Oscar Ratings Plunge to Record Low

They were down 20% from last year

Viewership for the Academy Awards plunged 20% from last year to a record-low 26.5 million, the first time on record the Oscars reached fewer than 30 million people, the AP reports. The Oscars are often the most-watched TV show after the Super Bowl. Not this time: the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last month was seen by 27.8 million. Television viewership in general is declining, but Oscar ratings are often tied to the popularity of the movies that are celebrating, and this doesn't say much for The Shape of Water , which won best picture on Sunday night.

The previous low-water mark for the Oscars came in 2008, when No Country For Old Men won best picture. Last year's show, also hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, reached 33 million viewers.

Judge Dismisses $60 Million Lawsuit Filed Against Steve Harvey by Ex-Wife

Steve Harvey is no longer facing a $60 million lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, Mary L. Vaughn.

Harvey's lawyer, Brandon R. Williams, tells ET, "On December 15, 2017, the Honorable Gregory Keosian of the Superior Court of California (County of Los Angeles) dismissed the frivolous lawsuit that was filed by Mary Vaughn."

"The frivolous lawsuit was dismissed by the Judge without further leave to amend," Williams said, adding that Harvey "has no additional comment on the matter at this time."
In her suit -- filed back in May -- Vaugh claimed that during their marriage, which lasted from 1996 until their contentious divorce in 2005, she was allegedly subjected to "prolonged torture with the infliction of severe mental pain and suffering," according to court documents obtained by ET.

Vaughn was also suing the comedian for alleged child endangerment, torture, kidnapping, breach of contract, conspiracy against rights, intentional infliction of emotional distress and "soul murdering." The lawsuit makes further claims of harassment, brainwashing and theft by deception, and claims that Vaughn "attempted suicide by self-medicating [in] an effort to stop the pain."
Harvey and his attorney staunchly denied the allegations made by his ex-wife in a statement released to ET in May.

"Mr. Harvey vehemently denies any allegations set forth in the lawsuit," the statement read. "The complaint is merit-less, frivolous and the allegations are completely false. We will vigorously defend/counterclaim against the complaint."

Harvey, 61, and Vaughn had one child together, Wynton Harvey, born in July 1997. Vaughn has previously aired her various grievances with her ex-husband on YouTube and was jailed for 30 days in 2013 for contempt of court after violating the terms of a gag order in the couple's divorce.

Prior to his relationship with Vaughn, Harvey was married to Marcia Harvey for 14 years. They share three children, daughters Brandi and Karli and son Broderick. After Harvey and Vaughn's tumultuous divorce was settled in 2005, the Family Feud host struck up a relationship with his current wife, Marjorie Elaine Harvey, whom he married in 2007.

Fifty Shades Finale Is Not Being Treated Kindly

The phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey is going out the same way it came in to movie theaters: with a snore, according to critics.

They've given the third and final installment of the film series a lousy 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes , complaining mainly about a lack of passion in a film that's supposed to be about kinky sex between characters Anastasia and Christian. More on Fifty Shades Freed , which follows 2017's Fifty Shades Darker , based on the novels by EL James:

After taking viewers on a trip through France, " Fifty Shades Freed suddenly turns into a thriller" and "the filmmakers are equally as incompetent at this genre as they are at generating erotic heat in Christian's playroom," writes Peter Travers at
Rolling Stone . He calls the film the "most painful" of the series and "two hours of cruel and unusual punishment" throughout which Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan "look as bored as we are."

Kate Taylor is no more kind at the
Globe and Mail . "The franchise's hint of self-deprecation" is gone and "romance-novel boilerplate that sounded clichéd on the page becomes outright laughable" on screen, she writes. The sex is no better, "less erotic" than in earlier movies. Apparently to make up for that, there's "a lame kidnapping plot that could barely fill a network cop show on an off night," Taylor writes. "Did someone say 'freed' already? Yes, please."

Gary M. Kramer disagrees at Salon . "The film seems to have an intentional sense of humor" and is both romantic and sexy as it includes "the only truly erotic scene in the entire trilogy," one that involves ice cream. Overall, Fifty Shades Freed is "actually really mostly pretty good" and the best of the series, he says. "There is a whole season full of soap operatics in store for viewers here and that is partly what makes it so enjoyable."

Sure, Fifty Shades Freed is the "least aggravating" film of the trilogy, but that doesn't make it a good movie, James Berardinelli writes at
ReelViews . Among his complaints: there's no "steam" to the sex scenes, Johnson and Dornan lack chemistry, and the plot just isn't compelling. Still, "I didn't hate the movie and there's sufficient eye candy to keep it from being a complete snoozer," Berardinelli writes.

Jim Carrey Calls for Facebook Boycott

He deletes account, says investors should dump stock

Mark Zuckerberg isn't going to like Jim Carrey's latest remarks: The actor says he's getting rid of his Facebook shares and deleting his page—and he wants other people to follow suit,
CNBC reports. "I'm dumping my @facebook stock and deleting my page because @facebook profited from Russian interference in our elections and they're still not doing enough to stop it," Carrey tweeted Tuesday. "I encourage all other investors who care about our future to do the same." The same message, with a drawing of Zuckerberg and a "dislike button" logo, was posted on Carrey's Facebook page before it was deleted late Tuesday.

Carrey, who grew up in Canada and became an American citizen in 2004, tells Business Insider that he wants other "activist investors" to press for responsible oversight of social media—because the world needs "capitalism with a conscience." "For a long time America enjoyed a geographical advantage in the world with oceans on both sides to protect it," he says. "Now, social media has created cyber-bridges over which those who do not have our best interest in mind can cross and we are allowing it. No wall is going to protect us from that. We must encourage more oversight by the owners of these social media platforms." There has been no comment yet from Facebook. (Zuckerberg said last year that he's "dead serious" about improving security.)