I’ve been lobbying for years for movie awards shows to go the way of musicals on TV. And, that winners are so invariably lily white is the least of my complaints. I even attempted to put perennial complaints about #OscarSoWhite into perspective in “#OscarSoDiverse,” January 27, 2017.
Granted, this attempt might now seem naïve given that there was not one black or Hispanic among this year’s Globe winners. Even worse, Oscar’s British cousin, BAFTA, did not nominate a single black among its acting nominees.
This alone has Oscar governors praying that, when 2020 nominations are announced tomorrow morning, there is among them at least one black (Lupita Nyong’o/Cynthia Erivo) or one Hispanic (Jennifer Lopez). Otherwise, they’ll be hunkering down for yet another season of #OscarSoWhite outrage.
But, just in case, they’re hedging their bets by having black actress Issa Rae and Asian actor John Cho announce the nominees. Never mind that this is rather like having the loser kid in high school pick the teams knowing he’ll never get to play.
All the same, here in part is how I registered my abiding dislike of all awards shows in “My Review of the 2008 Oscars,” February 25, 2008:
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I have little regard for preening, pampered poseurs showing off their borrowed frocks and bling-bling as a prelude to a [nearly four-hour] show — only six minutes of which anyone really cares about (i.e., the time it takes to present Oscars for actor and actress in a leading role, actor and actress in a supporting role, best director, and best picture). …
And, remarkably enough, the host comedians do little to relieve the boredom of the interludes between these carefully spread-out moments.
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That’s why I felt so vindicated the morning after last Sunday’s Golden Globes when I read the following obit in Deadline Hollywood, the new testament of Hollywood news sites:
[M]ost of tonight’s Globes were as low energy as Jeb Bush’s pursuit of the White House back in 2016. … Was tonight the night that we will see in hindsight that awards shows careened out of control towards oblivion?
Actually, that night began years ago. Therefore, here’s to Hollywood bringing this long preening into oblivion to
The End…?