Oscars May Be Least Watched Ever

NEW YORK — The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.

Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when "The Departed" was named best picture.

The least-watched Oscars ceremony ever was in 2003, when there were 33 million viewers.

Nielsen has no estimate yet on how many people watched Sunday night, but based on ratings from the nation's biggest markets, the Oscars will be hard-pressed to avoid an ignominious record.

The show had a 21.9 rating and 33 share.

Comments

[wm1066]

Explosions, I want more explosions, and maybe we can get someone with ADD to hold the camera.
And those edits ,we need more fast cut aways.
Come on you people pick up the pace.
Ouch I just bit my tongue.

Could it be that people aren't going to that many movies because they are too expensive and loud, way too loud, and the story lines are crap?

[Bulbul]

It was rather boing, I was planning to watch and set my recorder to PBS, Pride and Prejudice, part 3, but then ended up watching mostly the later.

[tallky]

Anybody else notice THREE SONGS FROM ONE BAD MOVIE - all awful? And none won? What the heck was that? It was a bore from the start - and as we are bored, the winners are cut off by the music, there were times I'd rather hear the thank yous that the jokes or the re-runs.

[Jsens3]

The Academy Awards last night was miserable. I quit after the first 45 minutes. The show is boring, my wife tried to watch it and dozed off several times. They need to get the entire production down to an hour, get fresh material, skip those nauseating, emotional speechlets - who gives a damn. Show us the winners we care about and move on!

[verlaine]

Jon Stewart is the worst Oscar host of all-time!! He's an atrocity, abomination, and a disgrace to comedy lovers everywhere. He has no talent, charisma, or personality. He can't tell a joke to save his life and should be banned from TV for life!!

[molly2007]

I think that the Oscars are becoming a thing of the past. They love to give themselves a pat on the back what about the people that have real jobs and don't get paid nothing close to what these people make. With every thing going on in the world today all they think about is stroking their big ego's.

[LaFilleEnRose]

Awwwww c'mon. The reason the Oscars are watched less and less is the mystique of celebs has become watered down because of channels like E, and regular Hollywood gossip shows night after night. With our own HuffPo there's evan an E page filled with stuff, we have People and numerous other magazines. With all that out there, the Oscars are bound to become less important to see -- in order to get a fix on celebrity.

They're no more boring than they've ever been.

[nacilbuper]

that is probably one of the truest statements ever posted on this site.

huzzah!!!

[Bulbul]

Actually it is boring, because of the over hyped exposure of celebrity coverage all year round. Too much information of anyting kills the curiosity !

[JScott]

My how times have changed this and Miss America show were television spectaculars but now they are just BORING!!!!!

[plutorage]

Maybe Hollywood should try an Oscar telecast that is not a marketing dog and pony show.

Marketing has always been a driver in Hollywood - obviously - but the Oscar telecast used to be a break in the monotony. it used to show on Mondays or Tuesday's at the end of a long winter. People hung over from the week-end saw a little something different, a once in a year event. After going out Friday, saturday and all day Sunday, Monday was great for working off a combo of Monday blahs and weekend hangover just chillin' on your bed early watching Oscars. Now it just plays like the boring trailers you have to sit through on a DVD from Blockbusters while interfering with your favorite prime time shows on Sunday.

I knew Oscars were headed for extinction when they moved them to Sunday but at this stage they need more than a scheduling change.

Make it smaller and make it an Oscar party, like the Golden Globes. Get a real "master of ceremonies". Don't make it a sin to be original like Bjork dressed in a swan just because the marketing pimps resent the territorial poaching.

And the music could have been piped in from my dentist's office.

[UncleJimbo]

People watch the Oscars when the movies that they have seen are nominated! You had a bag of films that no one saw,nominated for everything! Why watch a show that disses you taste!

[raker]

The Oscar show was good. It's the movies that got small. No production numbers except the nominated songs. Hurray! A few good jokes, a short comedy bit, In Memorium, honorary Oscar, graceful acceptance speeches, bada-bing, bada-boom, it was over in no time.

[Gumby69]

Go Gary! You rock! Ha Ha

[KISSman]

This is what happens when Hollywood puts out a year-full of movies that weren't all that good.

I mean, last year we had a fun battle between "Little Miss Sunshine" and the "The Departed". None of the 5 nominees this year could shine the shoes of those two films.

The fact that George Clooney was considered a strong candidate to win the Oscar for a good-but-far-from-great performance in "Michael Clayton" is a sign that this was truly a weak year.

Plus, there were even two phenominal movies up for Best Foreign Film last year ("The Lives of Others" and "Pan's Labyrinth") that even enjoyed American distribution while there were no foriegn film nominees that made it to an American theater this year.

All these things add up for the makings of a pretty forgettable Oscars.

If they want ratings, they gotta go with Colbert. :)