And deservedly so!!!!

60th Emmys hit all-time ratings low

And the award for lowest-rated Emmys ever goes to ...

ABC's Sunday night telecast.

The three-hour 60th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony received a 3.8 rating/9 share in the preliminary adults 18-49 demo -- the lowest in Nielsen's recorded People Meter history.

That's 12% below last year's previous Emmy record low, a ceremony hosted by Ryan Seacrest on Fox.

Among total viewers, the numbers are currently too close to call. In the morning figures, the Emmys were the least-watched ceremony in history (12.2 million), coming just under Fox's historic-low 1990 ceremony (12.3 million) and firmly less than 2007's event (13 million). With the numbers this tight, we'll wait until the nationals roll in tomorrow before making a ruling on whether the Emmys set a record low in viewers in addition to the adult demo (in the video clip: Seth MacFarlane talks Emmy ratings).

The ceremony, emceed by five reality series hosts, was largely derided by critics, who found the presentation's pacing off kilter and its jokes unfunny. A painful opening segment where the hosts deliberately talked about nothing was slammed by reviewers and fellow Emmy nominees alike.

ABC's red carpet lead-in "Jimmy Kimmel's Big Night of Stars" (4.6 million, 1.2/4) placed fourth in its 7 p.m. time slot, falling 12% from last year's preshow.

Like last year, the Awards were given heavy competition from Sunday Night Football (19.2 million, 8.1/19) on NBC, which easily won the night with a Cowboys vs. Packers game (NBC's numbers are expected to shift in the nationals, however). The season premiere of "60 Minutes" -- featuring interviews with John McCain and Barack Obama -- is also of interest, but those early numbers are tainted by overrun from an NFL game and won't be accurate until the nationals.

Industry insiders expected the awards to sink to a grim new watermark given that AMC low-rated "Mad Men" was the most-nominated drama, and NBC's modestly rated "30 Rock" was the most-honored comedy. Most of the other shows that took home major awards (such as FX's "Damages" and HBO's "John Adams") were likewise niche draws.

The Emmy Awards performance makes for a dubious start to premiere week, when broadcasters roll out the bulk of their programming debuts.

NBC topped the night with NFL, followed by ABC with the Emmys, CBS with NFL overrun, "60 Minutes" (3.2/9) and repeats, then a repeat-filled Fox.

Where this item was printed on Politico, the very first comments summarized it nicely! "Who wants to watch a bunch of spoiled Hollywood bimbos bad mouth the USA!"