Chief. He's an old school man and like an old school man, he's taking care of his women. Whether they like it or not. This isn't gonna be an easy pill for Bailey to swallow." Reception "A Change Is Gonna Come" was originally broadcast in the United States on September 27, 2007, airing on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in its regular 9:00 Eastern time-slot. Viewed by a total of 20.93 million viewers, the episode is the series' second most-watched season premiere, just behind the third season opener, which had been watched live by 25.41 million American viewers. In comparison to the previous episode, which was watched by 22.57 million viewers, "A Change Is Gonna Come" made a 21% decrease in terms of viewership. However, the viewership of the episode ranked second in both its time-slot and the entire night, being beaten out by its airtime rival, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS, which was watched by 25.22 million viewers. In the entire week, the episode ranked third, being beaten out by both CSI and fellow ABC show Dancing With the Stars. In addition to being a success in viewership, the episode also did well in ratings. "A Change Is Gonna Come" garnered a 7.3 Nielsen rating in household viewership, ranking second in its time-slot, and third for the week. The premiere generally received mixed to negative feedback from television critics. Debbie Chang on BuddyTV deemed the episode "dysfunctional and ridiculous", being particularly critical of the story arc involving Stevens, whom she described as not being worthy of being promoted to the residency level. Chang expressed disagreement with the manner Bailey and Shepherd's characters were dealt with by the writers, feeling that the former's anger should have been targeted at herself, and criticizing the exaggerated exposure of the latter's "first grader emotional maturity". However, Yang's character was praised, with Chang choosing her manner of repressing her feelings as a highlight. Chang expressed a general disappointment in the episode, disapproving the choice for the episode as a season opener, a topic in regard to which she elaborated, "I can see already that this season will continue to bring us medical cases that are so blatantly about the doctors' pathetic lives." In September 2009, the inclusion of the deer ranked #12 in Entertainment Weekly "Most Memorable Cases of Grey's Anatomy". Eileen Lulevitch, entertainment reviewer for TV Guide, was generally favorable of the