I take exception of Steve Martin being one of the worst hosts of the Oscars. He was bad with Alec Baldwin by his side, true, but when he hosted by himself years earlier, he was nothing short of brilliant! His reaction to Michael Moore's speech was on of the highlights of his Oscar hosting stints, that's for sure!
One of your best podcasts. You brought a lot of context and good inside baseball to the annual telecast while bringing back some great memories. I'm sure many of your readers/listeners will watch the telecast just to prepare for your Monday review. PS, I've never told this one more than once a year-according to Bob Hope, what was Oscar Night called in his household?
Bob Hope and Billy Crystal were successful because they were Hollywood insiders. So Hollywood biggies loved them kiss-asses. So they got many chances to host.
Chevy Chase called them 'phonies' and got shafted.
Seth did that Jew bit and got hammered.
A successful Oscar host was the one who kissed Hollywood's ass. So nowadays these talk show hosts like Ellen, Jimmy are asked to host, because these Talk Show hosts earn their livelihood from all those star interviews and gags involving stars on their shows. No bigger kiss ass than them.
Andy, I looked up the last Oscar show Steve hosted alone on IMDB-the one when Chicago won Best Picture of 2002-and it was indeed him who commented after Moore won Best Documentary for Bowling for Columbine. It was a criticism of George W. Bush for his policies concerning the Iraq War. Imagine if he won it this year after that high school shooting that happened on Valentine's Day...
I must be only person who takes the day off to see the Live telecast :) Right from my college days.
When I didn't know much about America, I thought that this was the greatest annual event of that country. Because every year the first thing the host said was that a billion people were watching them worldwide. So surely in that country itself everyone must be glued onto TV watching with bated breath :)
Then I slowly realized that here, hardly anyone saw the program Live or even the night repeat telecast. Also other countries were pretty much the same, people just caught a brief glimpse on the News, as to who won. Very few hardcore fans.
It was only after reading your blog and then searching on the net, it finally dawned on me that, even in America, just a fraction of the entire population watched!
A billion viewers watching the whole telecast. Not really :)
I don't know why I really love the Oscars. I haven't watched most of the movies. Every year fewer faces I recognize and root for. But still I love it. A sort of tradition for me.
Among hosts I liked Billy Crystal. He was the only one who had the ability to react to each winner's speech. One of the best reaction I can recall is from the mid 90s when some technical award winner took too long with his speech, Billy from the side, made a sudden gesture like threatening to kick, which made the winner run away :D and no one took offense. He was really funny and by far the most popular I guess.
The best monologues were by Steve Martin.
Chris Rock too was good, but in parts. As the show drags on, he becomes boring.
Jimmy did nothing spectacular, but since others failed, he seems fine.
This year I am rooting for one actor - Sam Rockwell. I love his acting, especially in a little movie called "The Way, Way Back". Superbly acted, but no nomination or such. That movie was written and directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who themselves have won Oscars. That movie also had Allison Janney, who is another actress I would love seeing win.
We used to watch the Oscars because we enjoyed the movies and the stars. But now the stars seem to be so dislikeable that I couldn’t care if they won or if they’re hungry. They all seem smug and elitist. Especially this year with the pretenses of caring that women have been treated like shit for decades. Meryl Streep is a disgusting phony.
With that said I do have an appreciation for the technical folks. The costume designers. The cinematographers. The editors. And especially the writers. The unsung. The real crafters of what we see and hear.
12 comments :
I take exception of Steve Martin being one of the worst hosts of the Oscars. He was bad with Alec Baldwin by his side, true, but when he hosted by himself years earlier, he was nothing short of brilliant! His reaction to Michael Moore's speech was on of the highlights of his Oscar hosting stints, that's for sure!
One of your best podcasts. You brought a lot of context and good inside baseball to the annual telecast while bringing back some great memories. I'm sure many of your readers/listeners will watch the telecast just to prepare for your Monday review.
PS, I've never told this one more than once a year-according to Bob Hope, what was Oscar Night called in his household?
Bob Hope and Billy Crystal were successful because they were Hollywood insiders. So Hollywood biggies loved them kiss-asses. So they got many chances to host.
Chevy Chase called them 'phonies' and got shafted.
Seth did that Jew bit and got hammered.
A successful Oscar host was the one who kissed Hollywood's ass. So nowadays these talk show hosts like Ellen, Jimmy are asked to host, because these Talk Show hosts earn their livelihood from all those star interviews and gags involving stars on their shows. No bigger kiss ass than them.
Bob Hope was a mediocre actor. Never deserved Oscar. But he thought he was entitled to one. So was always bitching about it.
tavm,
Reaction was by Billy Crystal. Something about teamsters bundling up Michael Moore.
But agree with you that Steve Martin was one of the best.
Andy, I looked up the last Oscar show Steve hosted alone on IMDB-the one when Chicago won Best Picture of 2002-and it was indeed him who commented after Moore won Best Documentary for Bowling for Columbine. It was a criticism of George W. Bush for his policies concerning the Iraq War. Imagine if he won it this year after that high school shooting that happened on Valentine's Day...
Have you ever gone to the after-Oscars party? Governor's Ball or something. How was it? Most expensive food and a room full of stars?
Great Podcast!!!
Very eagerly awaiting for the Monday review.
I must be only person who takes the day off to see the Live telecast :)
Right from my college days.
When I didn't know much about America, I thought that this was the greatest annual event of that country. Because every year the first thing the host said was that a billion people were watching them worldwide. So surely in that country itself everyone must be glued onto TV watching with bated breath :)
Then I slowly realized that here, hardly anyone saw the program Live or even the night repeat telecast. Also other countries were pretty much the same, people just caught a brief glimpse on the News, as to who won. Very few hardcore fans.
It was only after reading your blog and then searching on the net, it finally dawned on me that, even in America, just a fraction of the entire population watched!
A billion viewers watching the whole telecast. Not really :)
I don't know why I really love the Oscars. I haven't watched most of the movies. Every year fewer faces I recognize and root for. But still I love it. A sort of tradition for me.
Among hosts I liked Billy Crystal. He was the only one who had the ability to react to each winner's speech. One of the best reaction I can recall is from the mid 90s when some technical award winner took too long with his speech, Billy from the side, made a sudden gesture like threatening to kick, which made the winner run away :D and no one took offense. He was really funny and by far the most popular I guess.
The best monologues were by Steve Martin.
Chris Rock too was good, but in parts. As the show drags on, he becomes boring.
Jimmy did nothing spectacular, but since others failed, he seems fine.
This year I am rooting for one actor - Sam Rockwell. I love his acting, especially in a little movie called "The Way, Way Back". Superbly acted, but no nomination or such. That movie was written and directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who themselves have won Oscars. That movie also had Allison Janney, who is another actress I would love seeing win.
I thought Ellen did a great job when she hosted. The pizza thing along with her selfies helped to humanize the ceremony.
Or maybe they know how to read a room like any good host or comic and were funny!
We used to watch the Oscars because we enjoyed the movies and the stars. But now the stars seem to be so dislikeable that I couldn’t care if they won or if they’re hungry. They all seem smug and elitist. Especially this year with the pretenses of caring that women have been treated like shit for decades. Meryl Streep is a disgusting phony.
With that said I do have an appreciation for the technical folks. The costume designers. The cinematographers. The editors. And especially the writers. The unsung. The real crafters of what we see and hear.
Post a Comment