NEW YORK (AP) – George Bradley enjoyed watching the Oscars. The 28-year-old British woman who now lives in San Diego would stay home late just to tune in.
Although he is now in the right time zone, he is simply not interested, and this is primarily due to the pandemic.
“The growing dominance of streaming services has removed the Oscar luster for me,” he said. “You just don’t get the same warm fuzzy feeling when you recognize a movie on the silver screen.”
Whether you’re watching for love, because you like to hate, or you’ve given up like Bradley, the awards have suffered since the coronavirus shut down theaters and stopped live shows. But the rating slides for the awards nights began long before Covid-19 took the lead.
For most of this century, the Oscars attracted between 35 and 45 million viewers, often right behind the Super Bowl. Last year, just before the declaration of the pandemic, the homeless broadcast on ABC was seen by the smallest listener so far, with 23.6 million viewers, down 20% from the previous year.
The Golden Globes of the pandemic era, just over a year later, fell to 6.9 million viewers, down 64% from last year and barely beating 2008, the year the writer’s strike forced NBC to air a press conference announcing the winners. Last year, before the blockade, the show had 18.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
In March, Grammy producers avoided the Zoom out of other awards shows and staged performances by some of the biggest stars in the industry – to no avail. CBS television has reached 9.2 million viewers, both television and streaming, the lowest number recorded and a decrease of 51% compared to 2020, Nielsen said.
John Bennardo, 52, of Boca Raton, Florida, is a film enthusiast, film school graduate and screenwriter and runs a videography business for mostly corporate clients. This year is not allowed for Oscar.
“I like movies and I aspire to be on the Oscar stage, receiving my own award one day,” he said. “I watch it every year and take it, I participate in competitions where I try to choose winners and try to see all the movies. But something has changed for this year. ”
For starters, he hasn’t seen a film nominated in any category.
“Maybe I’ll look at Zach Snyder’s Justice League instead.” It could be shorter, “Bennardo joked about the Oscar show.
Like other awards, Oscar television was rejected due to pandemic restrictions and security concerns. The show had been postponed three times in history, but never so long before. Organizers in June last year have scheduled it for April 25, unlike the usual slot in February or early March.
Count this among other driving forces behind Oscar fatigue. Another, according to former fans of the show, is to watch movies nominated on small screens and keep up with when and where they are available on streaming and on-demand services. For some it was a great ambiguity.
Priscilla Visintine, 62, of St. Louis, Missouri, lived to watch the Oscars. She attends watch parties every year, usually fully dressed for the occasion.
“The closure of the theaters has certainly created a lack of interest this year,” she said. “I had no sense of humming Oscar.”
Not all the tough guys gave up their favorite awards show.
In Knoxville, Tennessee, Jennifer Rice, 50, and her son, Jordan, 22, ran for years to watch as many nominated films as possible. In past years, it was the “February madness,” she said, and they kept charts to document their predictions. She even got to participate in the Oscars in 2019 through her work for a beauty company at the time.
“My other two children, aged 25 and 19, have no interest in Oscar. It’s just something special for Jordan and me, “Rice said. “The Oscars actually push us to watch movies that we may never have chosen. I’m not as excited this year, but we’re still trying to watch everything before the awards ceremony. ”
As real-life difficulties have intensified for many viewers, from food insecurity and job disruption to the isolation of blockages and struggles to raise a child, award-winning shows offer less escape and blindness than in the past, often relying on pre-recorded performances and Zoom tapes for nominees. In addition, the data show little interest among younger generations in television programs in general.
A lifelong film lover and filmmaker himself, 22-year-old Pierre Subeh from Orlando, Florida, stopped watching the 2019 Oscars.
“We can barely stand still for a 15-second TikTok. How can we be expected to be part of a four-hour awards ceremony, full of outdated commercials and offensive jokes? We live the time of cleaning the content. We need algorithms to find out what we want to pursue and to show us which is the best of the best, ”he said.
As a Muslim immigrant from the Middle East, Subeh also sees a small inclusion of his culture in the mass film, let alone on the Oscars stage.
“We are only mentioned when Aladdin is raised. I don’t feel motivated to gather my family on a Sunday to attend a four-hour awards ceremony that never has any mention of our culture and religion. However, as Muslims, we represent about 25% of the world’s population, “he said.
Jon Niccum, 55, of Lawrence, Kansas, teaches screenwriting at the University of Kansas. He is a filmmaker, went to film school and worked as a film critic. He and his wife are hosting an annual Oscar party with 30 guests at its peak, including a betting fund on winners for cash and prizes. This year it will be only for the family due to the pandemic, but the bets are active.
And watch all the top movies at home? For the most part, he said, “It was less satisfying.” Less satisfactory to give up Oscar television?
“I did not miss an Oscar 45 years ago. I will watch every minute, “said Niccum.
In Medford, New Jersey, 65-year-old Deb Madison will watch, as she has done since she was a child, and her mother took her to the movies.
In 2018, while on an RV trip with her husband, she made him ride his bike around town with her in Carlsbad, New Mexico, to find a place to watch. The journey back was in dark darkness. Another year, when he was working at the reception at a huge party in Philadelphia on the eve of the Oscars, the coordinators laid the cable and provided him with a small TV hidden under the reception desk so that he could tune in.
This year, trying to keep up with the candidates at home stifled her enthusiasm, Madison said.
“I’m a sucker for the red carpet and dresses, and” Oh, my God, I can’t believe he wore that. “Another thing is that I don’t need to see these actors in a special way in their home environment.” she said with a laugh. “This year, if I missed it, it wouldn’t be tragic. No one should put the cable on this year. But I still like movies. ”