Ratings for Sunday’s Oscar broadcast was a little better than last year’s mess with James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
But bringing Billy Crystal back to host only put the show at 39.3 million, compared to last year’s 37.6 million.
Two weeks earlier, the Grammys got 39.9 million viewers, putting the music competition ahead of movies’ biggest night.
It wasn’t all Crystal’s fault; some of the movies vying for best picture weren’t box office smashes. A black and white silent film “The Artist” swept top awards for best picture, actor, director and score — five in all. “Hugo” also got five Oscars, mostly in technical categories.
And while Crystal wasn’t stellar, there were some comedic highlights, like this bit about a fictional focus group for “The Wizard of Oz” starring most of the Christopher Guest ensemble, including Guest himself.