The opening was dynamic. I loved the music. The change of location was great. But I missed the funny opening. The Oscars, for me, are escapism. Humor is a grat escapism. So cut the walk in half and add humor. I wonder how many tuned out after the tone of the opening.
On Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 3:50 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV < [email protected]> wrote: > In an opinion that I'm sure will shock no one, I thought it was one of the > most inept and pointless spectacles I've ever witnessed, and will, > hopefully, kill the Oscarcast for the future. > > There was almost nothing to recommend it. The format was dull, the > speeches too long, and -- even moreso than usual -- had no reason to exist. > While I certainly don't want the return of the Billy Crystal years, with > lousy renditions of mediocre songs, forced banter, and skits, I also don't > want a spectacle that has all the panache and verve of a presidential > funeral. > > Probably the most baffling part of the whole farrago was the music quiz, > which would have been bad enough in any telecast, but really entered sore > thumb territory because of its timing (2:40 into an interminable > broadcast), and the decision to suddenly decide to do written material (And > then it was -that-?). > > Obviously, fate -- and the voters -- didn't play along with the intended > finale, but there should have been a contingency plan. If Hopkins's > presence was verboten because -- like any sensible octogenarian, he didn't > want to sit in a London theatre in the middle of the night on the off > chance he might win -- then there should have been a Plan B that went > beyond Phoenix's more-baffled-by-life-than-usual signoff. (One of the many, > many things that prove the ineptitude of the Oscars -- other than, yet > again, choosing a mediocre-at-best film as the "best" -- is that Phoenix > has one.) > > While I did like the set design and attempt to keep things intimate, the > processed video (described by Harry Shearer as looking like VHS) was > pointless and ruined most of the effects. > > I'm trying to somehow end this on a positive note, but I'll be damned if I > can think of anything in the whole twelve hours of the telecast that worked. > > --Dave Sikula > > On Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 9:10:30 PM UTC-7 PGage wrote: > >> I thought they did a great job on this show. Union Station is a great >> space (nice to have Harrison Ford reference Blade Runner there), and would >> be great to retain some sense of the grouped tables even when they return >> to the big auditorium, which is a call back to the Oscar origins. >> >> Mostly though, I loved that they did not place such a hard limit on the >> speeches. They saved time with shorter walk ups to the podiums, and moving >> the songs to the pre-show, and not having any opening monologue or >> production number (besides that long walking shot), bit still went over >> about 17 min, but for me very worth it. A number of the speeches were >> heartfelt and interesting, and the very first one would have no doubt been >> interrupted by playoff music just as the guy started talking about his dead >> daughter. >> >> Even the cheesy “game show” had a pretty good pay off with Glen Close (I >> saw on the after show that they did set that up with her in advance, but >> did not expect her to actually do the dance). >> >> Nice to see our friend Jon Batiste get his Oscar moment, and he briefly >> shared the stage with QuestLove. >> >> I saw on Twitter a lot of complaining about a seemingly rushed In >> Memoriam, and especially the decision to move Best Picture ahead of Best >> Actress and Actor. It did kind of seem like they were anticipating closing >> on an emotional note of Chadwick Bozeman winning posthumously, instead >> ending with a bit of an anticlimax. >> >> Still, overall I thought it was a good show, with mostly great nominated >> films and performances, even if it will inevitably be the lowest rated >> Oscars in history. >> -- >> Sent from Gmail Mobile >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/23c91d78-37c8-460a-b179-e962b654148fn%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/23c91d78-37c8-460a-b179-e962b654148fn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yyK3nUfW2c7gyDcq6fE0VJ0wXSyUf%3DUo1p4xrnWZWdMLw%40mail.gmail.com.
