There was a big article by Patrick Goldstein in yesterday’s LA Times talking about how viewership for the Oscars has dwindled over the years.
The hissing you hear is the air going out of the Oscars’ balloon. The
usual aura of Academy Award anticipation dissipated weeks ago. Wherever
I went last week, the talk was about how bad the ratings would be.
He put the blame on the fragmentation of the viewing audience — distracted by 500 satelite channels, iPods, DVDs, xboxes, the Internet, even books — and on the poor quality of theatrical movies lately. I have a more radical view. People have stopped watching the Oscars because it’s an incredibly dull show with virtually no entertainment value…even when fast-forwarding through most of it (thank the Lord for Tivo).
The opening skit was fun and it went downhill from there. That said, it was nice to see so many "TV faces" among the winners and nominees. I’m sure Paul Haggis, when he was writing WALKER TEXAS RANGER and DUE SOUTH, never imagined he’d be getting an Oscar for best picture…or that Dan Futterman, while toiling as an actor on JUDGING AMY, envisioned being nominated for an Academy Award for his first screenplay.
CRASH getting best picture was certainly a surprise… as was best song going to "It’s Hard for a Pimp" instead of the safe, middle-of-the-road, crowd-pleaser sung by the robot that vaguely resembled Dolly Parton (Dustin Hoffman looked more like Dolly Parton).
I’ll stop there. If you really want to low-down, check out Ken Levine’s hilarious Oscar wrap-up:
Leave it to a writer to show up in jeans.
Oh Lord, big yawn! Even by the standards of the Oscars, this year was a snooze. What did Johnny Carson say? Something along the lines of 90 minutes of scintillating entertainment spread out over 4 hours?
I like John Stewart and The Daily Show, but I thought he was a falling down disaster. The first sketch was pretty funny.
I thought Clooney was classy and articulate. Rachel Weisz was lovely. Reece Witherspoon, no surprise, but I didn’t like the dress. Philip Seymour Hoffman, hey, he’s great in whatever he’s in, including Twister. At least his character didn’t pretend he wasn’t nuts.
And I have to say, I didn’t see a single damn movie nominated this year. Hell, my wife and I were discussing whether any of them even came to our local theater here in Oxford, Michigan. We know Munich didn’t because we were looking for it. Brokeback Mountain? I don’t think so. I think Walk the Line did, but for how long I’m not sure. We sure as hell missed it. Syriana. Not a chance, and I was looking for it. The Constant Gardener? No, didn’t make it. Hell, I wanted to rent it this weekend and by the time I got to Blockbuster it was sold out. Capote? Nope, didn’t hit our theater.
I wonder if there’s a connection between distribution and the Oscars and a movie’s commercial success? Hmmm, anybody out there got a PhD in statistics? Go to it. Your dissertation is waiting.
Best,
Mark Terry
Jon Stewart was hilarious. Much, much, much better than Chris Rock was last year.
I was once an extra on Walker Texas Ranger. Maybe i’s a sign that I’m next! Yeah, that’s it.
I’m mad at the Oscar’s. I can’t watch all the entertainers go up there and give the same boring speech over and over. These people get paid to entertain audiences, right? Maybe they should hire some speech writers and liven it up a bit. We all know you would like to thank your mom, director, and hair stylists. Can’t we just assume those are givens unless you tell us otherwise?
I wanted to watch Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. Once again I was deprived because of something that I would rather not have watched. Between the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Oscars, and reruns it seems like the networks haven’t shown any new Sunday shows since last year.
But, the good news is I’m getting some projects done around the house.
What should happen at the Oscars
The whole world seems to be talking about The Oscars. I’ve obviously just included a small sample of what I consider to be the whole world.
I don’t watch awards shows. Shocking I know, but I can’t handle them. I can probably safely tell you how most of
“People have stopped watching the Oscars because it’s an incredibly dull show with virtually no entertainment value”
Yes, absolutely.
AND … because the vast majority of the motion pictures made and directed by and acted in by all of those Oh-so-self-important (and increasingly irrelevant) people … well, the flicks mostly suck.
When a bunch of penguins can kick ass at the box office, you just KNOW something ain’t right. Quite frankly people don’t care enough about the movies to sit in front of the tube and watch awards about them.
Yes, there ARE exceptions NOT involving live penguins and claymation dogs, but not many.
I happened to enjoy the Oscars this year. The opening skit had me laughing so hard. Then the thing with Tom Hanks was so funny. I think Jon Stewart was a good choice to host. He may not have been the best choice in the world, but I don’t think I’ve actually paid attention to the Oscars quite like I did last night. They even had Steve Carell and Will Ferrell present an Oscar. Okay, yeah, so it was for makeup, but the way they did it was brilliant.
I’m always keen to know the results. I’m never remotely interested in watching the show.
I mean, I like cake. But I don’t have to sit there in front of the oven until it’s ready.
Oscars? Who (outside of the industry) cares?
Not me.