Let's consider this for a moment…
Without a host or a great deal of pizzazz, ABC's telecast of the Academy Awards reached its smallest audience ever of 23.6 million viewers. The Nielsen company said Sunday night's audience was down 20 percent from a year ago. The previous low-water mark for the Oscars was the 26.5 million people who watched in 2018.
In years past when the ratings were down, we always heard a very simple explanation for this: Blame the host. The host wasn't a draw. People didn't want to tune in because they weren't thrilled by the the choice of host. The host failed somehow. I guess the reason this year is that viewers didn't like the fact that there was no host.
I would like to advance the theory that the host doesn't matter and has never really mattered much. Once upon a time, one of the top-rated shows of each year was the annual Miss America pageant. There are probably many reasons why it's no longer on a major network and it has about as many viewers as it has contestants…but clearly, we just don't care that much about it these days. I think people just aren't as interested in awards shows, especially ones that lack superstar performances. I don't think the Oscars will ever go away (or to Basic Cable) but maybe some of the pretentiousness could. Or should.