Oscar Ratings Up, But Not Through the Roof

The new direction for last night's Academy Awards proved to be just the ticket, as ratings were up over 4 million viewers from last year, making it the most watched entertainment program of the season. In all, early estimates indicate that 36.3 million viewers watched the show in the United States. Most significant was the gain in the 18-49 demographic, otherwise known as "the people who spend money on stuff." More men watched, two, which might have been something of a surprise. Nearly 25% more men 18-34 tuned in versus last year, which had a much more male-oriented slate of films. Still, the numbers were nowhere near what The Departed pulled two years ago, and were about 20 million off the record mark set by Titanic in 1998. The steep decline over the past decade has as much to do with the growing reliance on the internet, more channels, and digital video recorders as it does anything else. So what was the reason more people watched this year? Maybe it was Hugh Jackman or all the "surprises," like seeing Zac Efron more than anyone not named Hugh Jackman. I think it was probably a combination of the Heath Ledger factor and a general curiosity about what the show would be like. It can't hurt having the world's first couple (Brangelina) nominated for major awards, either. It was certainly a smoother show on the whole than we've seen in years past, so kudos on the production, but I still felt that what worked best was the comedy and what fell flattest were the musical numbers.

Comments

[Ellen Kimball]

The show was quite a bit better than many I have watched. I have no idea why our local movie reviewer panned it, as did others I have heard this morning. The stage work was amazing -- I've never seen it so adaptable to so many scenic impressions. Also, the music was quite good and used themes from former films that were familiar to me.

Hugh Jackman is handsome, talented and effervescent and he made an excellent host. It was wonderful to hear him belt out musical numbers! The idea of having former winners address each nominated actor/actress was a delightful addition -- wonder why no one would have thought of doing that before.

The women looked radiant, but I would have preferred more colorful gowns. Meryl Streep's gray gown, Angelina Jolie's black gown, and Kate Winslet's gray-black gown looked funereal -- not terrible, not terrific. I don't see why anyone dissed Beyonce's gold-on-black. I thought it was delightful.

I agreed with all of the selections, but sorry to see Josh Brolin lose his category. Heath Ledger's performances will live on forever.

EK

[Anybody]

It was a pretty disappointing show I thought. It was littered with good stuff (the writers did a good job) but the production looked cheesy and cheap. The opening number was poor at best and the categories were predictable (besides the foreign film upset).

Kudos to Stiller, Rogan and Franco... Tina Fey and Steve Martin were great and the Baz Lurhman musical section was pretty impressive. HOWEVER can we go back to a comedian host please... if you want to shorten the show have him/her present some of the awards. The actor/actress stuff was kind of cultish and weird - and if you're going to do it that way, do it the same for director as well.

Next host - Tina Fey, Jon Stewart round 3 or Ricky Gervais (sleeper pick - Sasha Baron Cohen)

[Will]

Oooh, Tina Fey! Great pick. I would definitely watch if she was involved...

[Get The Big Picture]

Frankly, since he's been the highlight of the show three times in the past five or six years, why not hire Ben Stiller to host? I'm not a big fan in general, but he kills it at the Oscars.

[The Aussie]

I thought that the show was great and Hugh Jackman was a great host. I loved the musical numbers and the past actor/actress winners speaking about each nominee. The only thing that did not interest me was the end montage of 2009 films. Surely G-Force and Night at the Museum 2 are not among the best to expect in the coming year?

[The Aussie]

Forgot about them butchering the Best Song nominees. That was terrible.

And by the way, is it just me, or did the first three Best Score nominees sound almost identical? At least WALL-E and Slumdog brought something different into it.

[Get The Big Picture]

Button has a terrific score, and Desplat is a wonderful composer. They just chose a weird passage. I actually said that out loud during the segment. I don't know why The Visitor didn't make it over the completely generic sounding Defiance score. Usually world music does well in this category and movies that have to do with music always get extra attention.