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Falling Fast

Oscars ratings plummet to six year low - is Neil Patrick Harris to blame?

This year’s host is taking the majority of the blame for the massive fall in viewers.

SUNDAY NIGHT’S OSCARS ceremony will be remembered for many things, but the number of people watching won’t be one of them.
36.6 million US viewers tuned in to the show, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, which was the lowest viewing figures for the Awards since 2009.

The 87th Academy Awards - Show - Los Angeles AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

It was also a drop of 6 million people compared to last year’s Awards – which was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

The Nielsen ratings company that puts together the figures also said that Twitter activity around the Oscars was way down on 2014 – with 5.9 million tweets sent in total, compared to 11.2 million for Ellen’s show last year.

The reviews for host Neil Patrick Harris were not good

review1 TheGuardian TheGuardian

review2 LA TImes LA TImes

timemagazine Time Time

Time Magazine summed up the sentiment of the critics, with this assessment of Harris’ performance:

“Whether it was his stumbling repeatedly over names or his truly uncomfortable segues, Harris seemed to violate the awards ceremony host’s mandate: first, do no harm. A star who had in every other setting appeared gleefully eager was, at the Oscars, glum and low energy.”

On Twitter as well, Harris is copping some flak for the lacklustre ceremony

His Birdman-themed lark around the stage in his underwear was probably his standout moment though

87th Academy Awards - Show AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Some of the gags went down well, like this nod to the perceived lack of diversity in the nomination line up

https://vine.co/v/OQHunTpnLg1

But in general, there were many who were underwhelmed with his performance

So, this just leaves the question open as to who will take over NPH’s mantle for next year’s ceremony. Can they do better and bring it back to Ellen’s 2014 peak?

More 16 *essential* moments from the Oscars you may have missed>

More RTÉ cut the Oscars during that epic ‘Glory’ performance, and wow are people angry>

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