"Grace, Replaced" brought in 12.9 million American viewers upon its original broadcast in the United States, and making it the seventh highest-rated show during the week of April 5–11, 1999. Originally, "Will & Grace" aired on Mondays, but due to insufficient viewership, NBC decided to move the program to Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m., which was a success as viewers tuned in. The network then changed the time slot from Tuesdays to Thursdays at 8:30 p.m., between "Friends" and "Frasier", with this episode becoming a success as it attracted its highest audience ratings of the season. The previous episode, "Secrets and Lays", was watched by 9.6 million viewers. Many believed this decision was a good one, with a contributor of "The Buffalo News" commenting that the time slot change suggested that NBC felt that "Will & Grace" had a better chance of becoming a success than the current sitcom "Jesse". In a report in "The Star-Ledger" it said that the decision of "Will & Grace" airing on Thursdays was a good benefit on behalf of NBC as the program was "the only watchable comedy".