The big winner at Sunday’s Academy Awards may have been “No Country For Old Men,” but the U.S. was No Country For Oscar Viewers as the show recorded the lowest ratings in the U.S. ever.

The televised broadcast, hosted by Jon Stewart, averaged about 32 million viewers, a drop of almost 10 million from last year.

It was also about 1 million viewers less than the previous record low set in 2003.

The ratings bust is being blamed on this year’s array of nominated films, many of which did poorly at the box office despite critical raves. For example, the grim and violent “No Country For Old Men” took in a modest $64 million at the North American box office.

Indie comedy “Juno” was the only movie among the five best-picture nominees that grossed more than $100 million at the domestic box office. It won one award, for best original screenplay.

Some speculate that the poor ratings may also have been due to the dominance of non-mainstream European actors, who won all four acting awards this year for movies that weren’t exactly commercial successes.

The most-watched Oscars broadcast in history was in 1998, when 55 million Americans tuned in to watch the blockbuster “Titanic” win 11 trophies including best picture.






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