The Oscars ceremony — broadcast live, like the Golden Globes, the Super Bowl, the Grammys, Nascar races and other so-called big-event television programs that are appointment viewing — is typically the highest-rated entertainment program on television.
"Suffice it to say it's good to be in big-event television right now," said Ed Erhardt, president for customer marketing and sales at ABC Sports and its cable TV sibling, ESPN, in New York.
There have been exceptions, like the Monty Python alum Michael Palin's two strenuously zany PBS epics, "Around the World in Eighty Days" and "Full Circle With Michael Palin," but they still had the high gloss of special-event television.
Holloway says the key to their success is keeping in tune with what the audience wants, which he says is "live-event television", as shown by the huge ratings for the Olympics.
"I think if you look at the truly amazing job he did at the Tony Awards, you just thought that this guy was made to be an M.C. for live-event television," Mr. Sussman recalled.
