Oscars a Ratings Bomb (Host Stewart Still Laughing)

By now, the ratings have revealed that Sunday's Oscars telecast on ABC was the least watched in TV-ratings history. Chalk it up to fallout from the writers strike, or to the slate of pictures up for awards that were critically acclaimed but unpopular at the box office, says The Washington Post. But Jon Stewart, widely seen as a successful host working under a tough set of circumstances, managed to find humor in the event's ratings bomb on his Tuesday-night episode of The Daily Show, during which Stewart assented to a litany of jokes at the hands of Daily Show correspondent John Oliver regarding the Academy Awards' failure to garner viewers. (Oliver quipped that the ratings demonstrated that even Stewart's own mother hadn't watched.)The 80th awards show was Stewart's second go as host, and he'd had eight days to prepare for the job in earnest after the strike ended. "It's like 'I can name that tune in seven notes': I can do the Oscars in nine days. No, I can do the Oscars in eight days," Stewart told The New York Times days before the show.