No ceremony for old stars
Along with producer Gil Cates, host Jon Stewart and his staff of writers from "The Daily Show" have had to throw together the Oscars in a hurry after the strike ended earlier this month. Stewart is a fine choice, especially in an election year, but after he all but threw himself in front of Oscar pomposity as host two years ago only to get run over, it's unclear what he could do to spice things up, except maybe scrap a script entirely and wing it as if the strike had never been solved.
That ain't gonna happen.
Yet there's no denying this year's Oscars need something to build interest when they air at 7:30 tonight on ABC 7 from the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Industry insiders fear it could approach the record low TV audience of 33 million from five years ago.
The maudlin musical "Chicago" won best picture that year, ahead of the brutal dramas "Gangs of New York" and "The Hours." By contrast, the popular blockbuster "Titanic" drew 55 million viewers to the 1998 Oscars.
This year's nominees have a similar look to 2003, as "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" lead the nominees, with only the snarky independent comedy "Juno" appearing to have a chance to sneak up the middle and lighten the evening.
Many of the top honors are virtually foregone conclusions, foremost among them Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as lead actor in "Blood." A surprise there would be stunning, but would come late in the night.
Most damaging of all, when the strike led to the cancellation of award shows like the Golden Globes, it deprived the Motion Picture Academy of the usual publicity ramping up to the Oscars.
Cates has tried to address that by bringing in a younger, more vital set of stars to act as award presenters. Old-school Hollywood stars like Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks and Martin Scorsese will be outnumbered by the likes of George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Hilary Swank, as well as TV-manufactured movie stars like Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey and even Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana).
Yet with no less than three songs from Disney's "Enchanted" weighing things down, even the musical performances of the best-song nominees figure to be dreary.
The usual suspects will try to build interest in the hours leading up to the ceremony. Barbara Walters interviews Ford, Cyrus and Vanessa Williams as part of her annual pre-Oscar special at 6 p.m. on Channel 7, leading into the formal half-hour red-carpet highlight special at 7. For unexpurgated red-carpet coverage, E! picks it up at 5 p.m., as does the TV Guide Network, which actually begins its "Countdown to the Academy Awards" at 2 p.m.
The 80th annual Academy Awards
7:30 p.m. on ABC 7
Red carpet coverage:
• 7 p.m. on ABC 7
• 5 p.m. on E! with Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic
• 5 p.m. on TV Guide Network with Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone