Ratings: Joel McHale’s ‘Card Sharks’ Return Folds

Joel McHale’s “Card Sharks” took a seat last week so ABC could honor the late “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek. The broadcast network probably should have just done that again. In its return, the 10 p.m. game show was steady with its previous episode’s (soft) demo rating, though this one slipped below 2 million viewers (if you don’t round, which we will below), with 1.969 million. The usual suspects — the ones with football — cleaned up in primetime. However, due to the nature of live sports, consider the below Nielsen numbers for the networks with NFL rights subject to significant adjustment.

NBC was first in ratings with a 3.1 rating/17 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 10.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those are the (initial averages) of lengthy pregame show “Football Night in America” and the Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots primetime game itself.

Fox was second in ratings with a 1.4/7 and third in viewers with 4.5 million. The end of the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game at 7 p.m. posted a 3.0/16 and 10.7 million viewers. Postgame show “The OT” at 7:30 scored a 2.3/12 and 7.7 million viewers. “The Simpsons” at 8 p.m. had a 1.2/6 and 3.4 million viewers. At 8:30, “Bless the Harts” got a 0.6/3 and 1.8 million viewers. “Bob’s Burgers” at 9 p.m. received a 0.7/4 and 1.7 million viewers. At 9:30 p.m., “Family Guy” finished off primetime with the exact same (rounded) numbers as its lead-in.

CBS was third in ratings with a 0.9/5 and second in viewers with 7.3 million. At 7 p.m., “60 Minutes” put up a 2.0/11 and 12.4 million viewers. “NCIS: Los Angeles” at 8 p.m. had a 1.0/5 and 8.5 million viewers. At 9 p.m., “NCIS: New Orleans” got a 0.5/3 and 5.1 million viewers. A rerun followed.

ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.6/3 and in viewers with 3.3 million. “Supermarket Sweep” at 8 p.m. drew a 0.8/4 and 3.3 million viewers. At 9 p.m., “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” received a 0.5/3 and 2.9 million viewers. “Card Sharks” closed primetime with a 0.3/2 and those (rounded) 2 million viewers.

Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.3/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.3 million, Telemundo was sixth with 861,000.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 479,000. The network simply re-aired the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival.