I have always loved the Oscars and my family treats it like a national holiday! It is more important even than the Superbowl unless the Giants are in it! We plan an Oscar meal and dress in gowns and jewels as if we are there. But this year, I was in PJs midway through and asleep as this was the worst Oscars ever! TGATP dissects the problems:
Ditching a proper host in exchange for two actors in an effort to attract a “younger demographic” didn’t work. James Franco and Anne Hathaway had ZERO chemistry or much needed timing. From the opening film montage to the finale, these two fell completely flat. Hathaway just kept changing clothes and yelling “Whoo!” and Franco kept smirking and staring off like a stoner! Perhaps he needed to stop tweeting and concentrate on his hosting as he seemed incapable of multitasking! The only thing that Hathaway brought to the show was the wonderful appearance by TGATP favorites, the PS. 22 Choir and that was probably more a producer’s idea! It was a complete mistake to bring Billy Crystal out midway through the show because it reminded the world audience of the pizzaz the show was lacking. We all were hoping that he had been called in to take over! If the producers wanted to draw more youngsters, then Jimmy Fallon would’ve been the ticket. He’s young, he’s hip, and he’s less caustic and angry than Conan.
Oscar producers, please find another way to start the show! The opening numbers almost never work and need to be canned. This year’s was particularly cheesy and just awful. I agree with Roger Ebert, who twittered that it was so bad that he actually “missed the Rob Lowe/Snow White dance number”!
The lack of diversity and playing of politics is another issue that seems to perpetually plague Hollywood. While the Hollywood folks may still not respect Tyler Perry, it was a CRIME that Kimberly Elise was overlooked for her heart wrenching performance in “For Colored Girls”. If the best are not nominated, it makes the outcomes less exciting. This was also glaringly evident with the lack of a nomination for Christopher Nolan, who should’ve won for his monumentally innovative directing techniques for “Inception.”
The Documentary category is always a hot, out-of-touch mess! Year after year, movies are rewarded strictly on politics rather than their merits. From “Favela Rising” to “Super Size Me” to this year’s “Waiting for Superman”, legions of films either were not nominated or did not win. It is time to either scrap this category or make it relevant!
Since the best and most interesting part of the Oscars occurs on the Red Carpet before the show, ABC needs to start its coverage from 6pm. They are inexplicably losing millions of potential viewers by farming out the most talked about part of their program to the cable networks.
In addition, the Internet streaming is seriously lacking and the show should be available online all over the world! My friend in the UK had to watch the entire broadcast via my Skype! Hollywood is our most successful industry and movies are our most robust export, so it is well past time to go global with the Oscar telecast.
And finally, stop playing music through the winner’s speeches! People dream about winning the Oscar all their lives and the show always runs too long anyway. So let the winners have their moment!
