LOSING ITS LUSTER
Oscar night facing a host of problems
T here is no more prestigious, globally recognized honor in cinema than the Academy Award bestowed annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
So how did it come to pass that the Oscars have become emblematic of cluelessness — culturally obtuse and generally inept?
The fact that it is a little over a month until Oscar night, Feb. 24, and the prime-time, three-hour telecast has no host and is looking to recruit the “Avengers” cast as rotating presenters is a stark reminder that whoever is minding the store has lost their bearings.
What’s strange is not that the Academy was blindsided by what now looks like an inevitable Kevin Hart pushback if only someone had done a bit of research, but that the debacle was simply a continuing example of a leaderless organization whose members apparently must spend most of their time … golfing?
It wasn’t too long ago that in an effort to mollify ABC — which holds the longterm exclusive contract to broadcast the Oscars — that the Academy thought it would help offset the con- tinued ratings dive by offer- ing a new category of Most Popular Film, a suggestion that drew hoots and outrage and is now hopefully gone.
ABC reportedly is pushing for other changes in the show as well, like pulling several categories from the actual live telecast and simply announcing them as they do with the low-rated Tony Awards telecast on rival CBS.
Because ABC is owned by Disney and Disney owns Marvel, which makes the “Avengers” series, this developing solution to a hostless Oscar night is a corporate one and hardly anyone’s idea of an artistic one.
Remember, the Oscars are not a fan event like the Golden Globes or even a critics night. The Academy is a group of over 8,000 professionals, supposedly the best and brightest in one of America’s most visible and valuable industries. Yet these are the people who prompted #OscarsSoWhite and produced a ceremony where the wrong movie was initially named best picture.
Thanks to Harvey Weinstein’s competitive win-atany-cost legacy, the Oscar race has been transformed into an extended selling season of expensive, ridiculously over-the-top campaigning. This is why the Academy is now facing public humiliation as it scrambles for the Sunday night February event.
As Oliver Hardy famously moaned to Stan Laurel, “Here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”