With a pathetic 18.7 million viewers, it’s official: the Academy Awards are doornail dead.

It’s over.

There’s no coming back from this.

Two of the biggest movies in history were in this year’s Oscar hunt — Avatar: Way of the Water and Top Gun: Maverick. Still, fewer than 20 million tuned in.

Sure, you’re going to read a bunch of bootlicking headlines in the entertainment media about how this is a 12 percent increase over last year. Yeah, well, last year’s ratings were the second-lowest in history.

How bad is 18.7 million viewers?

Well, a mere five years ago, in 2018, Oscar hit its lowest ratings up to that time, and that was with 26 million viewers. Five years ago, everyone panicked over 26 million viewers. Today, 26 million looks like the good old days.

Until 2018, which is when the Woke Nazis, McCarthyite censors, and #MeToo fascists infested everything in entertainment without breaking a sweat, the Oscars attracted between 44 and 33 million viewers. This was expected. This was just the way it was.

You can argue, as many bootlickers will, that competition from streaming and video games and the Internet are to blame for this ratings collapse, but you will be lying. I’m pretty sure there was streaming and video games and the Internet when 44 million tuned in all the way back in the olden days of 2014.

The ratings poison who calls himself Jimmy Kimmel sure doesn’t help. No one likes Jimmy Kimmel. He’s a smug jerk with all the charm of a hall monitor. Why Oscar would ask a guy to host their Super Bowl who can barely attract a little over a million viewers every night is beyond me.

The Academy Awards telecast was always dull, poorly produced, and way too long. That didn’t turn people off. We still tuned in. But that was during a time when Hollywood didn’t hate us. Yes, there was a time when Hollywood only wanted to put on a great show. There was a time when Hollywood awarded Oscars to movies people actually saw and enjoyed.

Those days are over.

Forever.

There are no stars anymore—just self-regarding, virtue-signaling crybaby celebrities with all the charisma of a bad politician.

So, I’m calling it. Oscar is officially over. The Academy has forever lost the goodwill of the customers and our trust. There was a time when an Oscar nomination boosted a movie’s box office. We all now know an Oscar nomination means a dull, smug lecture with lots of off-putting gay sex. Today an Oscar nomination is the kiss of box office death, a warning label to stay as far away as possible.

What a shame.

Imagine how awful Hollywood must be, how overpopulated with terrible people the entertainment industry is now… This industry now prefers to shame, lecture and insult us over experiencing the joy that comes with knowing you have the power to spread the magic of entertainment, laughter, and enlightenment.

Hollywood used to be great.

Thankfully, that Hollywood is still available on home video.

The only thing entertaining about this Hollywood is watching it burn itself down.

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.