But there were some insurmountable obstacles that even the most perfect host couldn't fix. The show is still, always, and forever, just too damn long. It's time to bite the bullet and dump a lot of the awards that frankly no one really cares about. The show isn't an over-bloated spectacle because of the length of the acceptance speeches (and cutting them short with the theme from Jaws, really?), or even the musical numbers or dearly departed tribute. It's because of the overly long list of awards. The most avid film geeks could watch such "technical" awards online. The Golden Globes manages to get it all done, both television and film awards, in three hours, and that's still too long.
Four hours is just ridiculous, Oscar. Enough, already. We're just tuning in for the stars and outfits anyway. I did like the Channing Tatum/Charlize Theron Fred and Ginger routine, however. And congrats to Jennifer Lawrence, DDL, Ben Affleck, etc.
