Audience turned off from Academy Awards
The 9.85 million views on ABC are lass than half of the Oscars’ previous low and continues a trend.
LOS ANGELES >> A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit of a man who alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused him as a boy.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young granted the Jackson estate’s request to dismiss the suit brought in 2013 by Wade Robson. The judge said two Jackson entertainment corporations targeted by the lawsuit had no legal duty to protect Robson from Jackson.
“There is no evidence supporting plaintiff’s contention that defendants exercised control over Jackson,” the judge wrote. “The evidence further demonstrates that defendants had no legal ability to control Jackson, because Jackson had complete and total ownership of the corporate defendants.”
NEW YORK >> The Academy Awards television audience plunged to 9.85 million viewers on ABC, less than half of the Oscars’ previous low and continuing a startling trend of viewer tune out for awards shows.
The Nielsen company’s preliminary estimate shows that the audience who watched “Nomadland” win best picture on Sunday was 58% below last year’s tally of 23.6 million, which had set the previous record for least-watched Oscars telecast.
Following a year where movie theaters were mostly closed due to COVID-19, people were unexcited about or unfamiliar
with movies they primarily streamed at home. Producers tried to fight through pandemic fatigue with a hostless program and a small, socially-distanced audience that didn’t wear masks during the broadcast.
The event drew mixed reviews and renewed questions about the types of movies the industry makes and wants to honor.
“It was agonizing for me to get through the show last night; it was pure torture,” said Marc Berman, a veteran television analyst who writes the “Programming Insider” newsletter, on Monday.