Yes, I more or less did stay up and watch the Academy Awards last night…………sort of. At some point during the night, after the makeup award but before they gave out the award for Best Supporting Actor, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until they gave out the Best Picture Award, which turned out to be the big surprise of the night. As I mentioned when I reviewed it in January, I was very impressed by Crash and was glad to see it win. I am also glad that Reese Witherspoon won for her perfomance in Walk The Line, though disappointed that Joaquin Phoenix was passed over for a performance that was just as good.
Beyond that, I don’t really have that much more to say about the night. Jon Stewart was funny, but at times too funny and I wonder if we’ll see him back next year. To be honest, there have only been two people in my lifetime who have been the right person to host the Academy Awards; Billy Crystal and Johnny Carson. For his own part, the Washington Post’s Tom Shales calls the show a disaster, and Andy Dehnart is pretty sure that Jon Stewart won’t be invited to host again any time soon.
And it appears that America has spoken as well:
LOS ANGELES — ABC is in for a “Crash” landing in the Oscar ratings.
The Academy Awards were down 10 percent from last year’s ceremony, based on preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings from the nation’s 55 biggest markets. If the full national ratings follow suit later Monday, this year’s ceremony will likely be the second least-watched Oscars telecast behind 2003, when “Chicago” won best picture.
The ceremony, where “Crash” won a surprise best picture trophy, drew a 27.1 rating and a 40 share. Each rating point is equivalent to 1.1 million homes, while the share indicates that 40 percent of the TVs in use last night were tuned to the awards.
Last year’s metered markets had a 30.1 rating and 43 share, Nielsen said.
Hmmm, I wonder why that might have happened.
More Oscar coverage at Pajamas Media, Captain’s Quarters, Ann Althouse
Technorati Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Academy Awards, Oscars
