If you look at it from a thousand feet out, the Academy and ABC got what they wanted during the most recent edition of the Oscars. The day after the broadcast the whole world was talking about the awards ceremony. Plus, the show saw a sizeable boost in its ratings from a historic low in 2021. But look closer and the cracks become clear.
The water-cooler moment from the Oscars was when Will Smith hit Chris Rock, live on TV (Rock made an in-poor-taste joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaven head, as he was introducing the Best Documentary award). Smith has since apologized for attacking Rock, admitting that he was out of line. But it became a moment that overshadowed the rest of the ceremony and dampened the joy of the winners, including for Smith — winning his first Oscar for Best Actor in King Richard. The historic wins of Ariana DeBose, Jane Campion, Troy Kotsur and CODA — as well as powerful speeches from Questlove and Jessica Chastain — were relegated to secondary talking points as a result.
As for the ratings, early reports indicate this year’s Oscars saw a 58% increase in viewership overall and a good bump in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic. But the 16.6 million viewers are still the second lowest ratings for the awards show ever and only the second time it earned less than 20 million viewers, even after multiple efforts were made to draw viewers in.
The Oscars love to be viewed as "Hollywood’s biggest night," with the goal of delivering an entertaining, big, glamorous TV experience all while honoring what its 9,000 or so members have deemed the best in movies from the previous year. Trying to accomplish both goals is a tall task and it may be time for the Oscars to make life easier on themselves and get back to the basics — stop trying to be a TV entertainment show and focus on the awards and the movies themselves.
Let’s do a quick review of this most recent Oscars broadcast. After three years without a host, the Oscars enlisted Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes to emcee the evening, the trio taking on one of the hardest jobs in Hollywood. They had a few good bits (I enjoyed Sykes’ Academy Museum remote, Schumer was a pro addressing the audience after the slap and Hall was game and energetic in all her bits), but just as many failed and derailed the momentum of the show. Did we really need Schumer giving us a second monologue after the trio had just done one?
The other big decision, pushed by ABC and controversially implemented by the show’s producers, was to hand out eight awards an hour before the broadcast in order to shorten the show and finish in ABC’s allotted three-hour runtime. Many Academy members shared their disappointment, saying they were disrespecting nominees in key categories. Despite the controversial changes the broadcast still ran almost 40 minutes over the three-hour goal — no better than in past years when they gave out all the awards live. So that idea fell flat on its face.
Everything else was just … fine. Performances by Beyoncé and other nominated songs, as well as a redux of Encanto’s "We Don’t Talk About Bruno," were OK. Montages to The Godfather and James Bond were routine but disjointed — it seemed odd not to have the Bond montage presented by Bond actors (especially since Judi Dench, Javier Bardem and Rami Malek were all in the audience). Finally, the misguided attempt to bring the "fans" into the discussion with social media voted categories for "favorite movie" and "top cheer" moment — both won by Zach Snyder movies (The Justice League and Army of the Dead) — told us nothing more than how well fan communities can mobilize online.
The Oscars’ concern about declining ratings is fair, but it’s also missing the larger picture — it’s not just them, it’s all live TV events. Unless you are the NFL, or another major sporting event, ratings have been declining across the board. It’s not like other awards shows are doing any better. The most recent Emmy Awards in September 2021 had a viewership of 7.4 million; the 2021 Grammy’s last April had 8.8 million. Even pre-pandemic numbers the Oscars were still at the top of the ratings. The 2019 Oscars ceremony even saw an increase in ratings, hitting 29.6 million (a growth of more than 3 million people year-on-year).
That year there was no host, a "Popular Film" category meant to get big blockbuster movies nominated was proposed but then abandoned, as was attempts to air some awards during commercial breaks to again try and shorten the ceremony. None of that mattered, people tuned in to see how Black Panther, A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody — all in the top 15 highest-grossing movies of 2018 — would fare in Best Picture and other awards.
We’re not suggesting that the Oscars should focus exclusively on box-office hits rather than continuing to elevate a variety of movies large and small. What it shows, though, is that when the public has heard of some of the contenders, people tune in to see what wins. Now, I’d be fine if the Oscars were just: "here’s the nominees, here’s the winner and here’s the speech. Now, onto the next one." But we know that others tune into the Oscars for the red carpet glamor, love the comedy skits and the presenter pairings. Finding the balance is key.
Of course, ABC (which owns the broadcast rights for the Oscars until 2028) should do what it can to boost its ratings, but trying to liven up the show for a younger generation that rarely watch TV, while annoying the existing audience doesn’t make much sense. If the Oscars are going to reach audiences it will likely be because of all the things the Oscars have always done well — glamorous people, dressed to the nines handing out awards for movies that people truly love and care about.
