Joel McHale’s ‘Card Sharks’ Soars in Ratings Without NFL Competition

Joel McHale’s “Card Sharks” was no guppy on Sunday, when ABC was first place in the key demo’s ratings. Of course, it helped a great deal that there was no football competition. Leading in to “Card Sharks,” Jimmy Kimmel’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” also grew week to week. The CW’s “Batwoman” added more eyeballs to the previous Sunday’s tally, though it stayed steady in the adults 18-49 demographic. Sunday was the NFL’s off week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, which airs on CBS. The setting for Super Bowl LV will be Tampa Bay, Fla.’s Raymond James Stadium, home to the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s the first time a Super Bowl team will play the big game in its own stadium. The NFL is expecting 22,000 fans to attend Sunday’s game. Of them, 7,500 are vaccinated healthcare workers.

ABC was first in ratings with a 0.5 rating/3 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and second in total viewers with an average of 3.4 million, according to preliminary numbers. Following a rerun, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” at 8 p.m. had a 0.5/3 and 4.2 million viewers. At 9, “Card Sharks” got a 0.5/3 and 3 million viewers. Another repeat followed.

CBS was second in ratings with a 0.4/3 and first in viewers with 4.9 million. At 7, “60 Minutes” drew a 0.7/4 and 9 million viewers. Reruns followed.

NBC, Telemundo and Fox tied for third in ratings, each with a 0.3/2. NBC was third in total viewers with 1.8 million, Telemundo was fifth with 979,000 and Fox was sixth with 896,000.

NBC aired all reruns in Sunday’s primetime.

Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.2/2 and fourth in viewers with 992,000.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 628,000. At 8, “Batwoman” had a 0.2/1 and 717,000 viewers. “Charmed” at 9 got a 0.1/1 and 433,000 viewers.