Emmy Ratings... Out! Smallest Audience Since 1990

Ryan Seacrest by John Shearer/WireImage.com

Matt here, operating on perhaps four hours of sleep. And you all have me doing math on top of it? Oh, it's all good. My 30 Rockers got their due.

Anywho... the Nielsen overnights indicate that Sunday's Emmy Awards telecast averaged 13.06 million total viewers. That skinny sample represents not only an 18 percent drop from last year's pre-Labor Day installment but, much more dubiously, the show's smallest audience since 1990 (when about 12.3 mil people watched as L.A. Law and Murphy Brown won for best drama and comedy). Even Fox itself, in its just-released ratings spin, cops to the fact that the Emmys ranked No. 2 to NFL Football among adults 18-49, 18-34 and teens.

That said, the audience is rather impressive when you consider that more than a few hundred stuck around after that endless Don't Forget the Lyrics spoof.

Related: Inside the Emmys: All the Dish from TV Guide's After-party!

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59th Primetime Emmy Awards

Posted by

Matt Webb Mitovich

Sep 17, 2007 12:07 PM

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27 years? Did I fall asleep and wake up in 2017?
Posted by teutonicboytoy Sep 17, 2007 12:17 PM Report Abuse

Well ~ I live in MA and there were 2 great games going on so New England must have had the smallest amount of people watching! Patriots (YAY) and Red Sox vs Yankees (BOO ~ Red Sox lost).
Posted by ZZZ999 Sep 17, 2007 12:22 PM Report Abuse

27 years? Did I fall asleep and wake up in 2017? Everyone's a smart-arse with the guy who's sleep-blogging....
Posted by Matt Webb Mitovich Sep 17, 2007 12:28 PM Report Abuse

The Emmy's went up against the season finales of both The 4400 and The Dead Zone. USA network shows have loyal followers that probably blew off the Emmy's.
Posted by lhoffman1960 Sep 17, 2007 1:13 PM Report Abuse

And then there were the people who figured they'd just check out the winners online and spare themselves the Seacrest pain. (Like, me)
Posted by Dianora Sep 17, 2007 1:25 PM Report Abuse

Has Seacrest given any response to the. . . uh. . . "whispers" denigrating his performance? I, for the record, loved him. Whenever he came on, I could flip to another channel. Other hosts have had the unfortunate habit of being watchable, thus removing my ability to channel surf.
Posted by ScottyT Sep 17, 2007 1:31 PM Report Abuse

Low ratings? Two words: Ryan Seacrest. He's more annoying than Richard Simmons in star spangled shorts. Ew.
Posted by StonyG Sep 17, 2007 1:32 PM Report Abuse

The Sox-Yanks game on ESPN and Pats-Chargers game on NBC definitely need to be factored in. They took out two of the biggest cities on the East Coast. I know I would've watched more of the Emmys if the biggest football game of the regular season wasn't on. And then, when that game got out of hand, the Yanks-Sox were embroiled in a really tense game 1-1 in the 7th. Not that male viewers are the main demographic for the Emmys, but you might as well knock out all of them with that competition.

Posted by meo627

Sep 17, 2007 1:38 PM

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I never even thought about watching the emmy's. And although I'm glad 30 Rock won(I just finished rewatching the whole 1st season and loved it even more) I just don't care about the emmy's or any other awards show. They're too long and they have too many performances and it's just a waste of time to watch.

But I'd imagine it couldn't have been much worse than the absolutely boring NE/SD game on nbc last night. It was over in the first quarter. Someone needs to find that ugly, old, nasty, arms cut-off hoodie and BURN IT!!!!

Posted by Leah

Sep 17, 2007 1:48 PM

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I know my house was boycotting the Emmys not for Ryan Seacrest (an added bonus - not having to watch him), but because of the nominations. We had no interest in supporting the institution that continually fails to recognize quality programing.

I've since read that Kyle Chandler presented an award last night - what a class act - to be completely snubbed for an award he deserved more than anyone and still to show up and participate.

Friday Night Lights, The Wire, The Shield, Battlestar Gallactica, the list goes on and on - The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is completely out of touch with quality television and I for one am glad that their ratings were down.

Posted by Amatlins

Sep 17, 2007 1:52 PM

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Elaine Stritch should host next year! I'll watch for sure.
Posted by theriotgrl Sep 17, 2007 1:53 PM Report Abuse

Scott Thrower and StonyG ~ LOL ">
Posted by ZZZ999 Sep 17, 2007 1:57 PM Report Abuse

I don't know what makes me feel worse--having watched almost the entire Emmy broadcast or knowing that despite how bad it was it still got way more viewers than Veronica Mars.
Posted by Famin Sep 17, 2007 2:15 PM Report Abuse

Anything with Ryan Seacrest...I boycott...Hope you all have learned something from this...he is way overexposed!!!
Posted by monidj Sep 17, 2007 2:19 PM Report Abuse

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