Oscar ratings plummet

Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast on ABC took a tumble in the ratings. Following in the footsteps of both The Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, ratings for Sunday night's 77th Annual Academy Awards were down this year. The weak ratings for Sunday's Oscar broadcast came as no surprise because this year movies such as "There Will Be Blood", "Michael Clayton", "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers. The night's big winner, "No Country For Old Men" which won four awards including best picture and best drama, only made a modest $64 million at the North American box office. Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, "Juno," crossed the $100 million. That film managed to win just one Oscar for best original screenplay.

This years TV ratings for the Oscars were the lowest in 34 years. On Sunday only 32 million Americans watched the Oscars. In 2007 41 million Americans tuned in to the Academy Awards. By contrast, the most watched Oscar broadcast on record was the 1998 show when the blockbuster "Titanic" won 11 awards. That year 55 million Americans tuned in. Until now, the show’s worst rating dated back to 2003. That year the Academy Awards took place just a day after the invasion of Iraq. The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture. Sunday's broadcast, with comedian Jon Stewart as Oscar host, now ranks as the smallest U.S. TV audience for the Oscars since 1974, when actual viewer totals first became available.

Hannelore Glibert