February 28, 2005

  • Dang.  The Oscars last night got good ratings.  This, taken alone, is not a Bad Thing; the Bad Thing comes in the form of:


    "Obviously, Chris Rock as host had an impact in the resurgence of the numbers," said Larry Hyams, vice president of audience analysis and research at ABC.  (from CNN)


    I wasn't in the living room for more'n maybe an hour of the Oscars last night, if that, but plenty long enough to get Really Tired of Chris Rock.  Heck, I was tired of him after two minutes of his shouting and incessant "OKAY?"s.


    Was hoping the Academy would realize what a disaster he'd been, but if they credit him with pulling in high viewership, they might actually bring him back


    One positive thing came out of it:  The Incredibles took Best Animation.


    USAToday had an article with an Idea Whose Time Actually Came A Long While Back, i.e. have the Best Song be an optional category.  Can't argue with that logic!  If there aren't boffo songs in that year's film offerings, don't pretend there are.  Just skip it entirely.  If there's one memorable song, invite those responsible to perform it at the ceremony and let it go at that.


    I can't believe Hilary Swank took home her second Best Actress award.


    I'd not recalled having heard of her before, and her face doesn't even look familiar. 

Comments (9)

  • The analysis may be right, because a lot of people may have tuned in to see what Rock would do. Having seen it, they might not have been thrilled with it.

    Since he didn't get good reviews, the ratings might not themselves make the Academy execs bring him back (she says feebly, knowing that these folks don't usually operate according to normal-people logic.)

  • What was Hilary Swank in before? I'd never heard of her before that, either.

  • Who in the heck is Chris Rock, anyway??  I refuse to google, preferring to make you all feel better about yourselves because you are so much more culture-savvy than me.

  • It took me a bit to dredge up where I've seen him before, but I finally got it!  Rock was in one of the Lethal Weapon movies...he played the love interest of Whatshisname's eldest daughter....not Mel Gibson, obviously, but the other one.  Oh, darn.  I can see his face as clearly as the monitor....

  • I have heard that the initial "high" ratings are the overnights from the urban areas. When the complete pictures started coming in, the telecast did much worse in the rural areas. The disparity was quite great. The commentator called it "another red-state-blue-state thing"

  • Danny Glover is, I believe, the name that escapes you.

  • He is also, as I understand it, a loud-mouthed, rather foul-mouthed, "urban-oriented" comedian.

  • Danny Glover's a comedian?  Really?  I didn't know that.

    But yes, Valerie, that's exactly who it was.  Thanks!

  • Drudge says that the Oscar telecast was down by 6% from last year. This contradicted the initial (lying) claims by the Oscar people that the telecast was a big success.  They were trying to cover their butts for having hired Rock, IMO. The Oscars is supposed to be traditional Hollywood glamor night. It's part fashion-show, part horse-race, and so why put somebody in there that will ridicule it, however deserving it may be? Rock mocked the whole thing, and used some of his air-time to attack Pres. Bush. Hollywood people are mindlessly addicted to being offensive to traditional morality, but putting people like Rock or Whoopi Goldberg in there is like letting your attack dog eat your own hand.

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