Sorry, but I found that to be among the worst Oscar broadcasts ever...

[hlthe2b]

I know the cohosts have a lot of fans and the hope was to get a younger audience to tune in, but IMHO they were not given much to work with. Both seemed quite nervous and poorly rehearsed. There seemed to be absolutely no flow in the whole thing.

I hung in there to hear the PS22 kids, who I thought did a nice job, but need better sound intervention--some micing. And, it just seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the broadcast.

Disjointed and weird, would be my assessment. Bring back Billy Crystal, please!

[Pisces]

1. I couldn't agree more. It was the worst I've seen. The 5 min. Chrystal was on the stage

were the best of the evening.

[hlthe2b]

2. I thought when they edited in footage of Bob Hope...

they were going to turn over the rest of the broadcast to him... That would certainly have been a welcome improvement.

[Pisces]

3. When they did that it made it clear why they should always have a comedian

host. I found it lacking elegance and Franco was extremely robotic. Poor Anne Hathaway was trying to hard to make it jovial.

[speltwon]

21. Franco lost me before the event. When he criticized Gervais' performance

which was hilarious. It just made him, and by extension his compatriots , look like a bunch of whiny prima donnas. I could not care less about the academy awards in general, but this year looked especially uninteresting

[kysrsoze]

7. The worst part was doing a voice-over, imitating Bob. That was just bad.

[barbtries]

6. when he showed up

was when i fell asleep. had a hilarious dream while colin firth was accepting his oscar, and woke up in time to see best picture. now it's going to be hard to get back to sleep and i have to work tomorrow. who won best actress?

[housewolf]

13. Natalie Portman for the "Black Swan"

n/t

[edbermac]

4. Hathaway going 'woooooo!' all the time, annoying as hell.

:banghead:

[Whisp]

26. from a cranky oldster, they were both annoying little punks.

vacuous headed as hell too.

[The Wielding Truth]

5. I think so , too.One of the most boring and least entertaining. I liked seeing Jennifer

Hudson, listening to Celine Deon,and being reminded of good oscar nights by Randi Newman and Billy Crystal. Gasland was nominated and there was a great comment about not a single bankster going to jail.Gwyneth was good and some of the actresses were stunningly beautiful, but that's about it.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. I have to disagree. I thought the hosts did a nice job

They were pleasant. They weren't better or worse than Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, or Steve Martin. As for Crystal -- I don't see him coming back, and after the Ricky Gervais fiasco at the GGs, I think comedians will be avoided for the next couple of years.

I thought the "In Memoriam" segment was not well done this year. I liked the montages better in the past few years, when they'd inset a snippet of the films a writer worked on, or the roles an actor played. The Lena Horne tribute was too short. On a more general note, I intensely dislike the trend to present the Thalberg and Lifetime Achievement awards at an offsite ceremony, and then bring the recipients out for a curtain call.

[aquart]

11. "Pleasant"??? "NICE"???? That's astonishingly cruel.

No, I think calls are going out to comedians right now.

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. What's wrong with "Nice"?

I can't see why the Academy wouldn't bring back Hathaway. She's young and she's glamorous. That's what they wanted.

[aquart]

20. Saying "nice" to any creative person is an invitation to suicide.

It's what you say to people whose work you don't respect.

[kysrsoze]

9. James Franco was pitiful and stiff. Hathaway was OK - good singing. Great to see Kirk Douglas though

[madmax]

10. Wisonsin is a tough act to follow.

Oscars, pfffft.

[hlthe2b]

14. True... I was tuned in hoping to see more nods to the unions...

I really don't much like awards shows regardless.

[housewolf]

15. I agree with you

I thought it was boring and juvenile.

But then, I'm an older generation, so it might be an age-thing. :-(

Much as I love Kirk Douglas, I felt his spot was an embarassment. Franco was awful. Anne Hathaway acted like a immature juvenile.

Where were the songs/musical numbers???

TEN pictures up for best picture??? Thought that was overdoing it a bit.

All in all, I found it to be forgettable, at best.

[madmax]

16. +1

[hlthe2b]

17. Yes.. I have so much respect for Kirk Douglas as an actor...

and for his long struggle post-stroke. I felt that was a rather gratuitous use of him in the broadcast. He deserves better.

[Blacksheep214]

18. Oscars?

Drag Racing's Winternationals was on!

Priorities are important!

[pansypoo53219]

19. i always thought they sucked, but

the final straw was titanic winning. it's just a big hollywood ego blow job anyways.

[hlthe2b]

22. And, Roger Ebert apparently agrees...

ebertchicago My Oscar coverage is online. Good winners, few surprises, boring show. http://bit.ly/hj0mWk

--snip--
Despite the many worthy nominated films, the Oscarcast was painfully dull, slow, witless, and hosted by the ill-matched James Franco and Anne Hathaway. She might have made a delightful foil for another partner, but Franco had a deer-in-the-headlights manner and read his lines robotically.

Incredibly, when former host Billy Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs all evening. This was the worst Oscarcast I've ever endured. It's time for the Board of Governors to have a long, sad talk with itself.

At one point I tweeted: "If Bruce Vilanch is within 50 miles of the Kodak Pavilion, they should helicopter his ass backstage and put him to work." I was quickly put straight. Vilanch, the comedy writer responsible for countless great lines in Oscarcasts past, was a writer on this year's show. Since Franco and Hathaway lacked a single clever line, there must be an untold story.

--snip--
Again, I have to say this was the worst Oscarcast I've seen, and I go back a while. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show? Dead. In. The. Water.

--more at the link above--

[JenniferJuniper]

23. Ricky Gervais. Hollywood deserves him. The TV audience needs him.

Dreadful show. The kid from Freaks and Geeks (sorry, that's how I'll remember anyone who was on that fantastic show) and Hathaway were duller than dirt and the entire show was boring and listless.

I did enjoy watching the rambling speech of the drunken woman who won Best Supporting Actress.

[mackerel]

24. My son who loved Freaks and Geeks and thinks Franco

can do know wrong, turned it off.

Seriously is this the best Hollywood can do for itself?

[edhopper]

25. I think Franco

was stoned the whole time. If so i think that is pretty cool.

And the show pretty much ALWAYS sucks.

[mainer]

27. Billy Crystal didn't want to do it anymore

If he did, he'd be the permanent host. Those few minutes with him onstage reminded me what a pro he is.

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