UNITED STATES—Awards season is slowly coming to an end, and I must say I’m happy. It can be exhausting for those of us who cover these ceremonies. You have to be dedicated anywhere from 2-4 hours (looking at you Grammys) to watch a show, that for the first 30 minutes is fun, but the remainder of the ceremony is an utter drag. Someone recently asked me what can you do to get more people to watch?
Well to be honest, I don’t think there is much that can be done. For some of the ceremonies I absolutely believe it begins with having an energetic host; one who can deliver laughs, is not afraid to push the envelope, but not push it too far. I mean Ricky Gervais was hilarious as host of the Golden Globes, so were Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I cannot recall the last time I laughed or was utterly entertained while watching the Oscars. There seems to be a level of pretentiousness that is hard to break through, if that even makes sense.
On top of that, you have to find a way to balance entertainment with giving out awards. I mean what good is an awards show if no one is receiving any awards. This happens time and time and time again with the Grammys. You do not need 30 plus performers. Cut the damn number down, not to mention focus a bit more on diversifying the number of awards you hand out. I saw that more awards were handed out for Rap and R&B this year than in past years. Heck, Rock N’ Roll was completely ignored during the telecast. You should be able to hand out at least 2 from each genre of music.
Some of the performances were lackluster to say the least or I can’t even remember who performed what. And just to add one more statement about the Grammy Awards: this is a ceremony honoring music. There is no way in hell anyone should be lip syncing at this ceremony. It’s all about music; if you cannot sing live, you shouldn’t be singing period!
The biggest issue so many award shows have is they try to toss in jokes that just aren’t funny. Perhaps run those jokes before delivery or have impromptu comedians who can improvise on a dim, tackle the wit and banter. Just because you write a joke doesn’t mean the joke is going to deliver as you expect it to. Then you have those actors or actresses who can’t catch a clue if their life depended on it; you’re not funny, move it along please for the sake of everyone at home who are cringing watching you on TV.
The biggest bullet to award shows is their inability to control the pacing. If one thing goes wrong it completely throws off the dynamic and it seems the host and the show never recovers. It doesn’t hurt to not cram everything within a small window if it’s not possible. We don’t always need to see highlights or the movies nominated or hear clips from the songs competing against each other; just open the envelope and announce the winner please.
There is a reason the public has no interest in watching award shows, plenty feel they are out of touch with the rest of the world; which is true. I mean how many people have seen “Roma?” How many people will go see “Roma.” If these award shows consider the likelihood of listening to what the public likes you might have a bit more intrigue in the ceremony and a need to want to watch in the long run.
Written By Kelsey Thomas
