The Emmy Awards were handed out Monday night. Yesterday there were stories going around that the awards show itself got the lowest ratings ever. It seems people just weren’t watching.
There seems to have a bit of a downward trend in awards shows in generally lately. So it really isn’t a huge surprise. But there also could be another reason. Too many shows I’ve never even heard of.
On Tuesday, my wife and I were watching the news and listening to a recap of winners from the previous night. By the time the story ended, I looked at her and told her I figured the Emmys were about the same as the Tony awards they hand out for Broadway plays. It’s all about things I’ve never heard of and I’m not likely to ever see.
It’s not that I don’t like live theatre. I enjoy seeing a play now and then, but the idea of flying to New York to see a play doesn’t really appeal to me. I will also admit I don’t know that much about Broadway plays and don’t really follow what is new and what is hot, because I don’t plan on going anyway.
It’s becoming similar with television. Back in the old days… you know… about ten years ago, when their was a few major networks and a couple premium services, it was pretty easy to keep track. And it was also easy to pick up the remote and turn to what channel had the show you were hearing about. Now, it has gotten to be almost too much. Too many streaming services, all with their own particular shows. It’s hard to keep track of what is where and which hoops I have to jump through to get there.
It’s all demanding more from me than I want to give. I don’t want to study the list of shows available on any given service, then bounce around from streaming service to streaming service, watching what each has to offer, then moving on to another. I just want to push a button.
I am sure many of those Emmy nominated shows and winning shows are quite good. But unless you put them right in front of me and make it easy, I won’t be watching.
Which is kind of funny in a way. People used to complain that television was mindless. Now my complaint is that it’s trying to make me think too much.