Cinema Chat: 04/29/21
The 93rd Academy Awards slumped to their smallest TV audience ever. But the April 25 show was hardly alone this awards season in achieving that dubious milestone. The 10.4 million viewers for ABC’s Oscars telecast a 56 percent drop from 2020 were in keeping with a host of other awards broadcasts over the past seven months. Collectively, the four biggest awards shows the Emmys, Globes, Grammys and Oscars lost a staggering 35 million viewers from their previous telecasts in the 2019-20 season, suffering an average drop of 45 percent. The Emmys actually fared the best, losing only 9 percent of their 2019 audience (albeit from a much lower starting point than the other three).
SOUR NOTES AT THE OSCARS
Apr. 29, 2021 at 11:00 am
OSCARS MADE ME A GROUCH
They were noteworthy for some of the groundbreaking nominees and winners, but kinda stunk for production decisions.
We do have to cut them some slack. It was an impossible task, during a pandemic, in a much smaller venue, Union Station (gorgeous and historic but not large enough to present “spectacle”), with some guests seated across town at the (formerly) Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, the traditional site of the awards recently and the largest stage in the U.S.
Song and dance numbers, vital to the entertainment value of the show? Missing. I heard they did some songs on the red carpet, but I never tune in to the fashion and fabulousness flaunting so I missed that. Whatever there was.
Academy Awards viewership plummets
AP
AP
The Academy Awards television audience plunged to 9.85 million viewers on ABC, less than half of the Oscars previous low and continuing a startling trend of viewer tune out for awards shows.
The Nielsen company s preliminary estimate shows that the audience who watched Nomadland win best picture on Sunday was 58% below last year s tally of 23.6 million, which had set the previous record for least-watched Oscars telecast.
Following a year where movie theaters were mostly closed due to COVID-19, people were unexcited about or unfamiliar with movies they primarily streamed at home. Producers tried to fight through pandemic fatigue with a hostless program and a small, socially-distanced audience that didn t wear masks during the broadcast.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
In this handout photo provided by A.M.P.A.S., Regina King speaks onstage during the 93rd Annual Academy Awards at Union Station on Sunday, April 25, 2021 in Los Angeles. (Todd Wawrychuk/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images/TNS)
Oscars 2021: What worked, what didn’t and what’s next
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, (TNS)
The never-ending awards season ended Sunday – abruptly. It was as if Joaquin Phoenix was as exhausted as the rest of us when he shuffled off the stage at the end of the 93rd Oscars, having mumbled that Anthony Hopkins won lead actor. He didn’t explain that the 83-year-old actor wasn’t even there because he was at his father’s grave in Wales, reciting Dylan Thomas. Which . . . all things considered . . . stands as a justifiable excuse. To be honest, there were moments Sunday night when being at a cemetery would have felt preferable to watching the strange brew Steven Soderbergh and his fellow producers served up.
Oscars TV Ratings Low Caps Award Shows Down Year
ABC/A.M.P.A.S.; Kevin Winter/Getty Images; Courtesy of ABC
The top awards shows the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys all lost viewers from their previous telecasts in the 2019-20 season.
TV viewership for major kudos events has steeply declined amid the pandemic, with only a few outliers like the NAACP Image Awards increasing their audience.
The 93rd Academy Awards, produced by Steven Soderbergh, Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher, slumped to their smallest TV audience ever. But the April 25 show was hardly alone this awards season in achieving that dubious milestone. The 10.4 million viewers for ABC’s Oscars telecast a 56 percent drop from 2020 were in keeping with a host of other awards broadcasts over the past seven months.