Anecdotal evidence (aka Water Cooler and Twitter talk) told me that overall people were pleased with this performance-packed Tony Awards telecast, but maybe not as much as last year. But you and I both know that you can’t base anything entirely on anecdotal evidence. We need real hard data.
So, last week I polled all of you (and those folks on Twitter), to see just what you really thought about this year’s Tonys.
And now, are you ready for the results?
Well too bad, because you’re getting them anyway.
- 97.09% of you watched the Tonys.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, here’s how you rated the show:
- 5.57% gave it a 10
- 14.76% gave it a 9
- 23.68% gave it an 8
- That’s a 44.01% 8-or-better rating compared to last year’s 90.57%.
- Yikes (that deserved its own bullet point)
- Comparing this year’s telecast to last year’s telecast:
- 29.25% said it was better
- 28.13% said it was the same
- 25.07% said it was worse
- 16.16% said it was much better
- 1.39% said it was much worse
- Your favorite part of the telecast was:
- Production numbers - 37.60%
- The host - 19.50%
- The opening number – 13.09%
- Acceptance speeches - 13.09%
- Finding out who wins – 10.58%
- Other – 5.29%
- The presenters – 0.84%
- Your least favorite part of the telecast was . . .
- Would you be shocked to hear that “Hairspray from the cruise ship” was what you answered most for this question? I didn’t think so.
- Your favorite musical number was . . .
- Newsies – 30.64%
- Once – 23.12%
- Porgy and Bess – 13.65%
- Godspell – 8.36%
- Leap of Faith – 5.29%
- Follies – 5.29%
- Nice Work If You Can Get It – 4.18%
- Jesus Christ Superstar – 3.62%
- Evita – 3.62%
- Ghost – 1.11%
- Royal Caribbean’s Hairspray – 0.84%
- We asked what you would suggest to the Tony Producers to make it a more exciting evening. Here’s what came up the most:
- “Hire Neil Patrick Harris for another year.”
- “Put the tech awards & special awards back on prime-time broadcast!”
- “Just keep Neil Patrick Harris as the host forever – and let him do whatever he wants.”
- “More performances.”
- “BERNADETTE PETERS.”
Not such a great year, according to you die-hards out there. Although, honestly, in defense of the telecast (which I gave an 8.5 – 9), they set the bar pretty damn high last year, so we were bound to take a bit of a dive.
Now, if you haven’t heard yet, the show took a precipitous drop in the ratings. But why? Because of a sports event on another network? Or is it because apparently you’re dying to hear Bernadette belt out a number?
Good questions.
I’ll give you my thoughts tomorrow.
(Got a comment? I love ‘em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here then scroll down, to say what’s on your mind!)
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10 Responses to What did YOU think of the Tony Telecast? Survey Results Revealed.
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NPH is terrific, but his material wasn’t as good as last year’s, which was perfect.
Hitler is never funny but I guess if we can have goose-stepping Gestapo dancers on Broadway we can laugh at the YouTube’s Hitler Rants about the Royal Carribean Performing on the Tony Awards. Funny and sums up that number pretty well.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqOe6uhlKBOU%26sns%3Dfb&h=BAQEo2XbP
I have a little reservation about the union-less boat atmosphere being on the Tony’s, an awards show specifically for productions that have been on Broadway.
But if they’re willing to bring shows to more people all around the world, I guess I’m not going to get sick about helping out an industry who seems to have had a strange year.
But more importantly, about Bernadette Peters. Saw her a few weeks ago solo with a symphony orchestra and I’m still smiling. They should just put her in anything people plan to watch. The Tony’s, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Larry King. (I only watch one of these)
I know what you’re thinking; Larry King is off the air. Well maybe if he had more Bernadette, he’d still be playing.
I jest… But seriously, people like Bernadette Peters. She could record the audio book for the yellow pages, and I would buy it, even though nobody uses a phone book anymore. And I would fall asleep to it.
I agree with this. Also, James Earl Jones could read the phone book, and I’d be happy.
(1) How about text-voting as we have seen in American Idol etc.?
The contestants do some skits in the beginning of the broadcasting and viewers vote. And the performer (or maybe production?) got votes the most win the tony!
It has to be a unique presentation but needs to give the show’s flavor.
Maybe Im thinking like Bwy Bonnet show in Dec or Bway Bare (but G rated). Possibly in the style of Forbidden Bway?
(2)Songs by the previous winners,
I would love to hear current Patti singing “DC4M, Argentina” maybe Ricky Martin joins in some way?
Sarah J Parker, new Annie, and Ann Hathaway (Cuz her name is “Ann”ie..) are threesome-ing “Tomorrow”?
I would love to see original cast or previous cast singing showtunes that are sung every night on Broadway.
Your idea for a text-vote theater awards show is a great idea for an additional awards show! IMHO, I do not see it working for the Tony’s, but it would be a great way to mobilize the fall/winter theatergoers!
You know, it’s funny about that Hairspray performance. My first thought was why? Then my second thought was…wait…are those performers even union? What are we supporting here?… and then my third thought was, wait…why are we seeing a performance that’s not even from a current show and that unfortunately had weak production values? (compared to Broadway). It would have made more sense, to have had perhaps the West End cast of Ghost perform or an Equity touring cast (Warhorse?) perform from L.A. or somewhere on the road. It just seem really out of place.
I wonder if the ratings dip has anything to do with people switching from cable and broadcast TV to internet streaming TV. I use ROKU now and couldn’t watch the Tonys because of it (or the Oscars for that matter).
Or was I just playing the fool and was it simulcasted on a Tonys website without me knowing? When I catch a moment to breathe, I’ll look for some clips on Youtube, but it’s just not the same.
I’m probably one of the BIGGEST Hairspray fans you’ll meet. My only problem with the Hairspray clip was Edna, his hair was weird and his dress wasn’t right. Otherwise, it was great! But I LOVED the Tonys, and would watch this years over and over and over and over and over again. NPH should host ALL THE THINGS! (*Insert gratuitous ALL THE THINGS! meme here*)
Honestly, I’m still surprised they didn’t broadcast the tech awards & special awards on air. Not only was I disappointed because a friend was nominated in the lighting design category and I didn’t get to see his category live, but as a techie myself, I definitely would have appreciated seeing the designers who put so much work into creating these shows and who are very much a part of the theatre community recognized on primetime TV.
I love the Tonys, I love the Tonys every year. I think I was more wowed by them last year, but this year was definitely comparable and I’m sad the ratings were so low. I guess that’s one of the problems with theater (specifically Broadway theater) being, unfortunately, such a niche business. We’re pretty much localized to this one corner of the world and as much as we try to get the word out, theater is not as easy to spread around as other mediums.