The Emmy Awards hit a new low in ratings.
(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The awards show averaged an 8.4 overnight rating among households when it aired on ABC from Los Angeles Sunday night, according to Nielsen Media Research national ratings. The 8.4 overnight rating is down four percent compared to last year’s award show — which was the all-time lowest rated and least-watched.
(Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Many blamed the low ratings in 2015 because it was held on a Monday night in August.
For comparison, when Neil Patrick Harris hosted the awards show on CBS in 2013, 17.6 million viewers tuned in compared to 11.9 million who watched in 2015.
(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jimmy Kimmel hosted Sunday night and he opened up the show by making an off-color joke about Donald and Melania Trump.
“If it wasn’t for television, would Donald Trump be running for president?” Kimmel asked the audience. “No. He would be at home right now, quietly rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, while she pretends to be asleep.” (RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel Went After Donald Trump During His Opening Monologue. Here’s What He Said.)
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There wasn’t a dry eye in the building when Julia Louis-Dreyfus tearfully revealed her dad had recently passed when she got on stage to accept her award.
“I want to thank the Academy,” she began. “I’d like to thank HBO, whose friendship has been demonstrated to me in extraordinary ways, especially this week.”
“I’d like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday. I’m so glad he liked ‘Veep,’ because his opinion was the one that really mattered.”
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