![]() ![]() ![]() Winners/narrative: Did the “story” told by the Best Picture and major acting categories present viewers with a sufficiently engaging competition to follow? Host: How well that year’s host did with the monologue, interstitial comedy, reactions in the moment, and keeping the show moving along. ![]() Is there an ideal version of the Oscars? Is there a perfect balance between commercial and commemorative that, if perfectly struck, would give the largest number of people - viewers, nominees, and Academy members alike - what they want out of an Oscar ceremony? In an attempt to answer these questions, we dove headfirst into every Oscar ceremony of the 21st century, starting with the American Beauty-crowning Oscars of March 2000. There are two warring camps: those who think the Oscars’ watchability hinges on a short-as-possible ceremony full of big stars and a parade of blockbuster movies, and a second who acknowledge that the show’s continually sliding ratings are a symptom of the shift of how people watch TV, and that producers are better off letting the Oscars be the Oscars - long, self-indulgent, and with an eye toward honoring the breadth of cinematic achievement. A scramble to find a host, which ended with comedian Kevin Hart departing the job within a week in a hail of old homophobic tweets and non-apologies, didn’t help anything.Īs we amble towards this year’s hostless ceremony, the debate over what makes an Oscar telecast “good” has become an essential pop argument. Fans of the Hollywood horse race have wondered since the summer, when the Academy announced a series of major changes to the ceremony, including limiting the telecast to a tight three hours (a mark that the show hasn’t hit since 1973) presenting certain “unsexy” categories during commercial breaks (a decision reversed after major industry protest) and adding a new award for the best “popular film,” an amorphous category scrapped only a month after being announced. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |