The numbers are still preliminary, but it looks as if the veeeery lengthy telecast actually drew a slightly larger audience than last year. We're talking just under 40 million viewers, though the numbers varied throughout the evening. Viewership peaked between 6 and 7 (that's when Jennifer Hudson got her Best Supporting Actress Oscar) and then fell after 8:30 - just in time for sleepy East Coast audiences to miss out on the big awards. ABC noted that the rating within the coveted 18-34 age group was the show's highest in five years.

*Local angle: I don't know whether this is unusual from previous years, but does anyone else find it odd that Chicago, SF and NY had higher ratings (36, 35.3 and 33.9, respectively) than L.A. (29.9)? Variety