Maybe the Academy Awards will change their ways

The 92nd Academy Awards will be presented tonight at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. For a number of years I held an Oscar Party where my guests and I guessed who would win the coveted awards. The person who guessed the most winners had their name engraved on a beautiful plaque. I couldn’t wait for the Academy Awards and our Oscar night festivities.

That all changed about five years ago and sadly I haven’t seen them since. This seems odd for a film fanatic like myself but I’m not alone. The Academy Award ratings have plummeted over that same period as more and more people are tuning out Hollywood’s biggest night. The 2018 Oscars had the worst television ratings ever and last year was the second worst.

I can’t tell you why others have stopped watching the Oscars but I’ll let you know why I no longer watch a program that went on my calendar months in advance, year after year. There are two specific reasons the show has lost its luster for me personally; the first is the acceptance speeches from tone-deaf celebrities. Whether it’s preaching about climate change while flying around the globe in private jets or telling me what to think about politicians or hot button topics like abortion. I’m not interested in knowing what artists think about politics or global issues while accepting an award. Ricky Gervais said it best at the Golden Globes, thank your agent and your God and get off the stage.

The second reason I’ve lost interest, is that many of the films nominated for Best Picture and actors/actresses nominated for Best Actor/Actress over the last decade are not my cup of tea. The Academy members simply like films and performances that I’m not into to. I thought the best acting performance this year was from Paul Walter Hauser playing Richard Jewell but he wasn’t nominated for Best Actor. I honestly would have watched the Oscars just to see if he won but it wasn’t meant to be.

Who knows, maybe the Academy Awards will change their ways and draw me back to this once coveted show. I’ll never say never, but this year I’ll be checking the winners on Monday, like I have the last four years.

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director Tom