Oscar Hangover: Telecast Notes

The 83rd Academy Awards have come and gone, and now I have to wait another 364 days until my favorite night of the year. Sigh. As excited as I was for all the glitz and glamour, the telecast itself was a little underwhelming. I'm going to place that blame on the hosts, as well as the fact that the acting awards seemed like foregone conclusions at this point. While Anne Hathaway and James Franco had moments (their opening video was downright hilarious), the rest of the evening fell a little flat. Some jokes hit, but most got lost in the tension between Anne's goofy enthusiasm and James' possibly drug-induced aloofness. Anne gets points for sheer energy (but detracted by the fact that almost all of her jokes felt awkward and forced), while James gets them for his wonderful facial expressions; still, the young Hollywood beauties didn't inject the show with the lighthearted banter producers seemed to be banking on. The telecast either needs better comedic writers, or a comedian host. Simple as that. Also, this year's telecast did not click with young viewers, as numbers were down from last year (the Avatar effect?)...

The night had it's share of highlights - Kirk Douglas's amazing introduction of the Supporting Actress nominees (possibly my favorite moment); Melissa Leo dropping the big f-bomb during her acceptance speech; classy and elegant (if lacking a bit in gushing emotion or inspiration) speeches from Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and Colin Firth; winning remarks from writers Aaron Sorkin and David Seilder; (most of) Anne Hathaway's dresses; Cate Blanchett saying "That's gross" about the Best Makeup clip for The Wolfman; THAT BEAUTIFUL STAGE; the Oscars history lesson (that first Gone With the Wind segment almost had me sobbing); Inception nearly sweeping the technical awards; an incredible clip of auto-tuned numbers from films throughout the year; Robert Downey, Jr, showing (once again) why he should host at least the Golden Globes; Tom Hooper's lovely anecdote about his mother finding the inspiration for The King's Speech...

Speaking of The King's Speech, bravo to the Brits! Following this victory, I'm seriously peeved over news that the Weinstein Company is planning on releasing an PG-13 version of the film, editing out a vital part of the film involving a lengthy string of expletives from (Oscar winner) Colin Firth. And while I would have liked to seen the more daring and timely The Social Network win (though Black Swan will always have my heart from 2010), the Academy loves an impeccably fashioned film like The King's Speech; I just wish the voting would have learned towards something a little different than the Academy's regular taste. However, it is egregious that Tom Hooper won Best Director over David Fincher! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? Dave, your Oscar will come soon enough! Don't cry! Plus, the proper demeanor of the producers accepting the Best Picture trophies left me cold; I wanted Helena Bonham Carter to scream something crazy and drown out the boring British blabber. Your marvelous film just won! Give me some flavor.

There seems to be a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth over how boring the show was, but I learned a valuable lesson - it's all about the company you keep on Oscar Sunday. While my Oscar "shindig" only consisted of three people (including myself), I had an absolutely wonderful time, and it ended up being my favorite Oscar watching experience in years. Just because the telecast isn't living up to your wildest dreams doesn't mean it needs to be a dull night. Big ol' DUH. Finally, as Steven Spielberg demonstrated before announcing Best Picture, sometimes the film that lives on in history is not that big winner on Oscar night. It stood as a brief reminder how incredible 2010 was for film, from inspired performances to brilliant directors and truly remarkable works of art. Hollywood put out this year; hopefully 2011 follows up with some equally awe-inspiring material.

All of the Oscars winners are listened on the show's official site, here - http://oscar.go.com/nominations