Haters Love to Hate

Not that I feel badly for the people of Hollywood or I don't think they deserve some of the ridicule they get, but the only way the Oscars are ever going to relive the glory days is if you take them away. Not from the artists. Not from the celebration, but stop making it the media circus it has become and let everyone celebrate quietly. We don't air the Nobel Prize winners, we don't showcase all the awards journalists give themselves. Just stop televising it and guess what, people might be interested again or at least nice.

Basically the telecast is too big for its britches. They have turned it into a Broadway show with a lame throughline. Cap that with the fact that the whole country, no wait, the whole WORLD has a love/hate relationship with Hollywood and is it any wonder that no host, no show, no anything can get a good review? Sans just chucking the awards at the peope's heads and doing away with speeches altogether, there really isn't a way to make the show shorter.

The Academy Awards need a revamp from start to finish. If a small ceremony is good enough for the techies, why can't that be good enough for the people whose faces are in the limelight 24/7 anyway? Throw them a ball, celebrate the movies and put it on the web. Then everyone can watch the bits they care about and move on. There are only about five awards anyone cares about anyway, anyone outside the biz that is. While I do believe the behind the scenes people deserve their moment in the sun, I also think those developing green energy, saving the lives of children, on peacekeeping missions the world over, discovering medical miracles and many others deserve to be recognized. Let's discard the arrogance of awards season and move on.

Just think about the real marketing opportunities of moving it to the web. People could instantly buy and download all the movies. They could watch the shorts for a small fee. They could see behind the scenes of why the editors matter. More than anything those who went to watch would care and would be nice. It is great that artistic and meaningful movies are shown, but the Academy Awards used to be big when people saw all the movies that were nominated. Back then 25 movies came out a year, if that. Then you have universal interest. It's not possible today. You have box office winners and independent films. Occasionally the two cross over but not often. In those cases everyone knows about them anyway.

Like much of the entertainment business, the model has to be adjusted. Of course, some could argue that no press is bad press and Twitter and Facebook were alive with people who wanted to hate on the show. It did have it's moments. I mean, Kristen Stewart should really lay of the drugs before she presents. Hollywood should be willing to laugh at itself and know that the comment about a "woman never letting anything go" when combined with the fact it is the reason Bin Laden is dead is funny. That Joaquin Phoenix is a freak, what was up with him!? That Channing Tatum should have been the cohost, it might not have worked with Franco, but Tatum can dance! Jennifer Lawrence probably fell on purpose, look at all the press she got when they thought she had a "wardrobe malfunction;" she's not dumb. Daniel Day Lewis was the funniest person of the night, he should have come on earlier. Jack Nicholson should be able to afford a tux that fits. Michelle Obama was stunning, but either be there or don't, the weird White House appearance? Ugh. And if you are going to sing, sing! Don't go out and lip sync badly, Catherine Zeta-Jones, especially when Adele is going to make you look like a punk!

Whatever you may think of the Oscars, it is never going back to the glory days. It is a fun awards show full of people who help to illuminate parts of the world and stories that might otherwise go untold. With all the familiarity in the world now, the show is outdated and will continue to be so until they either scale back all the other shows or shake up the situation and make it a private affair.