MTV Movie Awards ratings not rising with 'Twilight: New Moon'
Despite including appearances by much of the cast from the night's big winner -- "Twilight:
New Moon" -- and the much-hyped debuts of trailers for the latest installments of both the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" film franchises, ratings for Sunday's MTV Movie Awards were off from last year.
On the main channel, viewership was off by a lot, dropping from 5.3 million to 4.6 million. However, with the addition of sister station VH1 to the simulcast lineup along with MTV2, total viewership was down only slightly from 5.9 million to 5.8 million. MTV reports that total viewership (i.e., anyone tuning in for a minute or more) totaled 16.4 million.The kudocast faced fierce competition with ABC airing Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Last year's awardscast, hosted by "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg, was notable for the staged meeting between Sacha Baron Cohen's butt and Eminem's face, which prompted a walkout by the latter. Each had a project to promote -- the actor's new movie, "Bruno," and the rapper's latest disc, "Relapse" -- and the resulting controversy spiked interest in them.
This year, Tom Cruise of the upcoming flick "Knight and Day" hoped for a boost by appearing throughout the awards in a running gag reprising his "Tropic Thunder" character Les Grossman. He opened the show, was featured in promos with "Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and did a dance-off with Jennifer Lopez.
Host Aziz Ansari ("Parks and Recreation") presided over a two-hour telecast that featured upward of 100 profanities. While the censor bleeped most of them, some did air, prompting an apology from the cable net on Monday:
The MTV Movie Awards is a live televised event known for irreverent comedy and a party atmosphere where our guests speak more freely than they otherwise might. While we aired the live broadcast with a delay, we were unable to mute every word that some might find objectionable. All of these words will be muted in subsequent airings.
We sincerely apologize to those in our audience who were offended by any objectionable words that might have slipped by for the live airing.
Photo: Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. Credit: Christopher Polk / Getty Images.
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I'm a bit past the MTV viewership age but watched the awards for a chance to see Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. I had voted for what felt like months and wanted to see if my favorites won and they did. I enjoyed Tom Cruise and of course Rob and Kristen. The most boring and disappointed part to me was the Jersey Shore push and no actual red carpet interviews before the show or coverage of the after parties. The highlights for me were the Tom Cruise/Jennifer Lopez dance, Sandra Bullock's award, and every Rob Pattinson/Kristen Stewart moment whether simply caught on camera enjoying the evening together or accepting their awards.
Posted by: ShariG | June 21, 2010 at 05:29 PM
And what's annoying is that they play the award show in NYC two hours before us and we can't wait so we watch Ustream videos or follow twitter to see who's won and what's gong on and just watch videos online later instead of waiting to watch it.
MTV how about playing it the same time everywhere ?
Posted by: Sia | June 09, 2010 at 01:15 PM
I love Twilight but I just watched the clips on MTV.com and youtube. I don't need to waste my time watching all that other crappy stuff on that show.
I just want to see Twilight so I opted not to watch.
Posted by: Sia | June 09, 2010 at 01:12 PM
MTV is in a shift of tv personality. They are more on the tv episodes, and movies. MTV is not for the easily offended..seriously. I thouroughly enjoyed the award show. I didn't get to watch the whole thing when it started, I didn't tune in until my cousin texted me about it. I have to say I think the viewers are down because it was poorly advertised. I have watched the award show for 4 years now, and this year I didn't even know it was coming on! Poor advertising..:/
Posted by: Jade | June 09, 2010 at 07:11 AM
Glad I didn't bother tuning in.....hearing swearing all night and "girl on girl action".......thats NOT entertainment!
Most of todays "entertainers" have to do raunchy and degrading things to keep their names in the news--mainly because they don't have any talent to begin with! If they did, there'd be no need to act like idiots in public.
Posted by: Cleo2u | June 08, 2010 at 09:20 PM
as someone who is not over 35 like most of the people that commented on this clearly are i though the mtv movie awards kicked F****** A** :) Times have changed vulgarity isn't so scary anymore. GET OVER IT!
Posted by: eff effing eff | June 08, 2010 at 04:17 PM
I haven't watched MTV since I was a a teen and young adult. I do not like the format they have been taking for a while now. Too many crappy shows and not enough music videos. And the MTV movie awards was meant for kids and teens to watch. Why with all the cursing!? Not necessary at all. Sounds to me they are trying to attract older viewers. It's still kids stuff.
Posted by: Anony | June 08, 2010 at 02:38 PM
there was to many bad words.......uhhhh i could't understand much because of all the beep noise from all that cussing .....IT was weird ,,,,,......SAD BUT TRUE
Posted by: Rocio | June 08, 2010 at 02:34 PM
The first 5 minutes were so bad I turned it off. MTV has become everything it used to hate.
Posted by: ladyofargonne | June 08, 2010 at 12:46 PM
MTV just sucks now and is totally irrelevant TV...kinda like Fox News...
Posted by: Cisco | June 08, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Sorry but all the f words and Tom Cruise's gross rantings were to much for me. What will his daughter think when she views this years from now? Sorry, but it seemed desparate on his part. Tom move over, Rob Pattinson is here...
I did think the host did agreat job and it was great to see stars that the audience wanted to see.
Posted by: Ski Big | June 08, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Hum... is the need for 4 letter words that powerful that Aziz felt the need to include them in his evening. Guess he has some anxiety in his life that he feels the need to lower the level of dialogue..
Posted by: tom Williamson | June 08, 2010 at 08:59 AM
I recall the "good old days" when MTV did nothing but music vids mixed with some live interviews, and such. When MTV started thinking of itself as a TV station, it was time for us to part ways. Really, how many reality shows are they going to throw at us, as if there weren't enough being pumped out by "the big three". And now the awards bandwagon. Another fiasco. I suppose it's OK if you enjoy gratuitous f-bombs, toilet humor, and the judgments of GED carrying street rats who have no concept of what fine acting is. The acting range of the winners of MTV's "best actors" awards goes no further than pouting and flipping one's hair. Sorry, MTV, but you really blow.
Posted by: augman | June 08, 2010 at 08:20 AM
Seriously? MTV expects their ratings to rise? Maybe they should get back to their roots of "MUSIC TELEVISION" and minimize reality shows. I have to 'youtube' or 'OnDemand' just to watch a music video.
Posted by: randymac | June 08, 2010 at 08:02 AM