Of all the award shows on television, the Academy Awards is the most boring. It shouldn’t be and doesn’t have to be. But there has been little (or no) effort to make the broadcast more viewer friendly. And it would be so easy to do.
Some have complained about the length of the telecast (typically three-and-a-half hours) but that is only an issue because of how it’s presented. Much was made last year about how eight “less significant” (to viewers) awards were given out before the Oscars telecast, and then edited for airing during the show. This was supposedly to shorten the broadcast, provide more time for other bits, and possibly increase ratings. To this viewer, it seemed as though all they did was cut some time that showed the winners walking to the stage – a very small impact on the home viewer for all the controversary and justifiably hurt feelings it caused.
There has also been some discussion over the past few years about whether there needs to be a host for the Academy Awards broadcast, and if so, who would be best suited for the role. This came to a head in 2019 after the scheduled host. Kevin Hart, was forced to step down when some old controversial tweets were discovered. For the first time since 1989, they proceeded without a host, and decided to do so again in 2020. The pandemic restrictions in 2021 made a host irrelevant. Last year, hosts returned, as Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall shared the reins. This year, Jimmy Kimmel took over the hosting duties. There is little doubt that hosts do make the show flow better and provides more natural transition from one segment to the next. But unless they resurrect Johnny Carson or a young Billy Crystal, any host will have little to do with whether the show does better or worse in terms of Nielsen ratings.
The problem is not who the host is or whether the show runs 3½ or 4 hours. The main problem is with the structure of the show itself. The Academy Awards broadcast is geared toward Hollywood insiders rather than the television viewer. There’s no reason it can’t do both.
It’s a Generational Thing
As an avid movie fan and reasonably heavy moviegoer (pre-pandemic), I look forward to watching the Academy Awards every year. And every year I find myself asking the same question: “Is it always this boring?” I invariably find myself answering, “yes” (“the slap” notwithstanding). And every year I forget the previous year’s telecast and look forward to watching the show all over again.
But then, I’m a Baby Boomer. Folks in my generation, as well as Generation X and early Millennials, grew up watching the Academy Awards at a time when you seldom saw or heard much about movie stars outside of what their publicists put out there or what you might see on talk shows. Movie stars were more glamorous to the public, and it was interesting to see them in real-life settings. There was no social media, and people generally did not see behind the curtain (and celebrities didn’t communicate with their fan bases on Twitter or Instagram as they do today). There were also no streaming services, and no major competition for the broadcast networks, which typically scheduled repeats opposite the Oscars, which was always the second highest rated show of the year (next to the Super Bowl). Among advertisers, it was dubbed the “Super Bowl for women.”
When I was 23 years old, back in the day, I had watched the Academy Awards every year since I was about 5 years old. I bring this up because my now 23-year-old son hasn’t watched any of the Academy Awards since he was about 5 years old. I asked him why he never watches it, and his response was, “because it’s boring as $hit.”
Thirty years ago, in 1992, the median age of Oscar viewers was under 40. In 2022, it was over 55. The show is not attracting new generations of viewers – much of its audience is simply aging along with the show. It’s also interesting to note that the average age of Oscar voters in 2022 was 63, while the average age of moviegoers was around 30.
In a 3½ hour Broadcast, Why Present the Major Awards After Primetime?
There was a time when it was logical to hold back the major awards as a way to keep viewers tuned in. Thirty years ago, there were basically only three broadcast networks, fewer cable networks and channels per home, no streaming options, no social media, and virtually no original programming opposite the Academy Awards. But in today’s media world, with so many other outlets competing for viewers’ time, it is counter-productive to wait until after primetime to present the most popular awards.
What a lot of people don’t realize, is that what should be the highest rated portion of the show, when they present Bet Actor, Actress, and Picture, is not even measured by Nielsen. The ratings company only measures national telecasts through the last national commercials (the post-primetime portion of the broadcast typically contains only local commercials). Ratings would undoubtedly be higher if the most popular awards were presented during primetime.
In addition, particularly with big live events, social media often keeps viewers tuned in. Had the major awards been spread out over the entire telecast, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the like, would have seen significantly more Oscar-related activity, and kept more people tuned in and discussing the show.
While either the Supporting Actress or Supporting Actor award is always presented during the show’s first half-hour, the Big Four – Director, Actor, Actress, and Picture – are held back until after 11pm (Occasionally the Best Director award is given out right before 11pm).
Looking at the last few years, we see little change, although it did reach new heights of ridiculousness in 2017 when at 11:36 pm they announced, “When we return, the biggest awards of the night.” Best Director was presented at 11:41 pm, Best Actor at 11:46 pm, Best Actress at 11:55 pm, and Best Picture at 12:02 pm. Since then, it’s gotten slightly better. But still, in 2022, while Supporting Actress and Actor were presented at about 8:20 and 9:15, respectively, we had to wait until 10:55 pm for Best Director, 11:07 pm for Best Actor, 11:23 pm for Best Actress, and 11:31 pm for Best Picture. The show ended at 11:38pm.
This year was no exception, although for some reason they decided to present the award for Animated Feature Film first (8:16-8:21). Then they presented Supporting Actor (8:27-8:34) and Supporting Actress (8:34-8:39). The awards presented between 8:50 and 11:10pm, during the bulk of primetime, when TV viewing is highest, were, Live-Action Short Film (8:54-8:56), Cinematography (9:02-9:07), Makeup and Hairstyling (9:16-9:19), Costume Design (9:26-9:30), International Feature Film (9:41-9:45), Documentary Short Film (9:50-9:52), Animated Short Film (9:52-9:56), Production Design (10:06-10:10), Original Score (10:10-10:14), Visual Effects (10:21-10:25), Original Screenplay (10:38-10:42), Adapted Screenplay (10:42-10:45), Sound (10:51-10:54), and Original Song (10:54-10:57). After primetime, from 11:05-11:09 they presented the award for Film Editing.
It wasn’t until 11:10pm that they got around to presenting the Big Four awards – Directing (11:10-11:14), then a local commercial break (11:14-11:18), Actor (11:19-11:25), Actress (11:25-11:30), and Best Picture (11:30-11:35).
Making The Oscars More Viewer (and Advertiser) Friendly
I’m not suggesting giving short-shrift to any of the current awards or not showing them live; simply spreading them out differently so they surround what most viewers at home consider the major awards. But if they spread out the awards by presenting the six acting/directing/picture awards every 30 minutes or so, ratings for the entire broadcast would be significantly higher. For example, present Supporting Actress at 8:15, Supporting Actor at 8:45, Director at 9:15, Actor at 9:45, Actress at 10:15, and Best Picture at 10:45. Schedule everything else to fit into these parameters, and boom, the show is finished by 11pm – and even if it still runs long, ratings will not be negatively affected.
There are other ways to make the broadcast more viewer and advertiser friendly.
One solution would be to have a separate hour-long show from 7:30-8:30 pm for these “other” awards (with a different host). Then they can have longer clips of how costume design, makeup, production design, sound mixing, etc., are done, which may actually be interesting to a lot of people.
The main awards show can then be from 8:30-11:30pm. In the main awards show I would include Best Picture and Director, the four acting awards, as well as Original and Adapted Screenplay and Original Song.
Here are some suggestions on the flow of the main show.
Present one of the four major awards every 30 minutes – Best Director at 9:00, Best Actor at 9:30. Best Actress at 10:00, and Best Picture at 10:30. Precede the award presentation with 2-3 minute clips of each nominee. This will provide a better picture of each performance and greater anticipation for each award. It will also serve as more effective promotion for the nominated movies.
Each half-hour segment of the show, for Best Director, Actor, Actress, and Picture can be sponsored by a different advertiser. While showing the clips, they could give viewers a chance to vote online and by phone, and then show their choices at the end of the show (or on an after-show) to see how viewers’ votes compared to the actual winners. Viewers would vote only for the nominated movies – last year’s attempt at Twitter voting for some made-up categories was awkward, and didn’t seem to belong here.
If these suggestions are implemented, the show will flow better, viewer and social-media interest will be elevated, ratings will improve, younger viewers might tune in, and people may be interested in seeing some of the nominated movies they might have missed. A win, win, win, win, win, win.
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