NEW YORK (AP) – George Bradley loved watching the Academy Awards. The 28-year-old Briton, who now lives in San Diego, would stay up late at home to tune in.
Even though he’s in the correct time zone now, he’s just not interested and that’s mainly due to the pandemic.
“The growing dominance of streaming services has robbed me of the glamor of the Oscars,” he said. “You just don’t get the same warm, fuzzy feeling when you see a movie off the screen.”
Whether you watch for love, love to hate, or like Bradley you gave up, awards ceremonies have suffered since the coronavirus closed theaters and stopped performing live. However, the rating slide for award nights began long before the Covid-19 takeover.
For much of this century, the Oscars drew 35 to 45 million viewers, often right behind the Super Bowl. Last year, just before the pandemic was declared, the hostless television show on ABC was seen by its smallest audience ever, 23.6 million viewers, a 20 percent decrease from the previous year.
The pandemic-era Golden Globes fell a little over a year later to 6.9 million viewers, a 64% year-over-year decline and barely surpassing 2008. That year, a writers’ strike forced NBC to broadcast a press conference announcing the winners. Last year, according to the Nielsen company, the show had 18.4 million viewers before it was blocked.
In March, Grammy producers avoided the zoom awkwardness of other awards shows and staged appearances from some of the industry’s biggest stars – to no avail. The CBS show reached 9.2 million viewers, both television and streaming, the lowest number on record and a 51% decrease from 2020, Nielsen said.
John Bennardo, 52, in Boca Raton, Fla., Is a film buff, film school graduate, screenwriter and runs a video business for primarily corporate clients. This year is a no-go for the Oscars.
“I love the movies and aspire to be on this Oscar stage one day and get my own award,” he said. “I watch and participate every year, I enter competitions where I try to find winners and see all of the films. But something has changed for this year. “
To start with, he hasn’t seen a single film nominated in any category.
“Maybe I’ll watch Zach Snyder’s Justice League instead. It could be shorter, ”Bennardo joked about the Oscars show.
As with other awards shows, the Oscars broadcast has been pushed back due to pandemic restrictions and safety concerns. The show had been postponed three times in history, but never that far in advance. Organizers scheduled it for April 25th last June, as opposed to its usual slot in February or early March.
Count that among the driving forces behind the fatigue of the Oscars. Another reason, according to former fans of the show, is to watch nominated films on small screens and keep track of when and where they are available for streaming and on-demand services. For some it was a great blur.
Priscilla Visintine, 62, in St. Louis, Missouri, used to live to see the Academy Awards. She attended watch parties every year that were usually fully dressed for the occasion.
“In any case, the closure of the theaters this year piqued my lack of interest,” she said. “I didn’t get a feel for Oscar buzz.”
Not all diehards have given up their favorite award ceremony.
In Knoxville, Tennessee, 50-year-old Jennifer Rice and her 22-year-old son Jordan drove for as many nominated films as possible for years. For the past few years it has been their “February madness,” she said, and they kept diagrams to document their predictions. She even got to compete in the Oscars in 2019 while working for a beauty company at the time.
“My other two children, aged 25 and 19, are not interested in the Oscars. It’s just special to Jordan and me, ”said Rice. “The Oscars actually push us to watch movies that we may never have chosen. I’m not that excited this year but we’re still trying to see everything before the awards show. “
As real-world distress has increased for many viewers from food insecurity and work stoppage to isolation from lockdowns and parenting struggles, awards ceremonies offer less escape and glare than in the past and often rely on pre-recorded performances and zoom boxes for nominees. In addition, the data show little interest in appointment television in general among younger generations.
Lifelong film lover and filmmaker himself, 22-year-old Pierre Subeh of Orlando, Florida stopped watching the Oscars in 2019.
“We can hardly stay seated for a 15-second TikTok. How are we supposed to survive a lengthy, four-hour award show with advertisements and outdated insulting jokes? We live in the age of content curation. We need algorithms to figure out what we want to see and to show us the best of the best, ”he said.
As a Muslim immigrant from the Middle East, Subeh also sees little inclusion of his culture in mainstream film, let alone on the Oscars stage.
“We are only mentioned when Aladdin is raised. I don’t feel motivated to bring my family together for a four-hour awards show on a Sunday where our culture and religion are never mentioned. However, as Muslims, we make up about 25% of the world’s population, ”he said.
Jon Niccum, 55, in Lawrence, Kansas, teaches screenwriting at Kansas State University. He is a filmmaker, attended film school and worked as a film critic. He and his wife host an annual Oscar party in its prime for 30 guests, including a betting pool on winners for money and prizes. It will be family only this year due to the pandemic but the bets are on.
And watch all the top films at home? For the most part, he said, “It was less than satisfying.” Less satisfying enough to put out the Oscars broadcast?
“I haven’t missed an Oscar in 45 years. I’ll see every single minute of it, ”said Niccum.
Also in Medford, New Jersey, 65-year-old Deb Madison will watch as she has done since childhood and her mother first brought her to the movies.
While on an RV road trip with her husband in 2018, she had him cycle with her into town in Carlsbad, New Mexico to find a place to look. The return trip was in pitch black surroundings. Another year when she was working the front desk at a big Philadelphia party on the night of the Oscars, coordinators ran cables and provided her with a tiny television hidden under the welcome desk so she could tune in.
This year, trying to keep up with the nominees from home has suppressed their excitement, Madison said.
“I’m a sucker for the red carpet and the clothes and,” Oh my god, I can’t believe she wore this. “Another thing is, I don’t particularly need to see these actors in their home environment,” she said with a laugh. “It wouldn’t be tragic this year if I missed it. Nobody would have to run cables this year. But me I still love the films. “
