As long as the demographic of the viewers remains high-income people who might otherwise be hard to catch all in one place, the overall ratings don't need to be that high for the Tonys to be worthwhile to CBS. Simple ratings aren't all that matter.
I suspect the ratings this year will hover at about the same level they were last year - low, but not the lowest ever. That's just a completely instinctive guess on my part, though.
At this point, I'm just hoping they don't repeat what I consider the two dumbest moves of last year's otherwise okay broadcast:
1. Leaving the play revival category out of the broadcast. It was a strong category last year, and it's even moreso this time. Plays are flourishing this year - give them some respect.
2. Letting the non-nominated musicals have numbers during the broadcast. There just haven't been that many good musicals coming out these past couple of years - just enough to fill the new musical category, barely. No need to show off the mediocre and worse on national TV. Seriously, that bit last year was just embarrassing all around.
I'm sure Neil Patrick Harris will be amusing in his time onstage. And I'll give this to the Tonys - they move briskly and finish on time, thank Betsy. People won't be ignoring them because of Oscars-style bloat, but only if they're not interested in who's nominated.
Updated On: 5/14/09 at 10:39 PM