Oscars Ratings Fall to All-Time Low

 

I didn’t watch the Oscars last night. Apparently, most Americans joined me. The final ratings are in for the 2018 Academy Awards and it ain’t pretty.

Jimmy Kimmel earned appalling ratings when he hosted the event in 2017, but this year’s broadcast dropped 19 percent from that to a paltry 26.5 million viewers. This makes it the least-watched Oscars in history. The previous record-holder was in 2008; last night’s entry garnered 5 million fewer viewers than that bomb.

Trying to put a shine on it, The Hollywood Reporter said the bad ratings were no big deal since they were totes expected:

[T]he writing was largely on the wall for lows, either way. All three marquee events of the U.S. TV calendar thus far — the Golden Globe Awards, the Grammys and the Super Bowl — were off significantly from the 2017.

At three hours and 50 minutes, Sunday’s Oscars may have only passed last year’s runtime by one minute, but it managed to rank as the longest telecast in over a decade. Not since 2007 has an Academy Awards ceremony lasted that long.

During the broadcast, I set down my book to check Twitter a few times. My timeline was filled with people complaining about the pretense, preaching, and politics. Which made me wonder, “why are you watching it in the first place?”

It was obvious that after a year of sexual scandals, Hollywood would do its best to shift their well-deserved blame to their favorite scapegoat, middle America. Perhaps next year, the film industry will admit their failings and actually try to court their would-be customers instead of bashing them.

Oh, who am I kidding?

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  1. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    It’s interesting to note the decline during the last two Obama years.  What does the timeline look like when you extend it back, say to the Reagan years?

    • #1
  2. KentForrester Coolidge
    KentForrester
    @KentForrester

    And may the ratings continue to decline as long as Hollywood is populated by smug, virtue-signaling leftists.

    Jeez, can’t even one of the rich beautiful people get up and say, “How about a hand for the patriotic, hard-working Americans who make up the majority of our country.”  Imagine the shock in the audience if one of the winners said, “I love America and its people.”

    Fat chance.

    And fat chance of me watching the Emmies, Golden Globes, or Oscars ever again.

    Kent

    • #2
  3. Nick H Coolidge
    Nick H
    @NickH

    So people didn’t watch an awards show that mostly featured movies they didn’t see? I’m shocked.

    • #3
  4. Jon Gabriel, Ed. Contributor
    Jon Gabriel, Ed.
    @jon

    Stad (View Comment):
    It’s interesting to note the decline during the last two Obama years. What does the timeline look like when you extend it back, say to the Reagan years?

    I found a list of all the ratings here going back to 1974.

    • #4
  5. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Nick H (View Comment):
    So people didn’t watch an awards show that mostly featured movies they didn’t see? I’m shocked.

    I read The Shape of Water was roundly mocked as “Deaf Woman Meets the Creature From the Black Lagoon”.  I won’t be buying this DVD . . .

    • #5
  6. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Jon Gabriel, Ed. (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):
    It’s interesting to note the decline during the last two Obama years. What does the timeline look like when you extend it back, say to the Reagan years?

    I found a list of all the ratings here going back to 1974.

    Wow.  Interesting numbers.  Looks like it really declined the last three years.  Thanks, Jon.

    • #6
  7. Peter Meza Member
    Peter Meza
    @PeterMeza

    Besides the politics killing the fun there are too many categories. For example, have you ever seen any of the short films or the foreign films? I hunted down the short animated films one year at an art theatre. Anyway, here is my suggestion for paring down about half of the categories to make a reasonable length show, and the rest can be given out at separate un-televised presentations at the Academy’s discretion:

    Best Picture: Keep

    Director:  Keep

    Actor:  Keep

    Actress:  Keep

    Supporting Actor:  Keep

    Supporting Actress: Keep 

    Original Screenplay: Questionable 

    Adapted Screenplay: Questionable

    Foreign Language Film: Questionable

    Animated Feature: Keep

    Visual Effects: Keep

    Film Editing: Questionable

    Animated Short: No 

    Live Action Short: No

    Documentary Short: No

    Score: Keep

    Song: Keep 

    Production Design: Questionable 

    Cinematography: Keep 

    Costume Design: Keep

    Makeup and Hairstyling: Keep

    Documentary Feature: Keep

    Sound Editing: No

    Sound Mixing: No

    • #7
  8. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Awards shows are boring, period.  I never saw the point in watching them even before they got overly political and preachy.

    • #8
  9. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Peter Meza (View Comment):
    Besides the politics killing the fun there are too many categories. For example, have you ever seen any of the short films or the foreign films? I hunted down the short animated films one year at an art theatre. Anyway, here is my suggestion for paring down about half of the categories to make a reasonable length show, and the rest can be given out at separate un-televised presentations at the Academy’s discretion:

    Best Picture: Keep

    Director: Keep

    Actor: Keep

    Actress: Keep

    Supporting Actor: Keep

    Supporting Actress: Keep

    Original Screenplay: Questionable

    Adapted Screenplay: Questionable

    Foreign Language Film: Questionable

    Animated Feature: Keep

    Visual Effects: Keep

    Film Editing: Questionable

    Animated Short: No

    Live Action Short: No

    Documentary Short: No

    Score: Keep

    Song: Keep

    Production Design: Questionable

    Cinematography: Keep

    Costume Design: Keep

    Makeup and Hairstyling: Keep

    Documentary Feature: Keep

    Sound Editing: No

    Sound Mixing: No

    Looks good to me.

    • #9
  10. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    It must be nice to be openly hostile to your customers without conscience.  I haven’t watched any award shows in years, I don’t see the sense of them. Like grade inflation at college, so are the awards. Ho-hum.

    • #10
  11. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    KentForrester (View Comment):
    And may the ratings continue to decline as long as Hollywood is populated by smug, virtue-signaling leftists.

    Jeez, can’t even one of the rich beautiful people get up and say, “How about a hand for the patriotic, hard-working Americans who make up the majority of our country.” Imagine the shock in the audience if one of the winners said, “I love America and its people.”

    There was a moment kind of like this last night, and it was telling.

    Native-American actor Wes Studi came out to introduce a montage of war movies. He opened by saying that he enlisted in the National Guard and volunteered to serve in Viet Nam. He said he was proud to enlist and serve, and asked “Anyone else?” Dead silence, followed by one guy laughing (Clint Eastwood maybe? Or Nelson from The Simpsons?).

    Video here:

    • #11
  12. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Peter Meza (View Comment):
    Besides the politics killing the fun there are too many categories.

    But there’s one new category they should definitely add.

    • #12
  13. George Townsend Inactive
    George Townsend
    @GeorgeTownsend

    Jon Gabriel, Ed. (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):
    It’s interesting to note the decline during the last two Obama years. What does the timeline look like when you extend it back, say to the Reagan years?

    I found a list of all the ratings here going back to 1974.

    Thanks, Jon. Interesting.

    • #13
  14. Dad Dog Member
    Dad Dog
    @DadDog

    Stad (View Comment):

    Nick H (View Comment):
    So people didn’t watch an awards show that mostly featured movies they didn’t see? I’m shocked.

    I read The Shape of Water was roundly mocked as “Deaf Woman Meets the Creature From the Black Lagoon”. I won’t be buying this DVD . . .

    And Phantom Thread could be subtitled “A Munchhausen Love Story.”

    • #14
  15. Dad Dog Member
    Dad Dog
    @DadDog

    Posted on Facebook: “#irony: Last night at the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist getting in a dig against Mike Pence, a barb which the audience lustily applauded. However, if Hollywood had applied Pence’s sexual ethics for the past 50 years, there would be no need for #metoo and #timesup.”

    • #15
  16. Son of Barsham Member
    Son of Barsham
    @LesserSonofBarsham

    I don’t know if this is true for many people my age but I’m in my mid-30’s now. I don’t actually remember ever watching award shows even when I was a kid. Celebrity is huge these days, but celebrating celebrity? Granted, I’m more Gen X in personality but I just don’t see the appeal.

    • #16
  17. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    The politics and the smug, self-congratulatory tone are annoying, but I think the biggest factor is that the nominated movies are just bad.  They are not memorable.  A few nights ago, I was watching an episode of Jeopardy, and the final jeopardy question was who won last year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  Not one of the contestants knew.  Not one of the contestants even took a guess.  All three just left it blank.  I didn’t know either, although I did venture, “Probably some black actress.”  (It was, in fact, Viola Davis.)  Because the awards have ceased to be about recognition of accomplishments in film-making.  They are about politically correct quotas and identity politics.  Now I have no idea whether Ms. Davis gave a good performance or not, and I doubt that I will ever bother to watch Fences.  But this incident is symptomatic of how much the Academy Awards have ceased to matter, so long as the news can make some breathless announcement about we had the first African American winner in the category of costume design…, in a musical…, released on a Tuesday.  (It always seems to be an African American involved in these “historic” breakthroughs.  Frankly, if I was a Latino or Asian American, I think I would be starting to get a little bit annoyed right about now.)

    Remember Patton, The French Connection, Godfather I & II, The Sting, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer?  I do.  I remember every one of those 1970’s Best Pictures, vividly.  Remember The King’s Speech, The Artist, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, or Spotlight (all Best Picture winners from 2010-2015)?  I kind of remember a couple of them, but I really doubt that anyone will remember them in 40 years.  No wonder people aren’t watching the Awards show.

    • #17
  18. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Ralphie (View Comment):
    It must be nice to be openly hostile to your customers without conscience.

    Apparently Hollywood is trying to follow the business model of OPEC.

     

     

    • #18
  19. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    [I]f they’re so turned off by my opinion on healthcare and gun violence then, I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t want to have a conversation with them anyway. Not good riddance, but riddance.

    — Jimmy Kimmel

    Right back atcha, Jimmy baby. Next year, during the commercial breaks for the Oscars that you will no doubt be watching from your couch, you can contemplate the wisdom of rendering yourself radioactive.

    Try not to cry when you do.

    • #19
  20. The King Prawn Inactive
    The King Prawn
    @TheKingPrawn

    The Bee nailed it, again.

    • #20
  21. The King Prawn Inactive
    The King Prawn
    @TheKingPrawn

    Also,

    • #21
  22. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    The artsy left is losing their ability to influence the culture. Folks just aren’t that interested in what they have to say.

    • #22
  23. Randal H Member
    Randal H
    @RandalH

    Honestly, I can’t imagine why anyone finds these awards shows interesting. Even if I saw the movies (which I didn’t) and even if I liked the actors (which I don’t) it would still be torture for me to sit through hours of people handing other people statues.

    • #23
  24. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Larry3435 (View Comment):
    Remember The King’s Speech, The Artist, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, or Spotlight (all Best Picture winners from 2010-2015)?

    No, ’cause I haven’t seen a single one of them.

    I just looked up the list of Best Picture winners and the most recent one I’ve actually seen was No Country for Old Men from 2007.

    • #24
  25. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    KentForrester (View Comment):
    Jeez, can’t even one of the rich beautiful people get up and say, “How about a hand for the patriotic, hard-working Americans who make up the majority of our country.” Imagine the shock in the audience if one of the winners said, “I love America and its people.”

    None of them are good enough actors to make it sound convincing.

    • #25
  26. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    The artsy left is losing their ability to influence the culture. Folks just aren’t that interested in what they have to say.

    Not to beat a dead horse, but folks just aren’t that interested in the movies they nominate either.  I took a gander at the box office results for 2017.  Of the nine Best Picture nominees, only four were in the box office top 50 – Dunkirk (#14), Get Out (#15), The Post (#39), and The Shape of Water (#48).  Why would they expect people to want to see an awards competition among films that most people haven’t seen, and many people haven’t even heard of?

    • #26
  27. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    If Andrew Klavan or Steven Crowder hosted it, I’d walk a mile over broken glass to watch the carnage. Aside from that? Meh.

    I think the last time I watched was in the 80’s and Dana Carvey was the host. He hosted one year and I rolled on the floor laughing. He was great. Then he hosted again and you could tell they reigned him in and it was dreadful. Never again. Added to that was the garbage that was being peddled. I remember being swindled into watching The English Patient one year. Yuck!

    • #27
  28. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment):
    Granted, I’m more Gen X in personality but I just don’t see the appeal.

    As a young boomer, it used to be a great event. Who would win was important when you thought Hollywood shared your values; actors and actresses of old were like friends. As an old boomer, I don’t see the appeal either. I pick up a People Magazine and don’t know 7/8 of the people in it.

    • #28
  29. Roderic Fabian Coolidge
    Roderic Fabian
    @rhfabian

    Four hours of unrelenting preaching and virtue signaling.  What’s not to like?

    I stopped going to movies years ago.  My wife and I gave up our TV cable 5 years ago because we were no longer watching it and it had become a waste of money.

    Yet I regret that I might be missing some good entertainment.  On the recommendation of conservative critics I saw “Three Billboards” only to be met with the image of the protagonist kicking two people in the groin just for pushing back on her stupid, self centered jihad.

    Yeah, no thanks.  I’ll stream “Casablanca” again instead.

     

     

    • #29
  30. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    RyanFalcone (View Comment):
    If Andrew Klavan or Steven Crowder hosted it, I’d walk a mile over broken glass to watch the carnage. Aside from that? Meh.

    Throw in Larry O’Connor, that would be a show for the ages.  None of the stars would show though.

    • #30
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