Awards shows are in trouble. There are too damn many of them. People's viewing habits are changing. Sometimes they feel out-of-touch with their own audiences. These are all things we pondered (and I'm sure the new leadership still does) back when I was in charge of the Emmys at the TV Academy for a couple of years. Today, let's ponder Emmy's big-brother, Oscar.
There is a provocative analysis today in the Los Angeles Times by Patrick Goldstein, "Oscars Foundering in Era of Niches" that may explain a lot of what the issue is. Goldstein opens with the observation that everywhere he's been in the last week the talk has been about how bad the ratings will be for this year's Oscars, and that a lot of speculation has been that's because the nominees are out of touch with mainstream America. But he points out that all the big events are down this year and concludes that the problem is more than Hollywood arrogance that giving an award to "Brokeback Mountain" is good for people. He says the truth is simply that "the era of the mass big event is drawing to a close."
There is another, even more radical shift in today's pop culture that is helping to undermine the Oscars and other tradition-bound award shows. For years, the Oscars have mattered because the awards served as a barometer of cultural heft. Just the name alone — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — has the air of high-minded authority. Millions of moviegoers who would've been wary of seeing a challenging film like 1969's "Midnight Cowboy" or 1999's "American Beauty" caved in and plunked their money down, soothed by the academy's best picture badge of distinction. But this elite, top-down culture is being supplanted by a raucous, participatory bottom-up culture in which amateur entertainment has more appeal than critically endorsed skill and expertise. The most obvious example is "American Idol," which has tested its ratings clout against the Grammys and the Winter Olympics, easily trouncing its competition.
In other words, the very essence of what makes blogs interesting, as well as the explosion of content from all corners -- there's more entertainment being consumed than ever -- is the culprit. The upshot is that, taken as a whole, it's killing the Oscars... and network news... and the Olympics...etc., etc. Goldstein thinks there may come a day when kids will see a picture of an Oscar statue and ask, "What's that?"
Maybe, maybe not. I have three kids myself. One of them seems interested in seeing the Academy Awards. The other seems interested in seeing Jon Stewart. I'll probably watch Stewart's opening, go write for an hour or so, then speed-TiVO to the good stuff, catching up to real time for the lightly-anticipated cowboy finale.
