Catching up on the Oscar telecast…
- I think I see the nature of the "empty seat" problem. When the Academy Awards were done from other venues, the cameras mostly showed you the front audience section, so when Jack Nicholson went out for a smoke, a Seat Filler could scurry down, sit in his chair and the home viewers wouldn't see that even the stars couldn't sit through the whole ceremony. But here at the Kodak Theater, they want to show the size of the place, so we get a lot of shots of the balcony and of the whole audience…and the Seat Fillers can't be running up and filling in empty spaces in Row YY, Third Tier.
- Sorry to see that Paul Haggis didn't win for Best Screenplay. I haven't seen the movie, but Paul did a great job writing cartoon scripts for me back when I was story-editing at Hanna-Barbera. You'd like to see that kind of ascendancy rewarded.
- Nice to see that one of our greatest dramatic actors, Al Pacino, can't read a TelePrompter any better than most people.
- Honorary Oscar for Sidney Lumet? Sure. He should've gotten one around half-past Network.
- There's something very nice about any audience shot that includes Alan Alda…which since he's sitting behind Scorsese, is a lot of them. Even though he lost, he seems so happy to be there. He's not worried about how he'll come across on camera or how he looks. He's just enjoying himself.
- Ah. While I was typing the above, they introduced Martin Scorsese as a presenter. As he walked out, they cut to a shot of Alan Alda…and someone had the good sense not to stick a Seat Filler into Scorsese's seat in front of him.
- Obit film time. They solved the Reagan/Brando problem by opening with the former, closing with the latter. And they included Russ Meyer, which was nice. But no Arthur Miller, Cy Coleman or Fred Ebb? (Okay, they didn't do their major work directly for the screen…but didn't Mr. Ebb's Chicago win a few Oscars not long ago?) Alan King wasn't there but he was in plenty of movies, plus he co-hosted the Academy Awards at least once.
- Classy (if awkward) attempt by Sean Penn to rebut the host's monologue slam at Jude Law.
- As Hilary Swank walked to the stage to accept, the v.o. pointed out that she was the first actress to be nominated for an Oscar for playing a boxer. Uh, is this a large group from which she has managed to distinguish herself?
Okay, through the miracle of TiVo fast-forwarding, I've caught up with real time. Watching live now…