11 Tony Award categories relegated to pre-show — Page 2

Just cut out the ridiculous "my first time performing in the theatre..." or "my first broadway show was..." bits, that always end "and here I am today", a pause, followed by forced applause, that should cut a half-hour out of the show.

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I know there's been a lot of hoo-haa about this both sides of the fence, but, speaking only for myself, I'd rather see the Tonys return to PBS, allowing the full three hours -- uninterrupted -- with everyone getting a chance to have their say and have their day in the sun. Invariably, the Tonys are pitted against some oh-so-important sports event and the ratings are awful. So, just bite the bullet and let it provide an entertaining awards ceremony. The people in the hinterlands that like the theatre will make a point of watching it on their PBS program -- for that matter, these people usually have enough money to have at least two television sets.

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Are you sure? I thought I remembered seeing that (Stew accepting) in the preshow online. I definitely remember Boeing Boeing winning Best Revival of a Play in the preshow (I was really mad about that).

Best Book was definitely in the pre-show last year.

I'd rather just see them cut the acceptance speeches which are dreadful bores to a TV audience. Then you would just have a photo op of EVERYONE getting their awards as they go up. The thank yous get onerous.

And you could have quick announcements and then spend most of the time on scenes from the show.

It's nice to see what people look like when they accept (hopefully in person) to see who they are but I don't like to hear them blather.

You may see Alice Ripley onstage vibrato-ing like she's on a rollercoaster or Will Swenson overacting his way through "Hair", but unfortunately you never see William Ivey Long rushing onstage to hand Marc Kudisch his suspenders.

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Hest882: Well said.

I would rather the Tonys be on PBS as well. They're never going to get the ratings CBS wants.

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>I would rather the Tonys be on PBS as well. They're never going to get the ratings CBS wants.<

As much as I'm bothered by these categories not being presented in the national broadcast, moving the broadcast to PBS is not the answer either. Theatre is incredibly marginalized by national media, with little to no coverage, except for the biggest musicals or a Hollywood celebrity trying their luck on the stage. The Tony broadcast is one of the few opportunities the theatre industry has to market itself to a national audience, and again, I understand the need for entertainment over the categories that hold less interest to general viewers.

Although never a ratings champ, the Tonys stay on CBS for a variety of reasons: CBS president Les Moonves loves the theatre; the Tony Awards is watched by people who go to the theatre and have a higher median income, which attracts higher end advertisers; and the Tonys are usually a pretty solid awards show, and the broadcast tends to win Emmy Awards.

As much as PBS might produce the Tony Awards broadcast of our dreams, if you love the theatre, you should prefer for it to remain on national network TV where millions more will see it.

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They'd certainly be a lot more fun that way MCM. Throw it in the Hudson or Hammerstein and have Kathy Griffin host.

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Well if the winners would keep their speeches to 30 seconds (or LESS) they could maybe fin in the awards. Winning a Tony is great honour but who really cares about so & so's Mom and Dad or their devotion to some god. A simple Thank you is sufficient. In fact for the broadcast I would prefer they cut to a scene of the winner on stage. The overlong speeches are the biggest bore of any awards program

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REALLY? You guys, we should all be thankful that they're still even broadcasting the TONY Awards on national television. Suck it up and watch the pre-show on your laptops. Stop complaining, it could be a lot effing worse.