 In a departure from the previous season, the third season aired in a new competitive time slot of 9: 00 pm on Thursdays, competing against the heavily promoted and highly rated dramatic television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which simultaneously aired on the CBS Network. Season three of Grey's Anatomy contained 25 episodes, in addition to two clip shows that were produced to recap the previous events of the show, before the introduction of major new arcs. "Complications of the Heart" aired on the same night as the season premiere, recapping the last episodes of the second season with insights into future episodes in the third, while "Every Moment Counts" aired before the twentieth episode. The season also aired a two-part episode arc, which primarily served as a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off, Private Practice, focusing on the departure of Walsh's character, Dr. Addison Montgomery.
