89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Greg
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Greg »

The Original BJ wrote:
Greg wrote:What does everyone think the odds are that when they announce Best Picture next year, they will make a comedic attempt to show how they are taking great pains not to screw up this time?
200%.
I was going through some old threads. I think you were off about 150% on this.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

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I think they'll go back to having the accountants on stage (as discreetly as possible) so they can guarantee 1) their focus on what's going on and 2) their quick reaction to mistakes.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

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Greg wrote:What does everyone think the odds are that when they announce Best Picture next year, they will make a comedic attempt to show how they are taking great pains not to screw up this time?
200%.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Greg »

What does everyone think the odds are that when they announce Best Picture next year, they will make a comedic attempt to show how they are taking great pains not to screw up this time?
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

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Mister Tee wrote: In the end, I'm with Uri: this was easily the most fun thing I've seen happen at the Oscars in a long time, so it seems strange people want to burn someone at the stake for it. Those (most) of you who were way too young to see Sacheen Littlefeather in real time may not comprehend that we used to have unplanned things like this happen, if not all the time, at least occasionally, and the spontaneity was part of the kick of the evening. Bad enough the Oscar-industrial complex has removed so much of the suspense from the results; if, when something surprising finally slips through, our first impulse is to punish it so severely that nothing similar can ever happen again, we're practically saying we don't want the evening to be interesting.
Apparently, we didn't realize how serious this infraction was.

Security boosted for accountants in Oscar gaffe who froze backstage
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-award ... ews&rpc=69
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by ITALIANO »

Big Magilla wrote:ISuppose it had been front-runner Viola Davis who was mistakenly announced as the winner when it was actually Naomie Harris who won? They might have had to take poor Viola out on a stretcher.
.
:D

It would have been almost perversely funny - but yes, of course the fact that it was a big group and not just ONE person made it less embarassing and less painful, and it's also true that the fact that the TRUE winner was a little independent movie made it even nicer. We wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if it hadn't happened this way.

But it DID happen this way, and we can only be grateful.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

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I have nothing against spontaneity, but waiting for everyone and their grand-daughter to get to the stage for the acceptance speech of the main award (awards at the Emmys) takes up valuable scheduling time that might better be spent in allotting more time to In Memoriam segment where time constraints are always the excuse for leaving someone important out. That, and eliminating stunts like the tour bus nonsense.

A screw-up like the one accorded Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1964 can be fun, i.e. announcing the winner in a category other than someone in the category whose nominations were just read, which harms no one. Granted, the screw-up on Sunday night allowed for a seminal moment, but suppose it had been the other way around, with the underdog, Moonlight, having to relinquish its award to the front-runner? It would have been heartbreaking. Suppose it had been front-runner Viola Davis who was mistakenly announced as the winner when it was actually Naomie Harris who won? They might have had to take poor Viola out on a stretcher.

I do agree, though, in this Facebook-Twitter age of instant news, there's just too much of it. We really didn't need to see the evidence of the PwC guy with the two envelopes in his hand. It would have sufficed to know that the accountants messed up and won't be back at the Oscars.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Mister Tee »

A few things:

I kind of like the dog-pile of everyone remotely connected to the movie being onstage for the best picture presentation. The older tradition, of just the producer being up there, was once analogized to having only the publisher accept the Pulitzer for fiction.

I'm not sure I want to take this stage manager's word as gospel, as he has his own ass to cover in this situation. There've been other (anonymous) reports of Ruiz urging action quickly and not being able to get anyone to respond.

In the end, I'm with Uri: this was easily the most fun thing I've seen happen at the Oscars in a long time, so it seems strange people want to burn someone at the stake for it. Those (most) of you who were way too young to see Sacheen Littlefeather in real time may not comprehend that we used to have unplanned things like this happen, if not all the time, at least occasionally, and the spontaneity was part of the kick of the evening. Bad enough the Oscar-industrial complex has removed so much of the suspense from the results; if, when something surprising finally slips through, our first impulse is to punish it so severely that nothing similar can ever happen again, we're practically saying we don't want the evening to be interesting.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Uri »

Sonic Youth wrote:
Uri wrote:And while we're at it, had the Oscars not followed the Emmy's cheesy route of allowing every single person involved with the film coming onstage for the best picture award, instead of only the producers the way it used to be, correcting the wrongs could have been handled in a far more elegant way (and much quicker).
But it sounds like you don't necessarily want that. Wouldn't it cut down on the celebration and fun, and reduce the "unrehearsed, truly spontaneous, candid incidents"?


You got me here. There is always this internal struggle between the inner Greer Garsons and Gloria Grahams within each and every one of us. Aren't those little inconsistencies of Life a bitch.

Still, I did get a thumb up from Big Magilla!
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Sonic Youth »

Uri wrote:And while we're at it, had the Oscars not followed the Emmy's cheesy route of allowing every single person involved with the film coming onstage for the best picture award, instead of only the producers the way it used to be, correcting the wrongs could have been handled in a far more elegant way (and much quicker).
But it sounds like you don't necessarily want that. Wouldn't it cut down on the celebration and fun, and reduce the "unrehearsed, truly spontaneous, candid incidents"?
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Big Magilla »

That, I agree with.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Uri »

And while we're at it, had the Oscars not followed the Emmy's cheesy route of allowing every single person involved with the film coming onstage for the best picture award, instead of only the producers the way it used to be, correcting the wrongs could have been handled in a far more elegant way (and much quicker).
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Big Magilla »

I don't know about Ruiz, but Cullinan is a PWC partner. He isn't one of the little guys.
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Re: 89th Oscars: General & Ceremony Discussion

Post by Uri »

No one's suggesting they shouldn't have acknowledged a mistake was made and give a satisfying explanation (which they did). But since it's an awards show (and there's no need for "only" or "silly" - it is what it is), which should be all about celebration and fun, why not act as grownups with a sense of humor and embrace it all? It seems there's this fear, a mental avoidness of the unscripted (or the unorthodoxly scripted), the random nature of real Life which is being deeply infused into popular culture nowadays - both in it's products (films, in our case) and in the way people expect reality to be reflected in the media. So these unrehearsed, truly spontaneous, candid incidents (and true to life representations of them in films) becomes rarer and rarer. And when they happen, people seem to be truly unequipped to deal with them. I'm still one of those who crave for them to occur, so I found this "catastrophe" extremely welcome. All they should do it lightly slap this guy on the hand for being naughty and pray for something like this, or preferably totally different, to happen next year.

Please, bring back Sacheen Littlefeather and David Niven's streaker!
Last edited by Uri on Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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