Worst.Oscar.Show.Ever?

[operalover21]

I think it was. Probably the last Oscar show I'll watch. It was too painful. You know your're in trouble when they drag out William Shatner who doesn't have a thing to do with film. The opening made the Rob Lowe/Snow White debacle look enjoyable. Seth MacFarlane apparently thought he was the smarmy Jerry Lewis. A joke about the Lincoln Assassination? Really? The whole thing was tasteless.

 

The In Memoriam segment left out many of Hollywood's finest actors ... and in their place we got a succession of behind the scenes people no one outside the Academy had ever heard of. Apparently, if you were involved in film before 1960 and died in 2012 you were forgotten.

 

You know you're in trouble when the highlight of the show is 76 year old Shirley Bassey belting out Goldfinger (you go girl!). Everything that followed was pallid in comparison.

 

I think next year, a trip to Bermuda is in order.

[bostonman]

I think it was. Probably the last Oscar show I'll watch. It was too painful. You know your're in trouble when they drag out William Shatner who doesn't have a thing to do with film. The opening made the Rob Lowe/Snow White debacle look enjoyable. Seth MacFarlane apparently thought he was the smarmy Jerry Lewis. A joke about the Lincoln Assassination? Really? The whole thing was tasteless.

 

 

That whole way way overlong opening sequence with Shatner and MacFarlane was unforgivably bad, and in very bad taste. (And do we still need to hear uncomfortable gay jokes - i.e. the bit about MacFarlane not being part of the Gay Men's Chorus etc? And the jokes later about musicals and gays?) MacFarlane in general was a huge bomb, IMO - of course, I assume he didn't write his own jokes? Or did he?

 

And god, those awful Hallmark-card-like speeches that the celebs have to read off the teleprompters for their intros (what was that hideous one towards the end that the Chicago cast did?) - they all come off sounding like they've never been in front of an audience before.

 

Chenoweth can sing (though that duet at the end with MacFarlane was superfluous and rather crass), but why do people allow her to speak? That mousy voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

 

And even the appearance by Michelle Obama was a no-win situation. She went on for way too long with her hallmark-y remarks, especially when you consider the show was now in overtime. (Was she live or pretaped? They tried to make it seem like she was live, but that doesn't mean she was...) However, of course, if she had simply presented the award, we'd all be wondering why the hell she didn't get to say more. ;-)

 

But you know, in general, if they simply presented the awards and cut all the other crap, it might actually be a better show.

 

If they bring MacFarlane back next year, I won't be watching.

[operalover21]

That whole way way overlong opening sequence with Shatner and MacFarlane was unforgivably bad, and in very bad taste. (And do we still need to hear uncomfortable gay jokes - i.e. the bit about MacFarlane not being part of the Gay Men's Chorus etc? And the jokes later about musicals and gays?) MacFarlane in general was a huge bomb, IMO - of course, I assume he didn't write his own jokes? Or did he?

 

And god, those awful Hallmark-card-like speeches that the celebs have to read off the teleprompters for their intros (what was that hideous one towards the end that the Chicago cast did?) - they all come off sounding like they've never been in front of an audience before.

 

Chenoweth can sing (though that duet at the end with MacFarlane was superfluous and rather crass), but why do people allow her to speak? That mousy voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

 

And even the appearance by Michelle Obama was a no-win situation. She went on for way too long with her hallmark-y remarks, especially when you consider the show was now in overtime. (Was she live or pretaped? They tried to make it seem like she was live, but that doesn't mean she was...) However, of course, if she had simply presented the award, we'd all be wondering why the hell she didn't get to say more. ;-)

 

But you know, in general, if they simply presented the awards and cut all the other crap, it might actually be a better show.

 

If they bring MacFarlane back next year, I won't be watching.

 

The gay joke (implying he'll come out in 2015) were pallid compared to the unbelievable number of sexist jokes he made. And the Boobs number? Really? Is this 1963? The looks on the faces of Helen Hunt, Kathryn Bigelow, and others said it all: they were not amused. Affleck looked pretty pissed off at him too.

 

And Jew jokes at the Oscars? Really? I guess they left out the farting jokes.

 

I watched it with a group of around 20 people and they all were groaning and booing. It was a DISASTER.

[Decatur Guy]

It's not like we've had lots of great years, and this one sucked. The entire Academy Awards show concept needs a drastic overhaul. I can't remember a time when the jokes weren't bad and inappropriate and the musical numbers sad and boring and too long. It's really a matter of degree.

 

On the bright side, it was a great fall/winter for movies this year. For the first time in years, I couldn't make it to all the movies I wanted to see.

[Guest verymarried]

who were some of the people left out of the memorial clip?

[operalover21]

It's not like we've had lots of great years, and this one sucked. The entire Academy Awards show concept needs a drastic overhaul. I can't remember a time when the jokes weren't bad and inappropriate and the musical numbers sad and boring and too long. It's really a matter of degree.

 

On the bright side, it was a great fall/winter for movies this year. For the first time in years, I couldn't make it to all the movies I wanted to see.

 

What a shame because, as you said, it was a GREAT year for movies.

 

I think the show needs to decide what it wants to be. They're trying to appeal to a wider audience -- they say -- and then the In Memoriam segment became all about inside baseball remembering people no one has heard of while leaving out people everyone has heard of.

 

They seem to be bi-polar. They simply can't decide what they want. Make a decision and stick to it.

[operalover21]

who were some of the people left out of the memorial clip?

 

Andy Griffith, Joyce Redman, Ann Rutherford, Patty Andrews, Tony Martin, George Winner, Harry Carey Jr., William Windom, Phyllis Diller, Whitney Houston ... just to start.

[JoeyBryant]

Well good, now I don't feel so bad for faking my interest in it the whole time. I actually watched it last night with a buddy, kind of my first time sitting thru an entire Oscar. Personally it just doesn't do anything for me. I probably only watched a tiny fraction of the nominated movies to begin with. My friend watched every single movie that was nominated. I was actually wondering to myself if this would have been a good time to plan a 2nd trip to LA.

[Toulouse]

I enjoyed the performances by Adele, Jennifer Hudson and Barbra...thought they were terrific.

[Guest countryboywny]

I watched "Tootsie" instead..

[+ azdr0710]

I wonder if the show always famously runs long because they always can sell more commercials for this broadcast.....

 

the celebs looking embarrassed during the boobs song was intentional and scripted, I think.....

 

the jokes don't bother me...however "mean" they are, you can't take any of this too seriously.....

 

I was with a small group and we only watched the too-long opening and supporting actor, then switched to an old movie we planned to watch anyway.....

 

and I think there is a different set of produces every year ?? and so they never can get a good formula down pat....

 

why can't they bring back Billy Crystal???

[mmk123]

I did watch it and I was hopeing that Seth would have been better than he was. I might be in the minority but I did like his song and dance number at the beginning and the banter with William Shatner, Sally Field and the sock puppets but I do agree, the song at the end was very unneccassary and just seemed mean spirited. Alot of his jokes during the show either fell flat or were just dull.

 

Was it this year that Eddie Murphey backed out or was it last year?

[jackhammer91406]

a little of this..a little of that..

 

I have to agree with the consensus that the show was not a very good one. I was surprised the opening number was almost 16 minutes. I thought the boobs number was tasteless. Liked some of the rest of the number although it felt at times like Seth was auditioning for a Broadway show. Didn't know he could sing. For the record, William Shatner headlined a bunch of Star Trek movies that grossed tons of money (which is Hollywood speak for he is relevant to the Oscars though he will never win one).

 

Loved the dancing between Charlize and Channing and felt that if the producers had stayed on that riff throughout the whole program (in a show dedicated to Hollywood musicals) they might have been on to something. As with most of the past Oscar shows the best moments seemed to be the unscripted ones.

I agree it was great the see Shirley Bassey (76 years old!), Adele, and Barbra. It seemed that Catherine Zeta-Jones was lip syncing. I know it's a heavy dance number, but thought she should have sung live. The Le Miz number seemed a bit disorganized,probably because the version they sang was truncated and had different people singing some parts that were written for other characters.

 

From a visual standpoint, I loved the set and most of the lighting. Interesting concept of having the orchestra playing 10 blocks away in another building. I agree with Original poster (can't believe I said it) that naming obscure members of the industry who had passed and leaving out major members was an huge mistake and some assistant should get flogged for bad research. Can't be that hard to find out who died last year.

 

Uh oh, I am getting all negative so better shut this off.

 

In a nutshell; if you are going to announce that the theme of a show is XYZ, and refer to that fact over and over during the show, then take the time to think it out and do a theme show. Otherwise, just cut 90 minutes from the package and run with that.

 

Oh and for the poster who asked, Eddie Murphy bailed on last years show allowing for the return of Billy Crystal.

[Diverdan]

I watched only part of it. I thought that Barbara's tribute to Marvin was fantastic. If they would have more of that quality of performance everyone would flock to the Oscars. And give me a break... who in the hell cares what some of the women,or men, for that matter wear... how many hours of endless parading on the red carpet.

I watched at the end to see Argo win, in part because they were embarassed that that he was not nominated for best director. I love Pi, but this was not his best direction... Brokeback Mountain was, and Spielberg's Lincoln was a better directed movie, but the voters in the Academy are fickle souls. Daniel Day Lewis showed in his acceptance speech why he is the only male to have won three academy awards as the top male actor. I loved that they had the LA Gay Men's Chorus on the show, but they should have done something with it instead of playing up the stereotypes and having all the crude and tasteless "gay" jokes througout the awards show. This may be the last I ever watch. Unfortunately the powers that be at the Academy don't really care. This is there show, and as long as advertizers put up the big bucks, they will broadcast what is ever becoming a more "inside" affair.... really SAD.

[Pegasus]

It's interesting to read the varying perspectives on here. I didn't think the show was all that bad. There were segments I thoroughly enjoyed and others not so much, but I never have taken any of these awards shows too seriously. Seth Macfarlane was a fairly middle-of-the-road host. He wasn't as bad as James Franco, but he's no Bob Hope either.

[+ WilliamM]

I enjoyed the part of last night's Oscars between the Best Supporting Actor Award and the beginning of the memorial tribute, particularly seeing Shirley Bassey again after so many years. I also enjoyed the awards and speeches for the Best Director, Best Actor and Actress and Best Pictures. Has anyone mentioned yet that the ratings were up over last years? That was probably due to all the good films this year.

 

My one complaint is yet another tribute to Marvin Hamlish. Great guy, with a lot of talent, but just one tribute too many in my opinion.

[wayout]

Watched it and wasn't overwhelmed. Some highs and some lows, some hits and some misses, all of which have been mentioned by the posters here.

 

This Seth MacFarlane guy was an interesting choice to host for sure. Certainly high risk considering he doesn't have anything in his credits/resume to suggest he could handle hosting the Oscars. I mean as far as I am aware of, his success has been as a producer/creator of a TV cartoon/sitcom (Family Guy) and one movie (Ted). Considering the sophomoric humor of those creations, what would one expect from his performance as host of the Oscars?

 

Having said that, one has to wonder if the choice was made to attract a younger audience than in the past. I dare say that those of us here that did not appreciate his "performance" overall, most of us are a bit on the older side. It would be interesting to know what the reaction of the younger audience is. One clue is in the ratings and here is some interesting results:

 

"...the ratings were good, and almost nothing counts for more where the Oscar enterprise is concerned. The show drew an average audience of 40.3 million viewers, up about 3 percent from 39.3 million viewers last year, according to the Nielsen ratings service. The audience among those between the ages of 18 and 34 grew 20 percent, to post an 11.3 rating, compared to 9.4 last year, when Billy Crystal was the host."

 

It will be interesting to see if he is invited back next year....my guess is no as I think he crossed a few lines that will not be soon forgotten by many mover and shakers in the industry.

[+ friendofsheila]

The banter between the animation award presenters was painful. Painful!

[JoeyBryant]

Watched it and wasn't overwhelmed. Some highs and some lows, some hits and some misses, all of which have been mentioned by the posters here.

 

This Seth MacFarlane guy was an interesting choice to host for sure. Certainly high risk considering he doesn't have anything in his credits/resume to suggest he could handle hosting the Oscars. I mean as far as I am aware of, his success has been as a producer/creator of a TV cartoon/sitcom (Family Guy) and one movie (Ted). Considering the sophomoric humor of those creations, what would one expect from his performance as host of the Oscars?

 

Having said that, one has to wonder if the choice was made to attract a younger audience than in the past. I dare say that those of us here that did not appreciate his "performance" overall, most of us are a bit on the older side. It would be interesting to know what the reaction of the younger audience is. One clue is in the ratings and here is some interesting results:

 

"...the ratings were good, and almost nothing counts for more where the Oscar enterprise is concerned. The show drew an average audience of 40.3 million viewers, up about 3 percent from 39.3 million viewers last year, according to the Nielsen ratings service. The audience among those between the ages of 18 and 34 grew 20 percent, to post an 11.3 rating, compared to 9.4 last year, when Billy Crystal was the host."

 

It will be interesting to see if he is invited back next year....my guess is no as I think he crossed a few lines that will not be soon forgotten by many mover and shakers in the industry.

 

Well there will be a younger audience if the nominees were stuff that guys my age watch. For example Lincoln was a nominee. I seen Abraham Lincoln the vampire slayer which was Oscar winning material.but instead the The Oscars decided to use the biography version and non of my friends wanted to watch that.

[Boink]

The only reason I watched is because I had read repeatedly that one of the highlights of the show would be a 50th anniversary salute to James Bond, with all of the 007 actors in attendance. What happened to that? Aside from Shirley Bassey and, later, Adele, all I saw was a standard film clip montage.

[TruHart1]

I think it was. Probably the last Oscar show I'll watch. It was too painful. You know your're in trouble when they drag out William Shatner who doesn't have a thing to do with film. The opening made the Rob Lowe/Snow White debacle look enjoyable. Seth MacFarlane apparently thought he was the smarmy Jerry Lewis. A joke about the Lincoln Assassination? Really? The whole thing was tasteless.

 

The In Memoriam segment left out many of Hollywood's finest actors ... and in their place we got a succession of behind the scenes people no one outside the Academy had ever heard of. Apparently, if you were involved in film before 1960 and died in 2012 you were forgotten.

 

You know you're in trouble when the highlight of the show is 76 year old Shirley Bassey belting out Goldfinger (you go girl!). Everything that followed was pallid in comparison.

 

I think next year, a trip to Bermuda is in order.

 

Hmm. They hired Seth MacFarlane to host. IMHO that is tantamount to hiring Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of TV’s South Park and the Book of Mormon musical for an awards show. Has anyone here ever watched Mr. MacFarlane’s TV show Family Guy? If you have, you should realize that Mr. MacFarlane has the same kind of offensive to tasteless humor throughout that show that was the majority of the humor in the opening sequence. In addition, Mr. MacFarlane always sprinkles allusions to classic and popular movies throughout that show. It is obvious that MacFarlane is a legitimate movie buff from these references. Perhaps that is why he was hired as host?

 

Personally, I expected Seth MacFarlane’s trademark humor on the telecast and he delivered. If he was hired for his humor, then he was very successful. One thing I realize from various interviews, his SNL appearance and his Oscar show hosting is that the man is one hell of a talented man. You and middle America may find much of his humor offensive but some of us find humor that is equally offensive to everyone at some point or another (see Family Guy) can be quite funny if not taken too seriously. I think the producers got the Oscar telecast they wanted. If you were offended by parts of it then I think, once again, Mr. MacFarlane succeeded in spades. You may not like it but I believe when one sees ironic humor like his, one needs to lighten up just a bit. Just my humble opinion.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

There were several things I appreciated about the show. In particular, they actually used Seth as the "MC" with him introducing the presenters and doing the commercial break lead ins. I enjoyed that more than the faceless voices introducing the stars. As others have said, not all of the jokes were appropriate.

 

Sounds like I'm in the minority, but if he is asked back, I would watch and hope they cut out the pre-recorded skits.

[mmk123]

I am a fan of Seth and I am a huge fan of his. I love how Family Guy takes no prisoners and has to be one of the most politically incorrect shows on tv. Plus, he did a great job hosting SNL this past year.

 

I think maybe he does deserve another chance.

[GoodFella69]

Personally, I expected Seth MacFarlane’s trademark humor on the telecast and he delivered. If he was hired for his humor, then he was very successful. One thing I realize from various interviews, his SNL appearance and his Oscar show hosting is that the man is one hell of a talented man. You and middle America may find much of his humor offensive but some of us find humor that is equally offensive to everyone at some point or another (see Family Guy) can be quite funny if not taken too seriously. I think the producers got the Oscar telecast they wanted. If you were offended by parts of it then I think, once again, Mr. MacFarlane succeeded in spades. You may not like it but I believe when one sees ironic humor like his, one needs to lighten up just a bit.

 

TruHart, I think you make some very good points. What you see is what you get with Macfarlane. I was working "up in the air" last night during most of the telecast...got checked-in to my hotel room just in time to see Argo named "Best Picture" and the closing musical number. The highlight for me: I thought Ben Affleck looked good enough to eat (and pound)!

 

Goodfella

[bostonman]

Personally, I expected Seth MacFarlane’s trademark humor on the telecast and he delivered. If he was hired for his humor, then he was very successful. One thing I realize from various interviews, his SNL appearance and his Oscar show hosting is that the man is one hell of a talented man. You and middle America may find much of his humor offensive but some of us find humor that is equally offensive to everyone at some point or another (see Family Guy) can be quite funny if not taken too seriously. I think the producers got the Oscar telecast they wanted. If you were offended by parts of it then I think, once again, Mr. MacFarlane succeeded in spades. You may not like it but I believe when one sees ironic humor like his, one needs to lighten up just a bit. Just my humble opinion.

 

I'm not personally *offended* by MacFarlane's humor. I don't really follow Family Guy but I have seen it and found it quite funny - in its own context. But the Oscars to me is a different thing - I do think somehow it should be a classier show. Not humorless, and not fun, but somehow a show that celebrates and respects the movie industry, not a show that is essentially dictated by the host's sense of humor.

 

I found MacFarlane's humor more cheap than offensive. I just wish the show could have a smarter, more mature sensibility to it. I'm not sure what you mean by "ironic" humor - to me, that's actually a very smart, witty kind of humor that I don't think MacFarlane has in him at all.

 

I tend to find the trend of "little boy" comedians tiresome - Adam Sandler, Jimmy Kimmel, etc - and I tend to think I'd put MacFarlane in that group. I want to smack them all and tell them to grow up already and stop with the smarmy adolescent outlook on everything. Just not funny. (Family Guy may be a funny cartoon, but a live MacFarlane, cast in the role of a host of an important once-a-year ceremony, should be able to be much more than just his cartoon. I'd like to know that there's a man behind the silly cartoon creations, not just that, like Sandler, he's severely limited to JUST the "little boy" thing.)