Rant: A Brief Comment About the Academy Awards

As is so often the case, Mark Evanier has said what I wanted to say better than I possibly could. To everyone who hated last night’s show – which is apparently everyone – I ask: when have the Academy Awards ever been genuinely entertaining?

Here is what the Oscar show is. Two people come onstage and read a list of names. They say one of those names again and that person comes onstage and reads another list of names. This happens more than twenty times. No amount of chemistry or stagecraft can ever make what is essentially an industry function anything more than endurable.

I liked last night’s show. It was occasionally sloppy and frequently weird. That’s as close to entertaining as the Oscars can get, and I’ll take it.