Los Angeles (AFP)
The audience for the Emmy Awards, equivalent to the Oscars for American television, reached the lowest level in its history on Sunday evening, despite a 100% virtual evening without a technical hitch and generally well received by critics.
According to figures released Monday by the ABC channel, which broadcast it, the 72nd edition of the Emmy Awards gathered only 6.1 million viewers in the United States, against 6.9 million last year and 10.2 million in 2018 .
To justify this poor score, ABC points out that the ceremony was in competition with many sports competitions, such as American football and the playoffs of the NBA teams.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Emmy Awards evening had to forgo the traditional red carpet and its parade of stars in gala attire, which may have hurt public interest.
The ceremony was presented by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, almost alone in a room in Los Angeles from which he addressed by videoconference to some 130 candidates, who were at home.
The lucky winners received their statuette at home, from the hands of an entertainer wearing a full biological protection suit that looked like a tuxedo.
An inventiveness hailed by the specialized media of Hollywood, which qualified this 72nd edition of "triumph of the production" (Variety) or of "memorable ceremony" (Deadline).
The big winners of the evening were the miniseries "Watchmen", "Succession" in the flagship category of the drama series, and the Canadian production "Schitt's Creek" for the comedies.
© 2020 AFP