"GREY'S ANATOMY" TO CONTINUE AIRING SUNDAYS AT 10:00 P.M. ON THE ABC TELEVISION NETWORK

"Boston Legal" Will Return for the 2005-06 Season with 27 Original Episodes

The ABC Television Network announced today that "Grey's Anatomy" will continue airing Sundays at 10:00 p.m., ET, through the end of the season, with "Boston Legal" scheduled to return for 2005-06 with 27 original episodes, which will include the episodes not aired this season.

"We're in the enviable position of having two shows that have each performed extremely well for us Sundays at 10:00 - 'Boston Legal and 'Grey's Anatomy.' We had already picked up 'Boston Legal' for next year based on its stellar run thus far this season. Now, with the strong debut of 'Grey's Anatomy,' we are very optimistic about having an additional asset of tremendous value heading into Fall," said Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment. "However, with this embarrassment of riches comes a tough decision. Ultimately we decided that, without having adequate lead time or marketing dollars to devote to moving either show so late in the season, we'd continue to let 'Grey's' build on its tremendous momentum through May. We're extremely excited that this will give us the amazing luxury of bringing 'Boston Legal' back next season with an unheard-of 27 original episodes."

Season to date, since its March 27 premiere, "Grey's Anatomy" is a dominant No. 1 in its time period, overshadowing its closest competition by 6.7 million viewers (17.0 million vs. 10.3 million - NBC) and beating the combined delivery of CBS and NBC in the time slot by 32% among Adults 18-49 (7.4/18 vs. 5.6/14=CBS and NBC combined). "Grey's Anatomy" is delivering ABC's best retention yet in the time period coming out "Desperate Housewives." The show qualifies as the highest ranking midseason TV program and also has the distinction as the only drama this television season (returning and new) to build its audience from Week 1 to Week 2. In addition, "Grey's" is producing ABC's strongest series ratings among young adults in the hour 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.

Shonda Rhimes ("Introducing Dorothy Dandridge") is creator and executive producer. Mark Gordon ("Saving Private Ryan"), Betsy Beers ("200 Cigarettes") and Jim Parriott ("The American Embassy") are executive producers. Peter Horton is co-executive producer. "Grey's Anatomy" is a Touchstone Television Production.