I started watching the Academy Awards last night until I realized, much to my surprise and relief, that I really didn’t care — certainly not enough to sit through the tedium of actually watching the entire show. I gave up not soon after Tim Robbins won for his supporting work in Mystic River. (Which isn’t to say I didn’t think he deserved it.) Looking over the list of winners this morning, as well as some of the endless commentary and lame morning news roundups of last night, I can’t really say I made the wrong decision. I don’t think I missed too much.
A couple of observations on what little I saw, however:
I realize that Barbara Walters’ credibility as an actual journalist went out the window years ago — and certainly around the time she started asking people what kind of tree they’d be — but c’mon, interviewing Shrek? That’s the sort of thing that gives fluff pieces a bad name. That and the lame half-hour countdown (as oppossed to E!’s lame all-day countdown) made me wish I’d turned the television off even before Billy Crystal — who probably should be permanent host, if only because he’s probably got nothing else to do — came on stage.
And, more importantly: Sofia Coppola is actually the first American woman nominated for Best Director? What is wrong with the Academy? She’s certainly not the first American woman to direct a film, fellas. Geez.