Between a hosting scandal (leading to no host for the first time since the late 1980s), cutting categories from the broadcast, and the quickly-scrapped Best Popular Film brouhaha, the 2019 Oscars were supposed to be a disaster. But the ceremony turned out to be one of the smoothest in recent memory. Not flawless, of course, with the worst saved for last, but to watch the Oscars is to accept the flaws. Ratings were even up from 2018, which new ABC president Karey Burke attributed to three movies up for Best Picture making over $200 million at the box office — Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, and A Star is Born — and “people tuned in to see Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper sing.”
The formula worked so well, in fact, that Burke is considering having no host for the 2020 Academy Awards, too. Better luck in 2021, Billy Crystal.
We’re having those conversations with the Academy right now,” Burke told the Hollywood Reporter when asked whether the Oscars will be host-less next year. “We are extremely happy with how the show went. Odds are you’ll see us repeating what we consider to be a successful formula.” If her “formula” means no monologue and more time for weird bits, like Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry cosplaying as The Favourite, I see no issue with Burke’s plan.
As long as Gaga and Cooper return to sing “Memory” from Cats.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)
