Who cares about below the line: FX, sound,art direction & editing awards. Only Production Design, Cinematography, and Costume should be presented.
ALL OTHERS need to be done at the Technical Awards Event the previous week.

Who cares about listening to 5 nominated songs presented in their entirety? Instead a montage of the songs lasting no more than 5 minutes is more than enough!

Who cares about tv celebs as presenters ………this isn’t the Golden Globes – it’s the OSCARS celebrating films.
Is there suddenly a shortage of FILM STARS??

Who cares about talk show hosts as OSCAR Hosts??
That ONLY worked for Johnny Carson. Bring Back Billy Crystal!! Throw Money At Him, offer to fund another tour of his Broadway hit, ANYTHING, but GET HIM BACK.

Who came up here with the LUDICROUS and INSULTING suggestion of allowing “box office favorites/major money makers” to be included in the final five?? TRANSFORMERS??? Seriously…get a clue!

Oscars is about the ART of film making NOT box office winners! Popular movies at the BOX office being nominated WILL NOT increase the audience. It will only turn off MORE people. Do you think “STEP UP 2″ or the worst Spiderman film ever made is going to increase the audience world wide?

Michael Moore is to documentary film making what Donald Duck is to acting.

Start the damn event at 8:00 EST - NOT 8:30!!
We don’t need 30 MORE minutes of “red carpet” banter with REGIS no less.

Celebs start to arrive at 3:00PST: Event can start at 5:00 PST. 2 hours of Red Carpet coverage is LONG ENOUGH.

Enough of Jack and his Shades. It’s cliché, its boring, it’s old , it’s not funny any more!

It speaks volumes that the Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Actress went to non Americans. Smart minds will understand the significance ………..

And the bottom line………the past six years we have seen Hollywood VICIOUSLY continue to insult Republicans (not just those who those who live in flyover America but those who live on the East and West coasts), insult and defame our Military, & relentless ridicule conservative values, all from people who claim to be enlightened, progressive,all embracing, all loving, all accepting of diversity and difference. It’s not acceptable or PC to insult Muslims, but it is acceptable to ridicule, abuse and insult Christians or even NON Christians who live by conservative values. This target group is extremely large in numbers and have voiced their protest by boycotting Hollywood.

Is it any wonder box office revenue along with the Oscar viewing audience continue to decline?

In the end…the very act of behaving like those the Hollywood left condemns, ridicules, insults and antagonizes has bit Hollywood in its proverbially butt!

Here are ten ways to save the show:

1. Make more inspiring, uplifting epics. I’m sorry, but it is not just the Academy’s fault. It’s all of Hollywood’s fault. Make more epics like Titanic, Star Wars, or The Rings trilogy. I don’t think nominating too much slapstick comedies, black humor, or hard core action will get anywhere. But what about musicals like Dreamgirls or something? Those work. I think 300 should at least slip in a Best Picture or Best Director. Give Oscar more choices, with feel-good, uplifting comedies, deamas and musicals.
2. The host. I think the people should vote for which celeb they wanna see. The host will be revealed during nominations time after an evaluation by the AMPAS. Oh, they don’t need to be a hard core film actor to host one. I’m mean Stewart barely does movies. So why not Peyton Manning (he’s funny), Steve Carell, or even Jay Leno. They can keep Stewart as well.
3. Writers: Hire good ones. Even the best hosts need good writers. As evidenced in Stewart’s case, he struggled at various points cause his writers couldn’t come up with good jokes! And give them adequate time, please.
4. Educate or eliminate. What I mean is inform us on the Tech awards. Nobody knows what Sound Mixing or Editing is. So that’s why they skip it. Please educate us by showing it how it’s done along side the nominee or show it onlines. If you don;t want it pull it out of the ceremony (eliminate).
5. Promote: The Academy should promote it self a little bit more. How about posters (and sell them at Borders), sunglasses, sweaters, notebooks, pencils, soundtrack samples. The Grammys can promote themselves, and not just solely on music. They even have an online store selling clothes, pins, and memorabilia. Basically give people a piece of Oscar so they will get interested.
6. Advertising: They should do commercials promoting the ceremony featuring famous people even actors, athletes, politicians discussing their favorite movies. That way, the conversation will keep going until the Oscar night passes.
7. Web savvy. The Oscars need to update their website. It looks cookie cutter. It not only should have just a list of nominees, but also games, discussions of movies, and an online store. How about an online webcast of the ceremony. For one week, they should post the entire ceremony online, so those that missed the TV telecast can watch the ceremony or even skip to a particular part. Better yet, sell the ceremony on DVD. There are parts people wan’t to see over again. Unfortunately the AMPAS is wants too protect its brand (what-ever). Give us a piece that we can keep.
8. YouTube: Post the entire ceremony on YouTube after the date. And don’t remove clips of highlights of the ceremony. People love seeing highlights. It defeats the purpose if people can’t optimize their options.
9. Diversify. I think Miley Cyrus was a great step. But how about including actors or famous people for every age group. For example Miley for the Tweens, Eli Manning for guys, and maybe Jessica Alba for the ladies. Make it a show everybody can watch, not just the women!
10. Leadership change: Fire Sid Ganis and never hire Gil Cates to do another ceremony. Their too conservative. Hire leaders who are well rounded in society (understand what people like without alienating its roots).
11. Have fun. The Jamia Simone-Jon Stewart playing the Wii was funny. Do more funny interactions with other people. Don’t let the host stand lone on the stage.

As for Jon Stewart, he isn’t as bad as you think. He supports the writers so much that he wanted the same deal that Dave’s writers got, and if he weren’t forced to comeback January 7th, he would still be on the picket line until the strike was resolved.

The only awards that matter are the People’s Choice Awards.

I can’t wait until that show’s ratings start topping the Oscars.

The most recent year in movies is celebrated in televised awards shows for MONTHS. It’s simply too much.

The Academy likes to say, “Oh, we can’t turn the Oscars into a commercial carnival” or whatever, but if that’s the case then why allow a plug for “Get Smart” (by having Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway present an award, as the “Get Smart” theme is played)?

Imagine how much fun the Oscars would be for the audience if they knew the new “Indiana Jones” trailer or “Wall-E” teaser would be coming up during the break? Beats heck out of endless Revlon pitches.

Sure you are.

Comment by Furious D — February 25, 2008 @ 5:40 pm”

Furious, you seem to be the only person who understands that. Clearly, the nets, studios and AMPAS don’t. Makes me wonder why I turn the tube on or pay the box office price for a film.

Becca B
one small part of the audience