Apparently the folks at home didn’t care as much either. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever. The show had a 21.9 rating and 33 share. They also 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. There were still 33 million viewers which isn’t that bad for a television program, but it doesn’t live up to the standards of Oscar which is usually the second most watched show of the year behind the Super Bowl.
I think the writer’s strike had a bigger effect on the show than we thought. We know that the strike caused the start of the production on the show to be postponed so maybe it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Maybe the jokes could have been funnier if they had had more time to write more. Perhaps the opening could have been more spectacular and more people would have stayed tuned in…
In the end, however, it’s really probably about the movies. Most people haven’t seen these movies, and may never see these movies. Those of us who love movies understand how good the nominees were this year and how lucky we were to have films like No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, Atonement, and Juno nominated for Best Picture.
I’m worried this might continue as independent films start to get more press and Oscar love. This seems to be the direction over the past couple of years. It will be interesting to see how this trends over time.
I’m not as big of a movie buff like Jason is, so I’ll be honest and admit, I MAY have watched 10 minutes. It bored me, and frankly, I couldn’t have cared any less about it than I already did.
Hey, but my Houston Rockets won their 12th straight game. That I do care about.
The Suns lost bad yesterday, so the Oscars made me forget about it
Oh man, what happened to the Suns. Shaq happened, I guess. Surely they can get it turned around, although if they play Houston in the playoffs I’m going to have to wish famine and pestilence on them.
The Oscars would be watched more if any actual good movies were nominated =)
Ever notice its always only dramas (and not always the best ones). Why not one type of movie from every category competing against each other, a drama, a comedy, an action, a horror, and a musical with lots of singing for Mo. Competition would have everyone tuning in to see, did we laugh more or we had good dramas? Its not that this years slate were awful movies, but where was all the awesomeness? Let me give an example…
Bourne Ultimatum, look, this won 3 oscars as it is, 2 of them were for sound (which I’m not sure how it beat Transformers or any big sci-fi movie, unless the coin came down heads..), at any rate compare Bourne to Michael Clayton. Michael Clayton was an ok movie (thats right, ok, not pant dropping awesome), I doubt anyone walked out of it saying “MAN, when is the sequel coming out!!”. You didnt think about it afterwards if at all, but the Bourne series held suspense, action, drama and a much intricated intense story than Micahel Clayton. I’m not sure how Clooney was even nominated. He didnt make me think he was playing another character. He was onscreen trying to seemingly make a point he never did.
Although the movie was still good, was it better than Bourne? I dont think so, and I think many others wouldnt think so, and quite frankly Matt Damon did a much better job than Clooney did in making you believe he was someone else. Heck Sarah Silverman isnt singing about Geroge Clooney is she?!?
So why the snub of nominations? Why not have really good movies that actually earn money that get nominated OR add movies from each category to stir up some interest.
That my friends is how the Capn would solve the low ratings…
Well, the Cap’n makes valid points although I’m not sure all your suggestions would be feasible (one movie from each category – the drama would always win).
The truth is, we do see a LOT more hit movies getting nominated these days than we have seen in the past. You can’t forget that Forrest Gump, Titanic, and Lord of the Rings: ROTK all were nominated and WON Best Picture.
The problem with the process is the nominations come from the members of the Academy who are still, largely, older Hollywood. As these people start dying off (I’m sorry if I sound crass), and new members are taken in, we will continue to see a change in the types of movies that are nominated.
But, truthfully, there will always be a soft spot at the Oscars for a certain time of drama in the Best Picture category. There’s a sense that the Best Picture has to live up to historical standards and nominating just any old movie that made a ton of money won’t cut it.
Agreed…. not every money maker is a truly good movie. Some loved transformers (me!!), some didnt think it had a good story. But take Spidey 1, it was a great movie, adapted well from the comic series (for the most part), although the other Spideys movies made more money they were not as good as the 1st one by far. it had a great sense of drama, suspense, and action, shoulda coulda even been nominated (perhaps for its category)…. I’m just saying… but it was really great to see LOTR RoTK get the win for exactly what I’m describing.
Well, Spidey 2 was the best of the 3 for sure, even though Spidey 1 was good. I loved #2, it just had more heart in it.
Second, I think Michael Clayton WAS better than Bourne Ultimatum (even if I have Bourne as my #2 movie of the year), but I definitely think it should have been nominated for Best Picture.
The pick for Atonement is what screwed it for me…if that had been Bourne, then you get a decent mix. But otherwise, it’s some boring movies up there. That’s why I had hoped Juno would win, just to shake things up.
The Bourne Ultimatum was an action movie, yes, but it was also one of the best action-spy films in a decade and I wish it had been rewarded for more than just sound editing.
Jeff….Yao out for the season, yikes man.
I saw that just now. I’m kinda hatin’ life right now. Yao and T-Mac were a force to contend with now that they had better role players.
Well, we’ll see if anyone else can step up.
Jeff, that does suck man, I feel your pain. We went through that a few years ago with Amare missing the entire season, etc. It’s just a horrible thing.
[...] guys responsible for Pop Critics (which is in my queue to be reviewed) told us that there's no country for boring Oscars. The movie disc, No Country For Old Men, is sitting near my computer. Since it won best picture, [...]