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Oscar viewership down substantially

Westside Steve's Movie Reviews
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  • I find HBO series to be better then what they put out at the theaters.

    @diehardbrownsfan said:

    I find HBO series to be better then what they put out at the theaters.

    To a certain extent, so do I.

  • @the-gipper said:

    Am I completely off base?

    Are you somehow claiming that a conservative oriented rant would not be tolerated?

    Yes and Yes.

    @chicopee-john said:

    Yes and Yes.

    Like I said, I think I know where the intolerance lies.

  • @chicopee-john said:

    Well, Gip, I submitted a hypothesis, not a proclamation of truth. You seem to be more absolute.

    I've spent a lot of years doing Marketing Research and I do know that one does research to - among other things - prove or disprove a concept (hypothesis).

    My guess is my position about Hollywood being out of touch with Mainstream America struck a chord due to your political persuasion, nothing to do with reality.

    Or, maybe your views about things have nothing to do with reality....but everything to do with your political persuasion? I suspect an analysis would show that is true about everything.

    I suggest Hollywood and the Networks spend some money to determine why ratings continue to decline. They - IMHO - won't like the results and might just dismiss them. However it is relatively easy to correlate survey questions against a measure and, then, conduct a cluster analysis to determine common trends among those correlations.

    Then, of course, comes Statistical Significance Analysis.

    To an earlier point...........my wife IS NOT a Theater or Movie major but she, too, finds the Academy Awards pretensious (not a knock against your wife, of course, but pertaining to an odd comment you made about 'Birdman'.

    Hollywood = 1/2 of the 1% ers across the country and this, simply, fails to resonate across America.

    99% of 1%ers are Republicans....I didn't know that Hollywood was so dominated by Republicans.

    When was the last time people held their breath and tuned into TV to watch a Movie Awards Show? With so much fragmentation of TV, there is more to watch and disconnected people from certain cultural bubbles just lacks gravitas.

    We do, however, find some common ground RE: the speeches, although I put a lot more emphasis on them detracting from viewer interest than, simply, making people lose a half hour of sleep.

    Bottom line: people don't watch because these are boring....regardless of any other issue or affiliation.

    @the-gipper said:

    Bottom line: people don't watch because these are boring....regardless of any other issue or affiliation.

    I agree.

    People don't want to watch boring tv.

    There is WAY better shows on

    Watching a bunch of people beat their own chests and pat each other on the back, isn't going to cut it anymore

  • Well, I guess it all depends on your audience. I mean, what kind of reception do you think an award recipient would get at the CMAs if they went on a rant about say, equal pay for women, or gay rights or some such. I suspect it would be far less cordial than someone who, at the Oscars, opined an anti-abortion or pro gun stance.

    I mean, look at the shit The Dixie Chicks got when they said something unkind about W.

  • I'm really not surprised, well maybe a little, but according to Forbes magazine the Academy Awards ratings dropped 16% over last year. I do think they are way too long, or more specifically way too uneventful. You get one award you might have heard of and then wait 3 hours for anything else. Also the two top contenders Birdman and boy hood weren't exactly fan favorites. Hell I had to drive to Valley View from akron to see birdman. The only place in the area one could see whiplash was Kent. And boyhood was a boring son of a bitch. And let's not forget Neil Patrick Harris. I've got nothing against the guy at all but an a-list star? Please. The homosexuals are all going to watch anyway. Get some shmuck that strikes a chord with the great unwashed. I thought the Lady gaga spot was a great idea, but they need more like that if they want people to tune in.

    Any thoughts?

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    I'm really not surprised, well maybe a little, but according to Forbes magazine the Academy Awards ratings dropped 16% over last year. I do think they are way too long, or more specifically way too uneventful. You get one award you might have heard of and then wait 3 hours for anything else. Also the two top contenders Birdman and boy hood weren't exactly fan favorites. Hell I had to drive to Valley View from akron to see birdman. The only place in the area one could see whiplash was Kent. And boyhood was a boring son of a bitch. And let's not forget Neil Patrick Harris. I've got nothing against the guy at all but an a-list star? Please. The homosexuals are all going to watch anyway. Get some shmuck that strikes a chord with the great unwashed. I thought the Lady gaga spot was a great idea, but they need more like that if they want people to tune in.

    How do you know if Mktoxic watched or not?

  • Gipper

    A yes you do but the criticism from the left which was fairly strident came from your buddy Seth Rogen and the increasingly irrelevant Michael Moore who wrote some blather about snipers being cowards.

    (I didn't love the movie but it had nothing to do with anti war sentiment)

    B No I don't think the vast majority of rich people are Republicans. I would assume slightly more nation wide and hugely less in California.

    C yes Neil Patrick Harris plays a womanizer in How I Met Your Mother. That's been known as a huge inside joke since the series started.

    D yes I loved Birdman. I loved whiplash. I like the imitation game a lot.

    The first two suffered because of limited distribution. I had to make a road trip to see each of them. Also I think its extremely hard to make any three plus hour show interesting especially with commercial breaks. But that format hasn't changed over the years. The 16 percent drop in viewership did.

    WSS

  • Gipper

    A yes you do but the criticism from the left which was fairly strident came from your buddy Seth Rogen and the increasingly irrelevant Michael Moore who wrote some blather about snipers being cowards.

    (I didn't love the movie but it had nothing to do with anti war sentiment)

    B No I don't think the vast majority of rich people are Republicans. I would assume slightly more nation wide and hugely less in California.

    C yes Neil Patrick Harris plays a womanizer in How I Met Your Mother. That's been known as a huge inside joke since the series started.

    D yes I loved Birdman. I loved whiplash. I like the imitation game a lot.

    The first two suffered because of limited distribution. I had to make a road trip to see each of them. Also I think its extremely hard to make any three plus hour show interesting especially with commercial breaks. But that format hasn't changed over the years. The 16 percent drop in viewership did.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Gipper

    A yes you do but the criticism from the left which was fairly strident came from your buddy Seth Rogen and the increasingly irrelevant Michael Moore who wrote some blather about snipers being cowards.

    (I didn't love the movie but it had nothing to do with anti war sentiment)

    Yes, you know I hate Seth Rogen....and anything he says or thinks is irrelevent. The issue of whether or not people in warfare are cowards goes back to the time when guns were invented....and criticized by sword wielders as a cowards way of conducting warfare. George Patton decried the "automization" of warfare. So I guess Patton and Moore may have been like thinkers.

    B No I don't think the vast majority of rich people are Republicans. I would assume slightly more nation wide and hugely less in California.

    Per Forbes magazine, 56% of the wealthiest families donate exclusively to Republican party candidates/issues. Only 14% contribute solely to Democratic candidates, and 30% hedge their bets and contribute to both. 56% vs. 14% is a pretty vast majority.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2014/07/09/are-americas-richest-families-republicans-or-democrats/

    C yes Neil Patrick Harris plays a womanizer in How I Met Your Mother. That's been known as a huge inside joke since the series started.

    I know it is a joke....after all, it was supposed to be a comedy. (I however, never found it all that funny....including the inside joke about a gay guy playing a player)

    D yes I loved Birdman. I loved whiplash. I like the imitation game a lot.

    The first two suffered because of limited distribution. I had to make a road trip to see each of them. Also I think its extremely hard to make any three plus hour show interesting especially with commercial breaks. But that format hasn't changed over the years. The 16 percent drop in viewership did.

    At this point I think I will wait til they are out on video to see Sniper/Whiplash

    WSS

  • http://www.gallup.com/poll/151310/u.s.-republican-not-conservative.aspx

    there's the Gallup poll. Your data is skewed a little bit, probably on purpose, because almost no one contributes to the Independent Party. Since there really isn't one.

    WSS

  • http://www.gallup.com/poll/151310/u.s.-republican-not-conservative.aspx

    there's the Gallup poll. Your data is skewed a little bit, probably on purpose, because almost no one contributes to the Independent Party. Since there really isn't one.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/151310/u.s.-republican-not-conservative.aspx

    there's the Gallup poll. Your data is skewed a little bit, probably on purpose, because almost no one contributes to the Independent Party. Since there really isn't one.

    WSS

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

  • @westside-steve said:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/151310/u.s.-republican-not-conservative.aspx

    there's the Gallup poll. Your data is skewed a little bit, probably on purpose, because almost no one contributes to the Independent Party. Since there really isn't one.

    WSS

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    @the-gipper said:

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

  • @westside-steve said:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/151310/u.s.-republican-not-conservative.aspx

    there's the Gallup poll. Your data is skewed a little bit, probably on purpose, because almost no one contributes to the Independent Party. Since there really isn't one.

    WSS

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    @the-gipper said:

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    Except that wasn't a one percent, (those making over 500000.) That was probably the .01 percent.

    Anyway when you get down to it the Oscars really should be about what the industry feels is the best work and not the biggest seller. That's what you get with the Grammys and the Country Music Awards. If Jay Z or Kanye West Or Luke what's his name sell a billion records they win an award.

    WSS

  • http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014

    There's the box office numbers. I don't know that I could take award show seriously with the top 8 films as contenders.

    WSS

  • @the-gipper said:

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

    @chicopee-john said:

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    WTF does that have to do with anything we are talking about?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    Again..... we were talking about decorum. Lets see a rant about women's rights, abortion rights, gun control, etc. happen at a CMA ceremony and those yeehaws would be foaming at the mouth about it. It happened to the Dixie Chicks....it never happened at an Academy Award.....see where Charlton Heston got his lifetime achievement award. I see where his right wing politics didn't stand in the way of that.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    I don't know about that....but giving awards to pretentious movies is pretentious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

  • @the-gipper said:

    I don't think anyone gave to the "Independent Party"....they gave to both parties.

    And it isn't my data, it was Forbes data....you know, that bastion of liberalism 😳

    Except that wasn't a one percent, (those making over 500000.) That was probably the .01 percent.

    Anyway when you get down to it the Oscars really should be about what the industry feels is the best work and not the biggest seller. That's what you get with the Grammys and the Country Music Awards. If Jay Z or Kanye West Or Luke what's his name sell a billion records they win an award.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Except that wasn't a one percent, (those making over 500000.) That was probably the .01 percent.

    Anyway when you get down to it the Oscars really should be about what the industry feels is the best work and not the biggest seller. That's what you get with the Grammys and the Country Music Awards. If Jay Z or Kanye West Or Luke what's his name sell a billion records they win an award.

    WSS

    I guess I don't see enough of the Grammys/CMAs to know....or pay attention to what the best sellers are. But I find it hard to believe that the "Best Song" categories just go to the best sellers. If that happens then I guess I am naive.

    At least, I don't believe that should happen, any more than the Oscar going to the Best selling movie.

  • @chicopee-john said:

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    WTF does that have to do with anything we are talking about?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    Again..... we were talking about decorum. Lets see a rant about women's rights, abortion rights, gun control, etc. happen at a CMA ceremony and those yeehaws would be foaming at the mouth about it. It happened to the Dixie Chicks....it never happened at an Academy Award.....see where Charlton Heston got his lifetime achievement award. I see where his right wing politics didn't stand in the way of that.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    I don't know about that....but giving awards to pretentious movies is pretentious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

    @the-gipper said:

    @chicopee-john said:

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    WTF does that have to do with anything we are talking about?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    Again..... we were talking about decorum. Lets see a rant about women's rights, abortion rights, gun control, etc. happen at a CMA ceremony and those yeehaws would be foaming at the mouth about it. It happened to the Dixie Chicks....it never happened at an Academy Award.....see where Charlton Heston got his lifetime achievement award. I see where his right wing politics didn't stand in the way of that.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    I don't know about that....but giving awards to pretentious movies is pretentious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

    Another example of somebody who rails against 'intolerance' being intolerant.

    Now it's 'yeehaws' who listen to 'Country Music'.

    Where does it end?

    Maybe you can find a place with 'like minded people'.

  • Can't agree with the Gipper about pretension. Sometimes I love things that make others cringe with embarrassment. Case in point that paraphrase I just used came from a Procol Harum album. Many people think Keith Reid writess extremely pretentious stuff.

    Some literary professors love James Joyce. One of my favorite songs of all time is Mac Arthur park.

    We already have a People's Choice Awards don't we? That would be a good place to give a statue to dumb and dumber, Need for Speed six or Julia Roberts and Hugh what's his name movies. The Oscars should really be set aside for worx that the insiders feel are different and outstanding. Quite often they are.

    WSS

  • @the-gipper said:

    @chicopee-john said:

    What happened in the last elections, Gip?

    WTF does that have to do with anything we are talking about?

    Right now, the Dems message fails to resonate outside the handful of 'Cultural Bubbles', just like the hard-left (I didn't say Democrats) messages spewed during the Awards Show keeps mainstream America from turning on their TV sets.

    Again..... we were talking about decorum. Lets see a rant about women's rights, abortion rights, gun control, etc. happen at a CMA ceremony and those yeehaws would be foaming at the mouth about it. It happened to the Dixie Chicks....it never happened at an Academy Award.....see where Charlton Heston got his lifetime achievement award. I see where his right wing politics didn't stand in the way of that.

    PS I also believe WSS has a good point about film distribution. Giving awards to movies that nobody has seen appears to be, well, prententious.

    I don't know about that....but giving awards to pretentious movies is pretentious.

    PPS FWIW, I am a registered Democrat.

    Another example of somebody who rails against 'intolerance' being intolerant.

    Now it's 'yeehaws' who listen to 'Country Music'.

    Where does it end?

    Maybe you can find a place with 'like minded people'.

    @chicopee-john said:

    Another example of somebody who rails against 'intolerance' being intolerant.

    Yes You? You clearly do not wish to tolerate anyone with varying points of views from yours. YOU are the one that took offense at the fact that maybe all of 3 minutes of that boring Oscar presentation involved someone espousing a liberal point of view....something about equal pay for women. That is what started everything.

    Now it's 'yeehaws' who listen to 'Country Music'.

    I was born into a hillbilly family.....so yea, we saw nothing wrong with a few yeehaws.

    Its like calling someone who likes heavy metal a "head banger".

    Where does it end?

    Maybe you can find a place with 'like minded people'.

    Why would I want that. Sounds a bit boring. Besides, I don't always know what my own mind likes...until I figure it out.

  • Can't agree with the Gipper about pretension. Sometimes I love things that make others cringe with embarrassment. Case in point that paraphrase I just used came from a Procol Harum album. Many people think Keith Reid writess extremely pretentious stuff.

    Some literary professors love James Joyce. One of my favorite songs of all time is Mac Arthur park.

    We already have a People's Choice Awards don't we? That would be a good place to give a statue to dumb and dumber, Need for Speed six or Julia Roberts and Hugh what's his name movies. The Oscars should really be set aside for worx that the insiders feel are different and outstanding. Quite often they are.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Can't agree with the Gipper about pretension. Sometimes I love things that make others cringe with embarrassment. Case in point that paraphrase I just used came from a Procol Harum album. Many people think Keith Reid writess extremely pretentious stuff.

    Some literary professors love James Joyce. One of my favorite songs of all time is Mac Arthur park.

    We already have a People's Choice Awards don't we? That would be a good place to give a statue to dumb and dumber, Need for Speed six or Julia Roberts and Hugh what's his name movies. The Oscars should really be set aside for worx that the insiders feel are different and outstanding. Quite often they are.

    WSS

    I agree, quite often they are different and outstanding. While this year's nominees were frequently different (like Boyhood), I just didn't think they were outstanding. I did not think Birdman was outstanding. Over the past 20 years I would say that only about 5 or so of the Best Picture movies were outstanding in my view.

  • >> Besides, I don't always know what my own mind likes...until I figure it out.>>

    Same with me!!