Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

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Eenusch
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Eenusch »

Mister Tee wrote:...it's only an awards show and not a crumbling American republic.
They’re giving a Kennedy Center Honor in December to the musical Hamilton – why?! Now this! Looks like crumbling to me.
Big Magilla wrote:The earlier air date starting in 2020 makes sense as long as it doesn't mean the precursors then start occurring two weeks earlier as well.
Does the Academy expect the precursors to just go away? Watch for the Golden Globes and SAGs in December by next decade. You know that SAG and the PGA will follow and give their own popcorn awards, too.
Big Magilla wrote:I can just see the headlines if a BlacKkKlamsman wins the Best Picture Oscar and a Black Panther wins the Popular Award.
Maybe the Academy is concerned with another SJW freakout if Spike’s movie doesn’t look like a shoe-in for Best Picture next year. They have Black Panther in reserve for Best Popcorn.
anonymous1980
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by anonymous1980 »

Mister Tee wrote: I could maybe be talked into pushing the shorts into that slot -- though I have a sentimental attachment to them as traditional who-cares-but-they-might-win-the-pool intermissions.
I'll also say that the shorts have been frequently where the most moving, funniest and memorable acceptance speeches happen. This is why I would be quite hesitant to throw them in a separate ceremony.
Mister Tee
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Mister Tee »

I hate every single one of these notions. The only way to look at it without bile is to take Sabin's view, that it's only an awards show and not a crumbling American republic.

Ask the people whose Tonys have been shunted off-air if they think that change was for the good. I could maybe be talked into pushing the shorts into that slot -- though I have a sentimental attachment to them as traditional who-cares-but-they-might-win-the-pool intermissions. But if someone like Roger Deakins (or, in future, Thomas Newman) has a long-overdue win pushed out of the main show -- fie!

And, parenthetically, the Tonys are a terrible model. They used to do an hour on PBS that covered techs/writers/composers/directors, then two network hours that covered the rest. Once they eliminated those "lesser" categories, they took the extra hour and filled it with drivel (like touring companies of Jersey Boys years after the fact). Besides, haven't the Oscars often been slated for three hours, but then just ran over? I really think this is just an excuse for those who've always wanted to push the techs off-air to finally get their way.

And moving it up to early February? Good god: there'll be no time to see the foreign/documentary nominees. And the precursor season, which already feels like fraternity rush, will be crammed into an even tighter window.

As for the Popcorn Oscar -- it might as call itself the Dumb-Down Oscar. Some popular films that might have been best picture nominated might actually lose slots with this alternative available (the way Inside Out did, vis a vis animated feature). And any hope they might have had of winning in the legit category will be hobbled by the ease of voting for them on the lesser slate.

Way to take away more and more from something I've loved irrationally for so many years.
Big Magilla
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Big Magilla »

These changes could end up having the opposite effect to their intention. The core Oscar audience could be so turned off that they stop watching.

I don't really have a problem per se with trimming the time on the below-the-line presentations by filming them earlier and showing an edited version. This practice hasn't harmed either the Tonys or the Emmys. The Oscars already give shorter shrift to technical awards winners. I think the bigger indignity was shoving off the honorary awards to film legends to a non-televised presentation in November. But what are they going to do with the extra time? If it's to increase the coverage of dumb tributes to tourists who couldn't care less about the Oscars and other gimmicks such as the silly distribution of food to the stars in the audience, then I hope someone stops them in their tracks.

The earlier air date starting in 2020 makes sense as long as it doesn't mean the precursors then start occurring two weeks earlier as well.

The "new award category", though, is not something I want to see. I can just see the headlines if a BlacKkKlamsman wins the Best Picture Oscar and a Black Panther wins the Popular Award. The empasis will be on the latter and before you know it we will be back to where we were at the first awards with the two categories considered to be of equal importance.
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by OscarGuy »

My concern is that this is going to push films like Black Panther out of Best Picture consideration INTO this new category. Get Out nominated for Best Picture is a far greater achievement than what this new category will be.

My guess is that when the ratings don't improve because of the changes that they'll swap them all back. Yet, the ratings this year were already going to improve significantly, especially considering Black Panther was sure to be a Best Picture contender.
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Sabin »

Every once in a while, it occurs to me how long it's been since Damien's passing. I tell myself, "It can't be six years. There's just no way." There have been many days where I think to myself that he must be rolling over in his grave with what the world has become. This is one of them. Thankfully, it only involves dumb Oscar rules and not baby jails.
"How's the despair?"
Franz Ferdinand
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Franz Ferdinand »

I'm guessing it's too much to ask that they go back to the standard five nominees for Best Picture? Introducing a Popcorn Oscar is a knee-jerk reaction to a decade of the failed expanded slate that only introduced dreck to the proceedings - if they're planning to ghettoize the popular movies, do away with the expanded Best Picture category and bring it back down to 5.
The Original BJ
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by The Original BJ »

I think I hate both of these changes individually more than any other change this organization has implemented in my lifetime.

The Oscars are literally the ONE moment out of the entire year when below-the-line crew members -- the vast majority of folks who make movies -- get to be in the spotlight, and taking that away from them (while preserving, presumably, lame skits with tourists) is hugely depressing.

As for the "Popular Film" category, plenty of folks are already going to gripe if Black Panther doesn't get a Best Picture nomination -- not sure why a citation in an obviously ghettoized category would alleviate that. And if it DOES get a Best Picture nomination, the other category becomes completely redundant, serving instead to make sure that films like (gulp) Mamma Mia 2 (?!) have a major presence at the Oscars? Good god.

Why the Oscars keep feeling the need to be more like the People's Choice Awards or MTV Movie Awards -- both award shows that have significantly smaller ratings than the Oscars -- is beyond me. I truly want to know how many people who otherwise wouldn't watch the Oscars are suddenly going to tune in to watch Mission: Impossible and Deadpool square off in Best Popular Film.
anonymous1980
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Re: Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by anonymous1980 »

These changes are AWFUL.
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Major Changes to Oscar Telecast

Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Thoughts on these new changes? I'm curious and slightly petrified of what this "achievement in popular film" is going to look like.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/ ... ry-1133138
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