You will find more infographics at Statista
In a column in the Wall Street Journal Brenda Cronin says it’s time for the Oscar ceremony to return to its roots:
Not only the Oscars have the long-in-the-tooth whiff of best-dressed lists and landlines. All the entertainment awards shows that have run on television—the Grammys, the Golden Globes, the Emmys—have worn out their welcome. It’s a rare blind spot for industries that prize youth and are ever on the prowl for the next big thing. These ceremonies cast a financial halo that can shine on even those tangentially involved, such as the aesthetician tending a nominee’s cuticles or eyebrows for the red carpet. Perhaps that is why the shows lumber along zombielike, even as streaming has transformed movies, music and all entertainment.
Would people set aside an evening to watch doctors or plumbers honor their own? True, the entertainment business has an outsize share of good looks and glitz. But audiences today seem to prefer their stars not in red-carpet regalia but in character, slaying villains, slogging through battlefield trenches, falling in love, or rocketing to outer space.
with this proposal:
Perhaps Hollywood should take a page from other industries and confine its honors to banquet rooms, where the only cameras are on smartphones. Don’t tweak or refresh or reimagine the awards show. Focus instead on making new and dazzling entertainment. We’re ready for it.
The first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929; it was private. It wasn’t until 1945 that the awards ceremony was broadcast coast-to-coast (on ABC). Since it was an evening affair Pacific time, that was pretty late for the rest of the country. It was first televised in 1953 and at that time was the only awards show that received that treatment. Nowadays there are a half dozen, maybe a dozen awards shows televised per year.
I find them boring; judging by the graph of viewership at the top of this post a lot of Americans agree with me. Even the entertainment sections, e.g. the opening acts by the emcees, are tedious. Time for the Oscars to be relegated to history.
They were always boring. Never watched them. Have never understood or appreciated celebrity culture. Same for sports. I might want to listen to Ted Williams talk about the art of hitting. His opinion on foreign policy or much of anything else? Who cares.
Steve
Me, neither. My wife watches the Oscars. I either go to another room and watch something else or go to sleep.
I think this is the first time I have ever agreed with Steve – “who cares†is a perfect response to celebrities fawning over themselves.