Oscar Ratings Higher Than Last Two Years
Oscar notes
The Oscar show, David Letterman style, drew viewers at a slightly higher rate than its immediate predecessors, early Nielsen ratings showed.
In preliminary overnight numbers, the Oscar telecast on ABC scored a 37.3 rating and 57 share, according to Nielsen Media Research. The overnight ratings represent 32 major markets, about 55 percent of total U.S. TV homes.
In 1994, the overnight numbers were a 35.9 rating and a 53 percent share; in 1993, they were a 35.5 rating and a 54 share.
Each overnight ratings point this year represents 514,000 TV homes. A share point is the percentage of homes tuned in to a network in the time period.
Puck pizza big hit
And the Oscar for most original pizza goes to: Wolfgang Puck, chef extraordinaire and leading man of the Academy’s Governors Ball.
What’s more, the four-cheese pizza with sun-dried tomatoes, smoke salmon pizza with dill cream and caviar, and duck sausage pizza with wild mushrooms and caramelized onions were just hors d’oeuvres before the gourmet dinner.
It worked.”We wolfed down as much pizza as
we could,” said Sally Field, who attended the affair with record mogul David Geffen.
Others enjoying Puck’s talents included Oscar winners Jessica Lange, Martin Landau and Tom Hanks, as well as John Travolta, Clint Eastwood, Jodie Foster, Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins.
Like the Oscars, the Ball’s biggest prize came last: chocolate coffee crunch cake with raspberry sauce and fresh berries, topped with a mini Oscar statuette.
Hanks speech stuns wife
At the swank post-Oscar Governors Ball, Hanks’ wife admitted that she was still stunned by his tribute to her in his best actor acceptance speech.
“When I met him I knew that God had answered my prayers,” said Rita Wilson, holding a glass of champagne. “For him to be so public about his feelings, it was a physical manifestation of that love.”
Hanks and Wilson, an actress, have been married for seven years.
Of his speech, Hanks said: “I meant every word.”
Lange on beauty
When you look like Jessica Lange, it seems disingenuous to say that beauty hasn’t always worked in your favor. But Lange, winner of the Best Actress Oscar for “Blue Sky,” swears it’s true.
“There was a period of time where I was so worried about being taken seriously because of my looks,” she said backstage. “Then, once I was taken seriously, I worried about losing my looks. What can you do? It’s always a trade-off.”
Missing from Lange’s side was her longtime companion, playwright and actor Sam Shepard.
“Sam never comes to these events,” she said.
Statuettes with more gold
At 13 inches and 8 pounds, the statuette named after a farmer called Oscar was already the most valuable commodity in Hollywood.
But this year he’ll be worth even more.
The company that makes the statuettes wrapped Oscar with a thicker layer of gold than in previous years.