The Various Columns

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

The Academy Awards to Go Forward With No Host for the First Time Since 1989

In the almost year since last year's Academy Awards ceremony, the Oscars has gone from being an institution recognizing a promising and new direction with its first sci-fi Best Picture winner (The Shape of Water) to a familiar chaos not seen since the infamous Oscars So White controversy. In that time, they have attempted to evolve in a way that's more appealing to audiences, if just to draw in a bigger audience. After a lot of trying and countless setbacks, the Oscars are going to do something rare. They're going to go without a host for only the second time in their 91 years and the first in 30 years. Speaking as there's less than 50 days to go, it does seem likely that this is how things will play out, and it's only a reflection of how big of a mess things are right now.


To give a quick rundown: The Academy did have a host at one point. His name was Kevin Hart, whose popularity as a comic who can sell out stadiums made him the perfect fit for the institution's plan. They wanted to draw in a bigger crowd, and it was done with a few stipulations: introduce a Best Popular Film category, and cut down running time to a strict three hours by presenting lower tier categories during commercial breaks. The former was annexed after a large backlash, and the latter isn't officially planned for this year. From a business standpoint, it kind of makes sense, as the 90th Academy Awards ceremony was watched by only 26.5 million. Considering that this could be the year that the highest grossing film of the year (Black Panther) could get all the way to Best Picture and other major categories, it feels like it could be a revolutionary year.

Instead, it's been muddled by a bit of chaos. Within 24 hours, Hart became ABC's third high profile firing of 2018 after Roseanne Barr and James Gunn - itself making one wonder why they don't do damage control ahead of time. This was because of some homophobic comments he made throughout his career that he claims to but never actually apologized for. There's been a push to get him back hosting, but Hart recently made public that he wasn't fighting that battle anymore. He's leaving that to whoever wants to take up the mantle.

But seriously, who would want to take on the mantle his close to deadline? There's less than 50 days to put together a quality awards program, and only the most talented could pull it off. It's too much work. As a result, the promise of having no host became more inevitable until it came out following Hart's comments that it's probably the reality. The plan at this moment is to make a show more dedicated to segments with celebrities, including music numbers with such potential nominees as Lady Gaga (A Star is Born), Kendrick Lamarr (Black Panther), and Dolly Parton (Dumpling). It's not a terrible idea, especially if The Academy were serious about wanting to cut down on running time. Eliminating host would help to remove a laborious opening monologue that is put into the difficult spectrum of being neither too safe or controversial in a highly politicized period. 

However, there's a lot of suggestion that this is only going to be the latest disaster in The Academy's 91st year. For starters, without a host there's no incentive to draw in new audiences. Maybe Black Panther will do the heavy lifting, but it seems unlikely. Also, the only other year in which this happened was in 1989. The opening ceremony became a notorious highlight for Academy Awards ceremony history when Rob Lowe sang a song with Snow White, leading to major filmmakers to write a note about how insulting it all was. There's a strong chance that this year's ceremony is quaint and unmemorable, but the looming reality that the only other time that a ceremony didn't have a host was a disaster doesn't give much enthusiasm. There's a good way to do it, but will this be it?

All will be revealed on February 24 when The Academy Awards will be televised on ABC, come rain or shine. There's still an off chance that there's a secret host lined up, but it's a fool's errand now. Everyone just has to accept that this year will be one of the strangest, most embarrassing learning curves in The Academy's recent history. Where 2018 should've been a victory lap, it came off as more of an identity crisis. In a lot of ways, this is the perfect culmination of a year that was as sloppy and strange as this. With that said, the promise of Black Panther being the first superhero film nominated for Best Picture seems like an exciting venture, and one can hope it happens. There's still a chance that The Academy can get the nominations right (out January 22), but that has yet to be seen. 

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