Ratings for Sunday night's Tony Awards were pretty bad. Some will fault the host or the production but I think that's ridiculous. People watch or don't watch the Tonys based on how they care about the shows that are nominated and want to see the excerpts. It really isn't all that different from sports. If you have two top teams with players that are in the news a lot and those teams meet in a game that might determine who wins the pennant, that game will have more tune-in than a game between two last-place teams with unknown players. No one complains that low ratings are because the crew that covers the game — the sportscasters, the director, etc. — didn't do a good job.
In past years, the Tonys got more tune-in because people had heard about The Producers or heard about The Book of Mormon. Some probably watched last year because the Spider-Man musical was so notorious at the time and there was a number from it. Even though there was a performance from Spider-Man this time, it's old news now. And Newsies and Once may be fine shows but they just haven't generated the excitement outside Times Square of past leading contenders.
I thought the telecast was fine and the worst thing you can say about it is that Neil Patrick Harris's opening song wasn't quite as exceptional as his opening song last year. Also, some people are reportedly complaining that the "In Memoriam" segment was presented during a commercial break and not televised. I still think N.P.H. is the best awards show host I've ever seen…and yes, that includes Johnny and Bob and Billy and everyone else. Hope he does it next year and the year after and the year after…