The Big Fix: 12 Ways to Save the Oscars (Guest Blog)
thewrap.comup two million viewers from the previous year (the year of “the slap”) to a total 18.8 million viewers. They brag about the 13% uptick before launching into how (and I’m guessing here), somewhere in Idaho, six 17-year-olds watched the show for an average of two minutes, which resulted in the audience being 0.25% younger.
Champagne is served.It all reminds me of my late friend, the iconic producer David Brown (“The Sting,” “Jaws”), who said to me, “My boy, Hollywood is the only place in the world where you can die of encouragement.”Although the audience appears to be inching back to pre-pandemic numbers, it is inconceivable that the Oscars will ever regain the 20 million or so viewers lost over the past decade — unless the Academy figures out how to combine the Super Bowl with their annual awards extravaganza.
What I find staggering is how the Academy and its esteemed board of governors made up of industry legends continue to produce a show that runs longer than the Best Picture contenders.
This year’s broadcast ran nearly two hours longer than “The Banshees of Inisherin,” an hour longer than “The Fabelmans”and about 30 minutes longer than the epic “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The good news is that this year’s telecast had approximately 48 minutes of enjoyable entertainment within its nearly four-hour duration.
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