Despite the best efforts of host Jimmy Kimmel to champion “Black Lives Matter,” despite a mini “Friends” reunion with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, despite the fact that many people are watching television because of lockdowns, Sunday’s broadcast of the Emmys plunged to an all-time low, with only 6.1 million viewers paying attention to the Hollywood crowd. Last year’s show reached roughly 6.9 million people.
In 2000, the Emmys were watched by 21.8 million viewers; in 2010 that had dropped to 13.5 million viewers. Forbes reported that a key factor in the decline of the show’s ratings is the political slant of the program:
A 2017 study conducted among 800 people by the National Research Group discovered that 68% of Trump voters disliked political speeches at the Oscars, so much so, that 66% of them have turned off the TV set because an actor gave a political speech at the podium. With the country split into nearly two equal fractions, award shows that include political statements from the hosts and winners alienate half of the potential audience. The recent Emmy Awards was no different with overt and subtle, scripted and unscripted comments about the current administration in Washington.
There was the usual snapping at President Trump this year; this time it emanated from Jesse Armstrong, the creator of “Succession,” bleating, “To President Trump, for his crummy and uncoordinated response. Un thank you to Boris Johnson and his government for doing the same in my country. Un thank you to the nationalist and sort of quasi nationalist governments in the world doing sort of the opposite of what we need right now. Un thank you to the media moguls who do so much to keep them in power.” – READ MORE
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