Thoughts on Oscar night:
THE ANNE AND JAMES SHOW: Anne Hathaway and James Franco didn’t work as co-hosts. Hathaway was fresh and seemed to be having a good time, but Franco looked ill at ease the whole time. Is it just me, or did he seem to be squinting constantly, as though he had trouble seeing the teleprompter?
Every time the producers try to shake things up and aim for younger viewers, they feel it necessary to write self-referential material for the hosts. During last night’s opening monologue, Franco referred to Hathaway as “hip,” and she told him, “You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well.” This kind of stuff gets old fast.
In general, comedians work best as the hosts. They have a better sense of timing, are quicker on their feet with ad-libs, and they know how to work a room.
KIRK DOUGLAS: He was great, and it was wonderful to see him. I’m guessing there will be people, maybe a lot of them, who will say they were uncomfortable with his appearance. But you know what? That’s their problem. We have a hard time dealing with illness and aging in our culture. The man is 94 years old and he’s had a major stroke, but so what? He is still mentally sharp, and he looked like he was enjoying the hell out of his gig presenting Best Supporting Actress.
And he was funny. Ask yourself this: How tricky is it to re-develop comic timing in order to accommodate your stroke-affected speech patterns? He used his cane as a comic prop, and he got big laughs every time he was about to name the winner, only to launch into another tangent by saying, “You know … ” (Everyone thought it was funny but the five nominees, who were probably holding their breath.)
MELISSA LEO: She dropped the F-bomb! Caught up in the moment of winning Best Supporting Actress, she looked out at the adoring crowd and mused that when you watch other actors accept awards, they make it look “so (bleeping) easy.” The seven-second delay worked, and only the lip-readers in the TV audience were offended.
While we’re at it, how cool was it that Kirk Douglas – so wonderful as a prize-fighter in “Champion” (1949) – gave an award to an actress in another boxing movie?
THE RED CARPET: I don’t mind watching the red carpet portion of the show, because it is sort of fun to watch the stars show up, but sheesh, the E! Network really needs to find a way to liven things up. The Oscars constantly talk about trying to appeal to a younger demographic, but the pre-show goes deeper each year into self-parody.
Do we really need three hours of Julianna Hough and Kelly Osbourne gushing over the gowns? Look, I’m not a fashionista. I don’t have any suggestions off the top of my head as far as how to make this portion of Oscar night more appealing. But, great gosh a-mighty, they need to do something. Because the bland, vapid commentary is dreadful.
I didn’t watch any of the coverage at TV Guide Network, but I must say I’m glad that Joan Rivers has retired from the red carpet (and taken her coattail-riding daughter with her). Rivers at her best is a talented comedian, but her work on the red carpet – when she didn’t bother to do her homework and often had to ask stars on camera if they were nominated for anything – was embarrassing.
THE AWARDS THEMSELVES: No major surprises. The speeches were generally nice to watch but pretty quickly forgettable. Randy Newman is always amusing. I liked it when Best Director winner Tom Hooper recalled the night that his mother went to see a stageplay called “The King’s Speech” and then called him to say “I think I just found your next movie.”
QUICK THOUGHT: If they care so much about skewing younger, why did they drag Celine Dion out to sing “Smile” during the annual memorial tribute?
OVERALL: If I’m giving letter grades, it was a C+ effort. Nicely paced, never seemed to drag, but there was nothing tremendously memorable about it either, and the hosts (and the material provided for them) didn't work.
Mike Holtzclaw, a senior reporter at the Daily Press, stayed up to watch the full Academy Awards telecast even though he had to get up at 4 a.m. You can reach him at mholtzclaw@dailypress.com.