Plan B Forum

Oops, wait, that's not right!

Unreal cock-up in the announcement of best picture! I was glad it ultimately wasn't La La Land, but wow I feel bad for the folks associated with that film, getting that high & low.

I feel a lot worse for the Moonlight folks, missing out on the normal experience of the winning announcement.

Whoever had the job of handing out the envelopes is getting yelled at right now for sure.

I remember when the Oscar Ceremony was organized far better....

Looks as if the voters learned from last year's fuss.

The oscars were on?
Glad I took a speaking commitment.

I watched Victoria on the Philly PBS. Loved Bobby Peale.

snailgate

My Swede was here. The TV was not on.

I didn't watch them, (I haven't watched them for years) but I have seen the replay of what happened at the end this morning...

What a major boo foo....

It looked like Warren (as he confirmed later) thought there was something wrong with the way the card was written, so he passed it to Faye (for 76, she really looks good) to get her opinion, but she thought he was just clowning around, so she went ahead and read it...

But of course this was neither Faye's nor Warren's monumental screw up...

The fault lies with the ying yang from Price Waterhouse, who gave them the wrong card...

a fellow who I assume is busy sending out resumes today...(good luck with that...)

Actually though, it did somehow manage to turn into kind of a nice moment, because of the extraordinary grace and class exhibited by both the faux winners from La La Land and the real winners with Moonlight...

I originally thought, "what...LA-LA Land? Damn! The old farts win again." And then the faux pas was revealed. "Moonlight"... there you go, so much more relevant. A good final choice and they "kept it real."

I'm a big Jimmy Kimmel fan. Last night's Oscars was an extension of his late night show. I thought it was the best pretentious millionaire, back-slap fest, in years.

I thought Kimmel was great, too - I hope they invite him back next year. Watching the Oscars has been a ritual since childhood with my mommy - I soak through a hanky listening to all the 'thanks mom & dad' speeches. Best one last night was Viola Davis's.

It's the Russians fault. They hacked the envelope.

Kimmel's jokes were ok, but that bit about bringing a busload of tourists in was pretty stupid, and it seemed to go one forever; ditto for the candy drops. What is this with now having to do something "outrageous" like ordering pizza? Just stick to the show and it could end on time. A few more political jabs would have been nice as well, but I guess he was on a bit of a short leash as they tried to appeal to a broader audience.

And I agree with Jim re the grace of the crowds from the two winning movies when the screw up took place.

Finally, something newsworthy to happen at the Academy Awards. It's amazing how people who are so excellent at creating entertainment can be so un-entertaining while they celebrate being good at it.

As I said, I didn't see the whole show but after watching the clip of the "historic" ending, I thought Kimmel did an excellent job of handling the cluster fuck...

For anyone who didn't see it:

LR--I think that's for two reasons, firstly because awards shows are inherently boring and second because they forget what they are celebrating--the movies. Forget the song and dnace numbers--the grammys and tonys do them much better. Forget the "edgy" comedy (like the bus tour coming in--that's the province of late night TV. Take some of your best and celebrate the movies. Instead of having someone sing while images of people who died flash on a screen, imagine how much more entertaining it would have been if they hired a documentary director to expand it a bit and add clips and details of what these people did--it would be a lot more entertaining and true to the movies (and certainly a lot more entertaining than seeing a clip (the only clip) of Carrie fisher say "may the force be with you". think how the best picture nominees could be seen in montages created by the directors showing more of the film than a TV commercial or short coming attraction--ditto for the actor, actress, and director roles. So much more could be done with presenting the nominees of best cinematography or sound. And perhaps we could have learned a bit more about the people who got the governor's awards and why they were given. This is a chance to celebrate movies and show why they are important and relevant, but the opt for the conventional, choose to grind steak into hamburger.

FWIW, I often watch the Tonys even though I don't see Broadway productions that often precisely because they do what I am suggesting here--they show why lays and musicals are relevant and exciting; maybe one day the Academy will wake up.

BigRR, to add to your points, there is no doubt that a reasonably smart group of people, like on this board, could brainstorm and come up with format ideas that are vastly superior to the current format. And I'd start with getting rid of the repetitive, redundant, superfluous, unnecessary and BORING acceptance speeches.

What is the point of winning the pinnacle award for achievement in one's profession if you can't get <2 min. to thank your mentors, family, etc.?

If it bothers you so damned much, DON'T WATCH! Many millions of us do, and enjoy it JUST FINE!

In fact, I don't watch because it is such a crummy production. BigRR is right that if they have to resort to late night talk show high jinks, and rely on the skills of the emcee, just to keep people interested, then they are doing something wrong; they have a gazillion miles of compelling footage to exploit and an industry of interesting people to interview, and they show a paucity of it. While the program still gets a fair number of viewers for at least part of the show, the ratings continue to decline, so clearly they are doing something wrong.

To answer your specific question (rhetorical, I know) about what's the fun of winning if you can't bore the hell out of the audience with the same old thank you prattle that every other award winner has given from time immemorial -- it's not about you (meaning the award winner) and what you want, it is about entertainment and art and providing something meaningful that serves that higher good. Especially now, with multi-media and various avenues for reaching the public, for example, an award winner can give their thank you laundry-list speech on Facebook live, after they've said something meaningful for the basic tv program.

FWIW, I've never been bothered by the acceptance speeches except the overly dramatic (faked) ones by actors who should at least be able to carry it off more authentically (and I won't name names, but I would think we all could point to some of them). But this is an awards ceremony where the public is invited to join in; some of these people get very little public recognition, and I don't begrudge them their time in front of the camera (any more than I would complain about the game getting in the way of the Super Bowl or World Series coverage). My only argument is that when you feel you have to entertain the viewers, why not do it in a manner befitting what you are celebrating--the movies? Create the entertainment as a celebration of the movies in the same way that the Grammys celebrate music or the Tonys celebrate stage craft. If you do that, the acceptance speeches might not seem as long.

Create the entertainment as a celebration of the movies in the same way that the Grammys celebrate music

You're joking.

I've forgotten the name of the Jazz drummer who, when he was dunned for his annual dues to The Recording Academy, said "This year I'm supporting the blind instead of the deaf."



yrs,
rubato