Oscars Ratings Disaster - Record Low Viewership Drops Under 10 Million For First Time

[AndyDursin]

I'm at a loss for words at this point.

The Oscars ceremony next week will have the look and feel of a movie, giving winners more time for speeches, while coronavirus masks will play a major role, producers of the show said on Saturday.

The coronavirus pandemic and a trio of new producers have led to a reinvention of the traditional show where the world's highest movie honors are handed out before a seated theater audience of more than 4,000 A-list stars and industry executives.

Much of the April 25 ceremony will instead be held at the Art Deco Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, where a stage is being built and where presenters will be doing more than opening an envelope with the winner's name.

"It's not going to be like anything that's been done before," director Steven Soderbergh, who is producing the show with Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins, told a news conference.

Soderbergh, who directed the 2011 movie "Contagion," said the pandemic had "opened up an opportunity to try something that hasn't been tried."

"We want the show to have a voice," he added.

Soderbergh said the ceremony would be shot like a movie, with presenters including Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford and Halle Berry "playing themselves, or at least a version of themselves."

Speeches by Oscar winners were previously limited to around 45 seconds. This year, Soderbergh said, "we're giving them space. We've encouraged them to tell a story, and to say something personal."

The producers said strict testing and COVID protocols would be in place, much of them following standards developed last year to get movie and TV production running again.

They also have consulted extensively with epidemiologists who worked 10 years ago on "Contagion," which eerily foreshadowed the devastating effects of a virus on the world and which saw a bump in rentals and streaming last year.

Asked about masks at the ceremony, Soderbergh gave what he called a deliberately cryptic reply.

"Masks are going to play a very important role in the story," he said. "That topic is very central to the narrative."

Nominees unable to travel to Los Angeles for the ceremony will be able to take part via satellite hookups from venues around the world but there will be no Zoom appearances.

The ceremony will be preceded by a 90-minute pre-show that will include performances of the five original song contenders that were recorded in advance on the roof of the new Academy Museum in Los Angeles, and in Iceland.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/oscars ... 021-04-17/

[AndyDursin]

CLOWN SHOW -- everyone knows the Ro strikes worst doing ads!!!

[mkaroly]

Are people going to watch it or are people going to tune out to send them a message? I would love to know what the numbers are afterward. For me I refuse to watch it; haven't watched The Oscars in years and am pleased to once more ignore it.

[Monterey Jack]

It's mindblowing in retrospect that last year's ceremony had the usual crush of celebs jammed in shoulder-to-shoulder barely a month before everything started shutting down, not a whiff of Covid anxiety anywhere in the atmosphere.

[Edmund Kattak]

I think they are doing this spectacle hoping that the show (a.k.a "Film") will be far better in quality and execution than any of the lame nominees last year.

[AndyDursin]

First time in my lifetime I didn't watch 1 second of the Oscars. Hope it was amazing! (I'm sure it wasn't)

[Monterey Jack]

Well that ending was...awkward (especially considering who was placed last on the "In Memoriam" reel).

[AndyDursin]

Virtue signalers at Yahoo seem to suggest it's time to have separate acting categories for races. So clearly the night ended well

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/osc ... 26747.html

[Paul MacLean]

Well that ending was...awkward (especially considering who was placed last on the "In Memoriam" reel).

What happened?

[AndyDursin]

From what I read, I guess they thought it would be a good idea to move Best Picture up and hand off the acting awards last, presumably so it would end with Chadwick Boseman, the late Black Panther star, winning a Best Actor Oscar. Instead Anthony Hopkins won again and he wasn't even on the computer so the show just ended.

All I can say about NOMADLAND is, while I respected McDormands work, the movie is about 100 times less entertaining than LOVE AND MONSTERS. Yes , it's a struggle living in a van. I didn't need to see 2+ hours of it.

Anyway based on comments from the few who watched it, my guess is "the outrage " will extend to another year of complaining about "Old White People."

[AndyDursin]

Basically:

[AndyDursin]

No surprise here.

[Edmund Kattak]

Basically:

I guess a majority of the Academy Members aren't as "woke" as they might think. Or, maybe, honestly and realistically speaking, this was just part of the usual "Dog and Pony Show" that goes on when the Hollywood community wants to project the "illusion" of being socially conscious and relevant in order to make their industry exempt from the Professional Activist SJW organizations that bully many other industries and corporations by threats of pressure by politicians, harassing advertisers or patrons.

[Monterey Jack]

Hopkins' performance was simply better, all apologies to Boseman. I'm glad it wasn't the usual "You're dead, so here's an award" thing, but of course, people will bag on this as being "racist".

[AndyDursin]

Yes that's exactly what's happening. They all deserve one another, quite frankly.