So talking about Big Media, I found myself watching large portions of the Oscars show on TV on Sunday, by accident. It was on in the kitchen while I was surfing, hacking, and blogging. Wow, what a long program! Hollywood people really, REALLY like themselves, don’t they?
The reaction of Tom Shales of the WaPo was to put down the whole event as a “b
ore and a horror” (a proper response for the TV maven of a major East-Coast paper, I guess). Tom didn’t particularly like Ellen DeGeneres as the host. The Boston Globe was even more curmudgeonly, suggesting that Ellen put everybody to sleep. I don’t know what Matthew Gilbert at the Globe is thinking. It wasn’t Ellen who put us to sleep. It was the whole pompous affair.Ellen was a fantastic host, in my opinion. The reason she was so good is because she playfully yet ruthlessly punctured the gassy, self-important Hollywood elite and their quasi-royal airs. When she brought out the vacuum cleaner sometime after 11:00 PM, I thought it was a stroke of genius.
Shales says Ellen lacked the “stature” of previous Oscar hosts. So presumably Tom wanted an even more royal air to the whole proceeding. I preferred having a showbiz insider who is really also a bemused fan. I don’t think overly inflated stars need more inflating.
Ellen was the best host since Johnny Carson. Hope she does it again next year.
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