Oscar Mire

Through the miracle that is TiVo, I watched the Academy Awards in about a third of its 3.5 hour running time so it wouldn't be fair for me to review it in full. I caught most of Seth MacFarlane's spots and thought he did fine when he wasn't talking about himself and not-so-well when he was. When you get your chance to host the Academy Awards, try to remember that the most important thing about the ceremony is not that you're hosting it.

Once we got past the sketch about what a bad, offensive host MacFarlane was, things seemed to go well enough. It felt like a few too many musical numbers but that's not a huge complaint. As I say every year, I think people are way too harsh on these telecasts. Folks say it's too long but it's not supposed to be a short show. There are lots of awards to give out and lots of commercials to show. People also complain about the winners as if there was something the producers of the Oscars could do to change them.

Really, they're just the Academy Awards. Unless you're up for one or working on the broadcast, they shouldn't matter much to you. And if they seem too long, get a TiVo.