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ABC Sunday on ratings roll

'Grey' grows, 'Housewives' scores big

By RICK KISSELL

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ABC appears poised for a huge Sunday performance in the May sweeps after hot first-year medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" hit highs this week and a special recap episode of sudser "Desperate Housewives" soaked up big ratings.

With the help of dominant 8 o'clock player "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," the Alphabet racked up its fifth consecutive Sunday victory among adults 18-49 and total viewers and its 10th straight in adults 18-34 -- the longest such stretch for the net since Nielsen first charted the demo in 1991.

In its most impressive perf yet, "Grey's Anatomy" (roughly 8.0 rating/20 share in adults 18-49, 18 million viewers overall) again dominated the 10 o'clock hour, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. Its fifth seg could come in with series highs in 18-49 as well as adults 18-34 (7.6/21) and women 18-34 (9.7/25).

Other than "Desperate Housewives" and CBS heavyweight "CSI," no drama on television has put up a higher 18-49 result than Sunday's "Grey's Anatomy" in the past nine weeks (since an episode of NBC's "ER" on Feb. 17).

The "Anatomy" highs are all the more noteworthy since its lead-in, a special recap of the inaugural season of "Desperate Housewives," came in about 10% below the show's recent firstrun averages. "DH: Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry" averaged a big 10.0/23 in 18-49 and 23.7 million viewers overall, setting up television's hottest rookie show for some boffo May scores.

CBS was the runner-up net for the night, receiving a solid second-place finish for "Cold Case" (prelim 3.7/10 in adults 18-49, 16.5 million viewers) and a nice showing for original movie "Locusts" (prelim 3.8/9 in 18-49, 12.7 million viewers), which came in about 30% above the net's Sunday movie this season in 18-49 (2.9/7).

Fox struck out with music spec "American Top 40 Awards" (prelim 1.6/4 in 18-49, 4 million), while NBC's "The Contender" put up above average scores at 9 with the second of back-to-back episodes (prelim 3.3/7 in 18-49, 6.4 million).