Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

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fountainhall

Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by fountainhall »

Having watched part of the Oscars' telecast on Monday morning, I am not in the slightest surprised that the television viewership reached a new low. Down from 32.7 million last year to 26.5 million this year, 2018 marked the first time ever that viewership has fallen below 30 million.

After every ratings fall, there is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth about how to reverse the trend. No doubt some viewers preferred to watch parts on various social media outlets, but it's the telecast that draws in the advertising dollars Having raised rates this year, anyone want to take a bet they will be significantly lowered for 2019?

And as far as I’m concerned, nothing is going to improve until something is done to change the torpid tedium of the format, the presenters so obviously reading idiotic scripts from teleprompters and the equally tedious acceptance speeches thanking Mum, Dad, kids, Granny in heaven and making the inevitable in-jokes. There have of course been exceptions, and Francis McDormand did provide a moment of genuine enthusiasm. Gary Oldman, on the other hand, who has been around at those ceremonies long enough to realise the value of a good acceptance speech, had absolutely nothing remotely interesting or worthwhile to say. Not even asking his 99-year old Mum to put on the kittle raised more than a titter.

I can’t understand why all nominees are not asked to provide a list of those they want to thank a few days in advance. So when a winner makes a speech, the thank yous can be scrolled along the bottom of the screen whilst he or she then has time to say something actually meaningful, interesting or funny. Well, maybe that’s not such a good idea as clearly few would be able to rise to the occasion without giggling, crying, blowing kisses to all and sundry and generally ensuring the “ceremony” remains as boring as it presently is.

This has to be one of the worst - of many!



Next year I’ll check occasionally on my iPad. Watching the telecast is now ‘dead’ for me.
windwalker

Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by windwalker »

Seems that 26.5 million did watch the Oscars so that kind of answers the question.
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Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by Gaybutton »

If I can't watch the Oscars live, I usually watch the program later when it shows up on YouTube.

This year I didn't bother. None of the movies were of much interest to me. And of all movies to win Best Picture - The Shape of Water ?!?!?. Are you kidding me? That's the best picture? Not exactly up there with Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, or Dr. Zhivago, is it?

I sat through The Shape of Water. I really tried to like it. Didn't work. For me, a totally forgettable picture.
fountainhall

Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by fountainhall »

windwalker wrote:Seems that 26.5 million did watch the Oscars so that kind of answers the question.
Well,not quite! Worrying, surely, that the audience numbers have been steadily dropping for years. My guess is that many former viewers now check the results on some form of social media so they don't have to sit through all the presenters' crap and the tedious acceptance speeches. And given the generally low box office appeal of almost all movies in all categories this year, someone in the AMPAS offices must be scratching their head wondering how to get the ratings up again next year.

The only excitement I can remember in recent years was when Ellen de Generis organised a group selfie with actors and a pizza seller. And that wasn't even part of a movie!
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Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by Captain Kirk »

As a very regular cinema attendee I like to know who won but I'd never sit and watch through all of that guff. Say something pithy or do a Hitchcock and say "Thank you", then depart the stage.

Shape Of Water isn't quite my bag so haven't seen it. Three Billboards was excellent and Frances McDormand absolutely deserved her award as did Gary Oldman who was a stand out in a fairly average Darkest Hour. Mystified that Meryl Streep got a nomination other than she always does so might as well do it again. She had a standard role in a movie which doesn't inspire.

For what it's worth, in my opinion Detroit deserved at least a nomination as did Will Poulter who played the racist cop in it quite brilliantly.
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Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by Gaybutton »

Captain Kirk wrote:For what it's worth, in my opinion Detroit deserved at least a nomination as did Will Poulter who played the racist cop in it quite brilliantly.
There certainly were movies that, in my opinion, were far better than most of the nominated movies. One "sleeper" I liked much more than The Shape of Water (which I really didn't like very much at all) was Sophie and the Rising Sun. Much better acting. Much better story. Much better script. Much better everything.

I'm with you about the tedious acceptance speeches. It's gotten to a point where you know what they're going to say, and then have to endure it while they're saying it. No thank you. I'd rather spend my time watching re-runs of Gilligan's Island than sit through that - over and over and over and over again.

If they want a television audience with greater numbers, they're going to have to make some changes.
fountainhall

Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by fountainhall »

On the subject of the Oscars, I was wondering who had received the most Best Actor nominations and yet had not won. Rather surprisingly the answer is Peter O’Toole with 8. He was awarded an Honorary Oscar, made a most elegant acceptance speech, and IMO he should have walked away with the Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia. As Noel Coward rather unkindly quipped, if he had camped it up a little, he might have been playing Florence of Arabia! As things turned out, Gregory Peck was also in the running for his first Oscar in To Kill A Mocking Bird. Given the American domination of the Academy at the time, Peck won.

It also made me wonder who will follow the great British movie actors who cut their teeth on the stage in the rejuvenated Royal Shakespeare Company and the new National Theatre in the 1960s and 70s. Only Dame Helen Mirren was on stage on Sunday, and then mostly as a prop. Who will succeed her and her fellow Dames Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Maggie Smith?

The men have been even more prolific with Anthony Hopkins, Peter O’ Toole, Ian McKellan, Tom Wilkinson, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, John Hurt and the late greats Ian Holm and Alan Rickman.

British Theatre no longer depends on permanent or semi-permanent ensembles playing a wide variety of roles. As elsewhere the star system is more important for selling seats. So are we seeing the end of an era?
fountainhall

Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by fountainhall »

Re the above post, apologies to Sir Ian Holm who is still with us. I had tried to make the change as I was about to board my flight to Taipei but had to switch off my phone before I could complete the edit.
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Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:Re the above post, apologies to Sir Ian Holm who is still with us.
Since in the same post you mentioned several Dames, how about Dame Edna Everage . . . ?
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Re: Is Anyone Really Interested in the 'Oscars" Any More?

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fountainhall wrote:The men have been even more prolific with Anthony Hopkins, Peter O’ Toole, Ian McKellan, Tom Wilkinson, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, John Hurt and the late greats Ian Holm and Alan Rickman.
Missed out Daniel Day-Lewis, a man of not too many films but who seemed to rack up nominations every time he stepped in front of a camera. I believe the only male to emerge victorious three times as leading actor.
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