I’m an avid movie fan, and before the pandemic I was a reasonably heavy moviegoer. Today I watch more movies on streaming platforms (A Complete Unknown was the only Best Picture nominee I saw in an actual movie theater). Of course, that’s partly because before awards season, I hadn’t even heard about several of the best picture nominees. But I still look forward to watching The Oscars broadcast every year.
And every year I find myself asking the same question: “Is it always this boring?” I invariably find myself answering, “yes.” And every year I forget about last year’s show, and look forward to watching it all over again. Unfortunately, there has been little effort over the years to make the broadcast more viewer friendly.
The problem has never been the length of the telecast, which is typically 3 ½ hours (that is only an issue because of how the show is structured).
The problem has never been the host. There has been much 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. In 2002, hosts returned, as Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall shared the spotlight. Jimmy Kimmel took over the hosting duties in 2023 and 2024 (as he did in 2017 and 2018). This year, Conan O’Brien took the reins and did an excellent job.
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, the host will have little to do with whether the show does better or worse in terms of attracting viewers (although Kimmel and Conan have been among the better hosts).
The main problem is that the Oscars broadcast is geared more toward Hollywood insiders than the television viewer. There’s no reason it can’t do both.
Starting an Hour Earlier Makes a Big (and Better) Difference
One major drawback of the show is that the major awards, Best Actor, Actress, Director, and Picture, which are given out last, have traditionally been presented after primetime. The decision last year to move the start time back an hour (from 8pm to 7pm), something I and many others have been suggesting for years, was in and of itself a major improvement – not just for viewers, but likely for ratings as well.
What a lot of people don’t realize, is that what should be the highest rated portion of the show, when they present the Best Actor, Actress, and Picture awards, has traditionally not even been measured by Nielsen. The ratings company only measures national telecasts through the last national commercial (the post-primetime portion of the broadcast typically contains only local commercials).
The 2024 telecast hit a four-year ratings high among total viewers (about 4% higher than 2023). At this writing, the 2025 ratings are not yet available.
Last year, for the first time I can recall, the Big Four awards were presented before 11pm (which was also the case this year). As a viewer, this change was noticeable and welcome – probably because I wasn’t tired and ready to go to sleep before the Best Picture winner was announced.
Why Rush Through the Major Awards at the End of the Show?
There was a time when it was logical to hold back the major awards as a way to keep viewers tuned in. There was a time (pre-1995) when there were basically only three or four broadcast networks, fewer cable networks, and no multi-media devices. There was a time (pre-2007), when there was no social media. There was a time (pre-2013) when there were no streaming platforms. And through it all, there were virtually no original TV series airing opposite The Academy Awards. But today is not any of those times. With so many other outlets competing for viewers, it is counter-productive to wait until the last half-hour to present the most popular awards. Even competing broadcast networks now air original scripted programming against The Oscars – which, 10 years ago, would have been unthinkable.
Particularly with big live events, social media often keeps viewers tuned in. Had the major awards been spread out over the entire telecast, Facebook, X, Instagram, and the like, would have seen significantly more Oscar-related activity, and kept more people tuned in and discussing the show.
Either Supporting Actress or Supporting Actor is always presented during the show’s first half-hour. This year, the Supporting Actor award was presented at 7:27. But the big four awards – Director, Actor, Actress, and Picture – are held back until the last half-hour (until 2024, after primetime).
Looking at the last several years, we saw little change, although it did reach new heights of ridiculousness in 2017 when 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, we had to wait until 10:55 pm for Best Director, 11:07 for Best Actor, 11:23 for Best Actress, and 11:31 for Best Picture. In 2023, it wasn’t until 11:10 pm that they got around to presenting Best Director, then a local commercial break leading into Best Actor (11:19), Best Actress (11:25), and Best Picture (11:30).
Last year was different and better. At around 9:45pm they announced that “The biggest awards are coming up next.” Then they presented Best Actor (9:56), Best Director (10:02), Best Actress (10:09), and Best Picture (10:19). But still, it was on for roughly 2 hours, 45 minutes before they got to the four major awards.
This year, the show ran a little longer, with the announcement that the biggest awards are next coming at 10:14, about 3 hours and 14 minutes into the broadcast. Best Actor was presented at 10:18, followed by Best Director (10:28), Best Actress (10:36), and Best Picture (10:41, with the show ending at 10:46.
But still, the major, most popular awards are bunched up at the end, and seem rushed. Why not give these awards more time? Costume Design, Original Song, and Cinematography, were given the same amount of total time as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture. That’s not to denigrate the other awards, but the big four awards should receive more emphasis.
Some Bright (and Dull) Spots
The show opened in spectacular fashion, with Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo belting out songs from The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked. Ariana Grande opened with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, followed by Cynthia Erivo singing Home, and then the two stars joining for Defying Gravity.
Last year, they added a feature that was brilliant, and worked extremely well. For each of the four major acting awards, they had five previous award winners come on stage and honor each of the five nominees before the ultimate winner was announced. These segments were riveting and well received. Unfortunately, it was not repeated this year – although they did do something similar with Costume Design and Cinematography, which made those categories more interesting.
Mick Jagger (of the Rolling Stones) made a surprise appearance, presenting Best Original Song, joking that they asked Bob Dylan (the subject of A Complete Unknown), who said they should get someone younger (Dylan is 83, Jagger is 81).
Mogan Freeman gave a heartfelt tribute to his late friend and co-star Gene Hackman, leading into the annual In Memoriam segment.
Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg gave a tribute to Quincy Jones, which culminated with Queen Latifah singing Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz.
There was a lengthy, seemingly pointless James Bond tribute, with the songs, Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever, and Skyfall. Had they eliminated this and the ridiculous song-and-dance routine by Conan O’Brien about wasting time (which probably seemed like fun on paper), the show would have ended on time.
Complete Unknowns – Even After 3½ Hours
I usually pay attention to what movies are out there, but I must admit of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture, I have seen only three of them, and have no idea what six of them are about. Even after the lengthy award show, I don’t know anything about Anora – other than it’s one of the lowest grossing winners ever and that every time they win an award they praise sex workers.
I have no idea what Emilia Perez is about – but I do know that everyone I know who has seen it hated it and it was panned by many critics, but Hollywood seems to love it. One thing I do know about it is that Zoe Saldana has a big dance number (that seems to be one of the only clips they ever show).
I think The Brutalist is about a Holocaust survivor who is now an architect, but the clips they show never mention the Holocaust, Hitler, or Nazis.
I’m Still Here and Nickel Boys were never on my radar, and I only know anything about The Substance because of the scene with Demi Moore looking into a mirror that award shows have played over and over again – I think it’s a horror movie.
The shame of it all is that nothing I saw during The Oscars broadcast made me want to see any of these movies.
It’s a Generational Thing
I already mentioned that look forward to watching The Oscars every year. 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, unscripted settings. There was no social media. People generally did not see behind the curtain (and celebrities didn’t communicate with their fan bases on X 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 25 years old, I had watched the Academy Awards every year for about 20 years. I bring this up because my now 25-year-old son hasn’t watched any of the Academy Awards for nearly 20 years. I asked him why he never watches it, and his response includes, “it’s boring, I get notifications about the winners on my phone, and I haven’t seen most of the nominated movies.”
Thirty years ago, the median age of Oscar viewers was around 40. Today, it’s well 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 (60+) is more than twice that of actual moviegoers (30).
Making The Oscars More Viewer (and Advertiser) Friendly
The biggest thing that contributes to making the show as boring as possible for the home viewers, is that the awards they care about the most are bunched together and rushed through at the end of the show (just in case I haven’t made the point crystal clear by now).
After the Best Supporting Actor award was presented (7:27-7:33), the next 2 ½ hours contained 18 awards, 2 production numbers, and 11 commercial breaks – Animated Feature Film (7:38), Animated Short Film (7:42), commercials (7:47), Costume Design (7:54), commercials (8:00), Original Screenplay (8:06), Adapted Screenplay (8:10), commercials (8:14), Makeup and Hairstyling (8:20), James Bond tribute (8:23), commercials (8:32), Film Editing (8:38), Supporting Actress (8:42), commercials (8:48), Production Design (8:53), Original Song (8:57), commercials (9:04), Documentary Short Film (9:04), Documentary Feature (9:12), commercials (9:16), tribute to LA firefighters (9:22), Sound (9:25), Visual Effects (9:28), commercials (9:32), Live Action Short (9:36), In Memoriam (9:39), commercials (9:45), Cinematography (9:50), International Feature Film (9:56), commercials (10:00), Original Score (10:05), Quincy Jones tribute (10:08), Queen Latifah (10:11), commercials (10:14).
I’m not suggesting giving short-shrift to any of these awards, rather spread them out differently so they surround what most viewers at home consider the major awards. 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.
Present one of the four major awards every 30 minutes – Supporting Actor at 7:45, Supporting Actress at 8:15, Director at 8:45, Actor at 9:15, Actress at 9:45, and Best Picture at 10:15. Schedule everything else to fit into these parameters. Precede these awards 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, 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 could vote only for the nominated movies.
If these suggestions are implemented, I believe 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 all around.
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