Trump-bashing plays really well in Hollywood and Berkeley, but apparently not so well in flyover country where real, flesh and blood Americans live, totally foreign to the garish plastic people who come out once a year for the mutual strokefest we call the Academy Awards.

The 2018 Oscars scored its lowest ratings in history, 16% lower than the 2017 Oscars which received the lowest ratings in 9 years. The previous all-time low in 2008 was 21.9. Even that was 14% higher than the 2018 Oscars. OUCH!

A major factor in the unpopularity of the 2018 Oscars is no doubt the constant Trump-bashing. Who wants to see that? And Jimmy Kimmel as the MC? Really? Why not Hillary Clinton? She’s the only person on the planet who hates Trump more than Kimmel.

The Academy used to choose as its MC a well-known comedian, which is what Jimmy Kimmel used to be. Now he is a professional Trump-hater. That’s all he’s got. He’s no longer funny at all unless you consider “Trump sucks” funny, which has obviously become very old with TV viewers, the few of which who were suffering through the Oscars last night were treated to a steady parade of rapists and perverts and hypocrites (you know, the ones surrounded by armed security who are screaming for gun confiscation).

From Deadline
It was an Oscar do-over last night for host Jimmy Kimmel, producers Mike De Luca and Jennifer Todd and Best Picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Following last year’s Envelopegate, which led to Beatty and Dunaway inadvertently announcing a wrong Best Picture winner, the quartet’s second go-around went without a hitch.

The good news did not carry over to ratings for the 90th Academy Awards, which (correctly) crowned The Shape of Water as Best Picture. Last night’s ceremony drew a 18.9 Live+Same Day rating in the metered market households. That was off 16% from last year’s 22.4 rating, which was a nine-year low. The 18.9 appears to be an all-time low for the Oscars, below the previous low ratings point, logged with the 2008 telecast (21.9), hosted by Jon Stewart, when No Country For Old Men won Best Picture.

That, despite the fast that The Shape of Water was the the highest-grossing Best Picture winner in five years.

Last year, the 22.4 metered market rating translated to 32.9 million viewers  — also a nine-year low — and a 9.1 rating among adults 18-49. We will update with viewership and demo numbers when they become available later today.

The best that Hollywood’s big night has done in the first round of ratings over the past decade-plus was back in 2005. That show, hosted by Chris Rock, got a 30.1 metered market households. Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby won Best Picture that year, and the broadcast went on to score 42.1 million viewers in the final number. With 12 Years a Slave winning Best Picture, the 2014 Oscars fronted by Ellen DeGeneres (27.9 metered market HH rating) drew the biggest overall audience of the 21st century, with 43.7 million tuning in.

We will update with more refined numbers for the telecast, which aired live across the country and dominated Sunday night.