In My Opinion

Why have the ratings of award shows dropped so much in the last few years?

I can remember watching the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, and all of the music awards with my parents as a kid. We would watch them because they had great hosts and were very entertaining.

Take the Oscars for example. When I started watching, Johnny Carson was a regular as the host. He was funny and nobody was safe from anything he would do or say. The next host I really remember on a regular basis was Billy Crystal. The beginning of the show when he was hosting, was a must see with his montage of all of the movies that were up for best picture done to music.

Since then, there have been a few hit-and-miss hosts, but none as good as those two. The more recent hosts seem to all have an agenda that they spend the three-plus hours trying to get across. They don’t spend as much time trying to be funny and entertaining as they do taking jabs at anyone that doesn’t see things their way.

And then there are the actors and actresses themselves. I can remember when every single acceptance speech seemed genuine and thoughtful. They were truly surprised and happy to have won the award. You could tell that winning it really meant something to them. These days, the award shows seem nothing more to me than a platform for the winner to give their opinion on what they think. Be it their political views, their charity work, and their views on how we should live. Nobody thanks their fellow actors, directors or the crew. If they do, it’s a single line to get out of the way before they jump on their soapbox. I wish that they would all get back to just doing their job to the best that they can.

They are after all, just people like we are. They have jobs and families just like us. Just because they are more visible being on the big and small screen, does not mean that they are any more important or smarter than we are.

I believe that these are the true reasons that the award show ratings have dropped. Hopefully, it doesn’t take them too long to realize this and can make the changes that they need to. I know I don’t watch them anymore. I’d rather just look them up the next day and see who won what. It’s much quicker and I don’t feel like I’m watching a political debate when I should be watching entertainment.