Another Hollywood award show will not be televised. This time it’s the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards. If you want to watch the ISA’s this year, you’ll have to watch them on YouTube.
Previously, the ISA’s had been broadcast on IFC, the Independent Film Channel. Now, just try to imagine how terrible the ratings must be for a third-tier cable network like IFC to jump ship. According to Showbiz 411, the ISA’s drew only 60,000 viewers.
A test pattern of my butt could easily double that.
Sixty thousand viewers? How is that even possible? A whole lot more than 60,000 work in the entertainment industry. You would think that at the very least, they would tune in.
Nope.
So now, on March 4 (mark your calendar!), the ISA’s will stream on IMBD and on IFC’s YouTube channel.
How sad is that?
What’s more, this is the second Hollywood award show demoted to streaming.
Last month, Breitbart News reported that the Screen Actors Guild Awards “is such a ratings failure it’s moving to YouTube.” For nearly 25 years, the SAG Awards broadcast on two national cable networks, TBS and TNT. This year… YouTube.
Last year, the ISA’s enjoyed being broadcast on a national cable channel, IFC. This year … YouTube.
Even with Hasan Minhaj hosting … YouTube.
Oh, wait, who’s Hasan Minhaj?
Nothing against this Hasan Minhaj guy (if that’s how he identifies), but hosts are a big part of the Hollywood award show problem. Unlike Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, and Billy Crystal, who drew tens of millions of Oscar viewers, there’s no one in show business anymore with universal appeal. Oh, and there’s one more problem…
There are no stars anymore.
The joy of watching these award shows used to be the glamor and appeal of seeing those rarest of species: the movie star. Well, woke has pretty much made that species extinct. Actors and actresses are now everywhere on social media and media-media, which costs them the most important quality a movie star can have: their mystique. We know these divisive boors all to well now, and we do not like them.
Award shows themselves have devolved into a grotesque spectacle where the Uber-Privileged One-Percent congratulate themselves on how virtuous we are while scolding the rest of us. The humility, self-deprecation, gratitude towards the audience, and desire to put on a show has vanished entirely. Honestly, there is no historical precedent for this. Hollywood is imploding under its own narcissism and hubris, everyone knows it, and no one seems willing to stop it.
Of course, another problem is that the product — the movies — suck.
People will forgive all kinds of terrible behavior if, at the end of the day, you produce. But all these people produce is crap.
We don’t hate you Hollywood.
We’re just hating you back.
There’s a difference, and don’t forget…
You started it.
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