• by Wayne Friedman , February 19, 2010

With fresh programming, ABC braved the world of NBC's big Winter Olympic ratings on Thursday night -- its usual stomping ground -- but got beat up.

Its "Grey's Anatomy" sank to yet another series low during the 9 p.m. time period: a Nielsen preliminary 18-49 viewer 3.7 rating/9 share. The week before, "Grey's" earned a then-series-low 4.3 rating.

This week's effort came against powerful Olympic coverage that included the men's skating finale, which grabbed an 8.3 rating/21 share and some 28.4 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. -- the best hour of NBC's prime time on Thursday.

ABC closed the gap -- somewhat -- on the Olympics at 10 p.m. with NBC's games earning a 6.8/18 versus ABC's "Private Practice," which got to a 2.8/7.

But CBS did its best against NBC. "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" took in a 3.9/11 at 8 p.m. versus the first hour of the Olympics, which earned a 6.2/18.

ABC and Fox offered up episodes of new shows, which seem to be going nowhere. ABC's "The Deep End" had a 1.1/3 at 8 p.m.; Fox went with "Past Life," which saw a 1.1/3.

For the night, NBC was at a 7.1/19 among 18-49 viewers, down almost two rating points from its big Olympics coverage the night before, where Team USA pulled in a record six medals.

Still, on Thursday, NBC had plenty to dominate other networks.

ABC and CBS were last than half of NBC's numbers, tied with a 2.5/7; Univision earned a 2.2/6; Fox took a 1.3/4; and CW earned a 0.7/2.

Nielsen also reported some minute-by-minute results concerning specific Winter Olympics sports, with freestyle skiing getting the best viewership, 26.9 million viewers, and downhill skiing, coming in second, with 26.6 million viewers.

Most-Watched Prime-Time Winter Olympics Sports
(Feb 13-15, 2010)

Source: The Nielsen Company