Maybe going hostless wasn't the best idea: The 2019 Emmys score record low ratings

Sunday night’s Primetime Emmys ceremony featured a number of moments that were both historic (think Billy Porter becoming the first openly gay winner of an Outstanding Lead Actor award) and shocking (like Fleabag snagging the bulk of the comedy awards, disrupting Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ long-running streak). It was also the first year that the Emmys chose not to appoint a host, leading to rushed, kind of mechanical transitions and odd methods of burning time. (Was a memorial for only a handful of wrapped shows terribly necessary?) The move to ditch a host might not have played to the network’s favor: Per Variety, this year’s Emmy Awards saw a 33% decline in ratings—roughly 6.9 million viewers—which is a record low for the program. Maybe not having a central figure to drum up interest and set the overall tone might have been detrimental in the long run, even if it did recently work for the Oscars.