The biggest surprise on Sunday night didn’t come from the winners of the Oscars. It came from the ratings.
There was a lot of worry that the season finale of “The Last of Us” on HBO would draw viewers away from the awards show. As it turned out, it was the other way around.
The Oscars had almost 19 million viewers in total, a big success in the comeback from pre-pandemic levels. The show was very well produced and hosted, and executed with real panache. For the time in recent memory, the Academy Awards were fun to watch.
Meanwhile, on HBO, the final episode of season 1 of “The Last of Us” scored just over 1 million viewers on the main channel. This was on a par with the last few episodes. There was no last minute surge, although HBO says another 7 million people watched on the unmonitored HBO Max, etc. But for those just watching TV and cable, “The Last of Us” reached a plateau. (I haven’t seen it yet, don’t spoil it for me.)
As a result of the head to head competition, the Oscars may have tamped down real time viewing of “The Last of Us.” Ain’t that a kick in the pants? You never know what’s going to happen around here! Of course, plenty of people will be catching up with the HBO series this week, and its return for a 2nd season maybe in 2024, will be huge.
