People are sick of Hollywood award shows. That’s the message that the ratings keep sending.
Monday night’s Emmy Awards reportedly scored an all-time low number of viewers. Ratings were down 10 percent from last year. Specific numbers and demographic breakdowns will be released later on Tuesday. These early numbers, however, are still very bad news.
The telecast was as political as expected. Co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che targeted Donald Trump and conservatives with their jokes, and the ceremony itself had only a handful of surprises.
“I don’t know if you know this. The first Emmys were held back in 1949. Things were very different back then — gas was 17 cents a gallon, a new home cost $7,000, and we all agreed that Nazis were bad,” Jost joked at the beginning of the program.
Michael Che later said, “The only white people that thank Jesus are Republicans and ex-crackheads.”
Conservative comedian Roseanne Barr was also targeted by the co-hosts: “‘Roseanne’ was canceled by herself, but picked up by white nationalists” and “I heard Roseanne is actually moving to Israel. I mean, damn, How messed up is your life when you have to go to the Middle East just to get peace of mind?”
The Emmy Awards are far from the only awards ceremony dropping in the ratings.
The MTV Video Awards scored an all-time low rating last month.
The Oscars also dropped 16 percent and hit a record low earlier in the year. That show was hosted by anti-Trumper Jimmy Kimmel.
The Grammy Awards and the Golden Globes also took significant hits in the ratings.
What’s the problem? These award shows have morphed from celebrations that used to be fun and uniting to bitter and partisan affairs that have very little attraction to the average American.
On top of this, people just don’t need to watch them anymore. Why sit through hours of celebrities’ patting themselves on the back and preaching when you can just read the results the next morning?
Check out the political opening monologue to last night’s show below:
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