Politics, social media to blame for lack of interest in awards shows

Shelby Le Duc
Green Bay Press-Gazette
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus
smooches her awards for outstanding actress and best comedy series in the Emmys trophy room.

I've always dreamed of being an interviewer on the red carpet, which is why it pains me to admit this: The ratings are in, and things aren't looking too good for Hollywood awards shows. 

It's reported this year's Emmy Awards, which aired Sept. 17, tied with last year's all-time lowest ratings in the show's nearly 70-year history. Sounds like the Emmys wouldn't even win an Emmy.

There's a lot of talk about how politics is likely playing a role in the slump — and I agree, to an extent. 

The way I see it, regardless of which side of the aisle you're on, the average person turns on a show like the Emmys for a unique experience. Not to hear the same stuff we hear every day. But for anyone who actually tuned in this year, that's exactly what they got. Almost three hours saturated with political jokes and commentary that frankly, for many, has become unfunny, unoriginal, predictable and boring. 

So, no wonder people are turning off their televisions. Or, at least, changing the channel to watch football instead. 

Politics aside, though, I see another key reason for the takedown of awards shows.

The internet, social media and smartphones have made everything so easily accessible and disposable that we simply don't care about a lot of things in which we used to be interested. Awards shows included. 

Think about it.

Back in the day when you wanted to watch a TV show, you first had to scour a TV guide for local listings to find out what time and channel a program was on. Then you had to park your butt in your recliner and only get up during commercials to avoid missing important stuff. All of which would be discussed with coworkers the next day. But then you had to do it all over again the following week to keep up.

It was a process. And the same goes for movies. 

Years ago, to see a movie, you first had to wait for it to come to theaters. Then you called the almighty MovieFone or checked the newspaper for showtimes. Then you traveled to the theater and waited in line to buy your ticket. Then, if you liked the movie enough, you anxiously awaited the flick's home video release.

In both the TV and movie scenarios, the next time you'd get to see or hear from your favorite stars was likely during awards shows — and that's why they were such a big deal. 

Shelby Le Duc

Now, though, things are different. We get our shows and movies from streaming services and watch them whenever we want. We also tweet and blog our thoughts for the whole world to see. 

More importantly, we follow our favorite actors and actresses on social media. We see posts straight from them about their professional and personal lives, even down to the littlest of things like what they ate for breakfast. 

It's no surprise then that we no longer flock to the original small screen to catch a glimpse of these stars at some fancy, exclusive awards show. To me, people aren't tuning into these awards shows anymore because, well, they're pretty much obsolete. 

Not to mention, I think a big portion of fans have wised up and are over the idea of the establishment giving themselves awards. Because, let's be real, usually the best shows and movies not only don't win awards but also don't even get nominated. Heck, often times the ones that do, most of us have never even heard of. 

So even as the ways in which we consume media continue to change, what hasn't is that audiences continue to feel underrepresented and misunderstood. But what we understand, though, is that we can appreciate shows and movies, without having to watch some awards show where stars who are pros at memorizing lines read off a teleprompter.  

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