Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Tony Awards: the Forgotten Middle Child of Awards Shows.

     The 69th annual Tony Awards are Sunday night!!!!  I know, I know... does anybody really care?  I certainly don’t, and based on TV viewership, apparently I’m not alone.
     When I sat down to write this post, I knew the Tony’s wouldn’t be the most popular awards show. But I figured they’d have to be up there. I mean, they've been around for almost 70 years. I knew the Oscars would top the list. It’s like the Super Bowl of awards shows. And I wasn’t surprised that the Grammy's, Golden Globes and Emmy’s are each more popular. I figured the Tony’s might round out the top 5, though. But they’re not even in the Top 10! There’s a host of other awards shows people pay more attention to -- some I’ve never even heard of and others I’ve never seen. Here's a list from 2014, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Even the People’s Choice Awards -- an awards show with no surprises because the winners are notified in advance -- eats Tony’s lunch.
Did You See Last Year's Opening!?:
Me neither.
     Look, it’s not exactly like these are glory days for any awards show.  The 2015 Academy Awards dropped 18% from the year before, hitting a 6 year low of 36.6 million viewers. ( CLICK HERE to review my exclusive Middle Child coverage.) The Grammy’s also hit a 6 year low of 25.3 million. The Golden Globes were down 11% to 19.6 million. But even though major awards shows are tanking left and right, they’re all still kicking little Tony’s ass!!  Poor Tony draws barely over 7 million viewers. Low woman on the awards show totem poll, for sure. So that’s why Tony has earned it's Middle Child status: nobody really cares about it, but it just won’t go away.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: And speaking of awards shows nobody cares about... this year’s annual “Middie Awards,” honoring the best in attention-seeking, Middle Child-like behavior, will be announced on August 12 -- Middle Child’s Day! Check your local listings to find out when they will not be aired in your area.