TITANIC! – THE SINKING OF – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  The Oscars were on last night, someone told me.  There was a lot of wonder about where the ratings would go in light of the controversy over "diversity."  After all, most people used to watch the Oscars for entertainment, not a political lecture.  Turns out most people today are still most people.  The ratings last night were in the tank.  From Deadline Hollywood:

Chris Rock came out swinging in one of the most anticipated opening monologues in years and took on the diversity controversy from the get-go at the 88th Academy Awards. Last night also saw Brie Larson win Best Actress, Leonardo DiCaprio snag Best Actor in his fifth nomination, Alejandro G. Iñárritu was named Best Director and Spotlight won Best Picture. With all that, the Oscars themselves did not have a great night ratingswise with a 23.1/37 in metered market results.

Declining to an 8-year low, that’s down 6% from the 24.6/39 that the ceremony got last year in early results from the 56 markets across the country. That 2015 Neil Patrick Harris hosted Oscars were matched with the 2011 Oscars for the third worst the Academy Awards has done in MM ratings since the last time Rock fronted the gig in 2005 – only 2009’s Hugh Jackman-hosted 23.3 and 2008’s Jon Stewart-hosted 21.9 were lower. Obviously, in the early results, last night’s show dipped below 2009 and close to 2008 numbers.

The 2005 Oscars were the best the show has done in the past decade with a 30.1/43 MM rating. That high has also remained true in later numbers for the show. With Million Dollar Baby winning Best Picture, the 2005 Oscars ended up with a massive 42.14 million viewers and 19.6 million among adults 18-49. In both categories, that was a dip from 2004’s results. Compared to the last time Rock hosted 11-years ago, last night’s 8:30 – midnight show was down 23% in metered market results – much more than a dip.

COMMENT:  I know there's a lot of show-biz lingo in that piece, but, bottom line, the bottom line was embarrassing.  Chris Rock is very popular, but even he couldn't save the show from the big turnoff. 

The political atmosphere didn't help.  Neither did the fact that millions of Americans don't know those movies or those so-called stars.  The golden age this ain't.  The great industry anthem is "There's No Business Like Show Business," but, unless Hollywood comes alive, increases its contact with its own audience, and stops politicizing every written line, show business may be no business.

February 29, 2016