 million) is keeping a good steady pace. Paul Sorvino and his dog. That irresistible combo worked like magic for NBC's The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (59th place, 7.4 million), hitting a series-high in viewers. Lucy Lawless was luckless with the CBS Sunday Movie, Vampire Bats (67th place, 6.5 million). Alias (63rd place, 6.6 million) has been ordered to the bench for eight weeks starting in January, to be replaced by summer hit Dancing with the Stars. ABC's calling it maternity leave, because "You're as good as gone, babe" is considered rude.

Overall, CBS won the week in total viewers (averaging 12.6 million) and the 18-49 demographic. Baseball-led Fox took second in viewers (10.3 million) and the demo. ABC (9.5 million) was third in both categories; NBC (8.7 million), fourth.

The WB (3.7 million) edged the UPN (3.6 million).

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. CSI, CBS, 24.2 million viewers
2. Without a Trace, CBS, 21.8 million viewers
3. World Series Game 4, Fox, 20 million viewers
4. CSI: Miami, CBS, 19.9 million viewers
5. NCIS, CBS, 18 million viewers
6. Survivor: Guatemala, CBS, 17.4 million viewers
7. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 16.8 million viewers
8. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 16.67 million viewers
9. World Series Game 3, Fox, 16.65 million viewers
10. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, 16.5 million viewers