Oscars TV: last thoughts on an uninspired telecast
I'm sorry, but it takes more than Hugh Jackman in a tuxedo and couple of medleys with lots of dancers to make for a memorable Oscars telecast.
With viewership reaching an all-time low of 32 million last year, producers Mark Lawrence and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) were brought in to make the telecast into more of a variety show with music and dancing. The opening number, a spoof of the films nominated as best picture, was fun. But it was almost all downhill from there until Sean Penn won as best actor for his perfomance in Milk and Slumdog Millionaire won as best film in the final moment.
Penn's award was the highlight of the evening, and his acceptance speech is the one you are going to hear about all over talk radio and cable TV today.
The one new element from Condon and Lawrence that seemed to work during the telecast was the use of as many as five presenters for some awards -- one for each nominee.
The innovation worked best with actresses until the penultimate award that went to Penn.
The five presenters idea worked fine on its first try when performers who had won the award for best supporting actress in the past were on hand to give this year's Oscar in that category to Penelope Cruz for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The five were: Anjelica Huston. Eva Marie Saint, Tilda Swinton, Whoopi Goldberg and Goldie Hawn. It is pretty hard to go wrong with a lineup like that.
But it was even better when repeated for the best actress award that went to Kate Winslet. The five were: Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Shirley MacLaine, Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry. Having them address the nominees directly was an innovative and winning touch.
It worked best of all, though, when Robert De Niro, Ben Kingsley, Adrian Brody, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Douglas came onstage to honor the best lead actor.
It might not have been enough to redeem what came before for most viewers, but Sean Penn's award as best actor brought a moment of real emotion to the telecast.
He won for his portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, and he used the platform to speak out for equality.
Penn started his remarks with humor, addressing the Hollywood audience as "Commie, homo loving sons of guns."
But by the end of his speech, he was deadly serious as he castigated those who oppose gay marriage -- telling them they will bring "shame" on their children and grandchildren.
"We've got to have equal rights for everyone," he said.
He concluded his remarks by saying he was "proud" to live in a country that elected an "elegant man" as President -- and one that "creates courageous artists" like Mickey Rourke, a fellow nominee.
As to Jackman as host, let's be honest, there wasn't that much of him, and what there was simply did not fall under the heading inspired.
Representative of his overall performance was a second big musical medley that arrived at 10 p.m., just as most older viewers (the core awards show audience) was probably heading to bed quite bored with the proceedings.
The medley had lots of black ties and high kicks from Jackman, Beyonce and a chorus line larger than most military battalions. But while there was energy, there was not much emotion -- and absolutely no magic.
The Oscars telecasts used to feel big and seem to be filled with magic. Not this year -- even if it was worth staying up to see Penn win and hear his speech.
(Photo by Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Comments
Oh Please!
Sean Penn had me....until he started spewing about the protesters and blabbing on and on about gay rights.
It's an AWARDS show....for a movie he made! NOT a political forum for his opinion....not that it's worth any more/less than any other person in the country. He just gets media exposure because he's an ACTOR.....not someone with more brains than the rest of us!
Posted by: Cleo2u | February 23, 2009 1:19 AM
I thought Dustin Lance Black's speech was the highlight of the evening.
I wonder if Cleo2u even knows what the movie "Milk" is about?
Posted by: Chino Blanco | February 23, 2009 2:50 AM
Penn's speech was nice, very honest. Best of all was watching it and knowing that it would bring out the "this isn't the place for a political speech" folks, those who think it's wrong to ever introduce politics into the sort of arena that might actually allow them to reach a new audience.
Politics should be the sole domain of CNN and FoxNews, really. That way, everyone chooses the perspective they want to listen to, no one is ever challenged, and we can all go on reaffirming our own beliefs at every turn.
Hello AK, I agree with you about winners having every right to use that platform for political speech. Here's a link to what I wrote early in the telcast after the screenwriter of Milk also gave a speech with some politics in it: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/02/oscars_tv_watch_a_screenwriter.html
Thanks. Z
Posted by: AK | February 23, 2009 8:28 AM
Both of the speeches by Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black were a joke. It was the Oscars, not a political debate on CNN. For some reason the conservatives and moderates seem to get that, because you rarely if ever hear THEM spewing politics on these award shows. The left-wing extremist liberals however can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that nobody wants to hear their ultra left-wing liberal crap (except for their fellow left-wing liberals of course.) When Sean Penn called Obama "elegant" I just about lost it I was laughing so hard.
Posted by: Steve | February 23, 2009 8:52 AM
Thank God for Sean Penn, before last night I didn't know what to think!
Posted by: Steve D. | February 23, 2009 9:26 AM
I feel that perhaps the reason the Oscars are losing its magic is because it has been going on for so long. After so many presentations, you're bound to hit the climax, and only go downhill from there. While some of them seem to hit a new high, we're expecting them all to be good. And come on, it's an award show. I would only really be interested in it if I or someone I know is involved in it in some way. Otherwise, i'll simply wait till the next day and hear about whether it was good or not (like i'm doing now).
Hi Casey, I am glad that you are doing that "hearing" here at ZonTV. Thanks.
Posted by: Casey Lyon | February 23, 2009 10:18 AM
Yes, Steve. I've never heard a conservative state "God Bless America" or some other rallying cry that panders to like-minded conservatives.
Posted by: AK | February 23, 2009 10:26 AM
I think all you "haters" out there are missing the point. Both Black and Penn's mentions in their speeches about gay rights relate to the movie they were representing. I would agree if they were talking about Batman or something, but Lance's Black wrote the movie about a gay rights activist and showed a lot of personal emotion in his speech. Agree with it or not, it's a lot more meaningful than just a bunch of thank you's to their agents.
Hi Grundy. Thanks so much for making that distinction, and I could not agree more. Z
Posted by: Grundy | February 23, 2009 12:03 PM
I could not disagree more about the use of five presenters. It's silly and confusing and looks like a cheap trick.
When possible, last year's winner should present this year's Oscar in the big categories. When that is impossible, have one person do it in a dignified manner.
Two quickies as to Sean Penn:
1. What's the big deal? Political hay has been made at the Oscars for decades. The real reason for all the fuss is right wing America does not like what he said, not the fact that he said it.
2. Regardless of what he said, at least he woke me up from that overblown, listless, humorless ridiculously unpleasant experience known as the Oscar telecast. What a yawner that whole thing was.
Posted by: Fang Guy | February 23, 2009 9:03 PM