The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to present some its craft categories, as well as the short film awards, before the start of the live telecast on ABC drew an outcry on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. Although these winners will be edited into the broadcast so that viewers can see, say, Hans Zimmer, if we wins the Oscar for Best Original Score for “Dune,” critics saw the move as the Academy again making changes to the ceremony at the expense of its biggest fans as well as the talented craftspeople who won’t get their full “Oscar moment.”
Academy President David Rubin announced that the category presentations to be cut out of the live broadcast are Documentary (Short Subject), Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Production Design, Short Film (Animated), Short Film (Live Action), and Sound.
IndieWire’s own David Ehrlich wrote, “This is like cutting out all the special teams footage during the Super Bowl and insisting that people will be happy since they’re “seamlessly re-editing it into the live broadcast” later. Make the Oscars LONGER you dumb idiots.”
Forbes’ Scott Mendelsohn wrote that the move essentially means: “When you willfully piss off many folks who actually watch the Oscars in pursuit of demographics who were never going to watch the Oscars and then wonder why nobody watched the Oscars…”
Tomris Laffly said, This is horrific. Surely, mostly crafts categories &/or shorts will be affected. Way to go, @TheAcademy! What you’re basically saying is some awards are less important & don’t deserve the live screen time. A nice f*ck you to those winners. But go off with the fan favorite thing. So without the honorary awards which have long been moved to a non-televised event + few non-televised categories & the fan favorite thing, #Oscars is striving to fall somewhere between the Golden Globes & People’s Choice Awards. Truly embarrassing. Truly bananas that @TheAcademy has no interest in catering to people like me who love the #Oscars, & is instead wasting time trying to win over people who don’t give a shit. Like… I don’t watch the Super Bowl and I don’t expect the Super Bowl to win me over. Why is this so hard?”
This is like cutting out all the special teams footage during the Super Bowl and insisting that people will be happy since they’re “seamlessly re-editing it into the live broadcast” later.
Make the Oscars LONGER you dumb idiots https://t.co/uDmUfc0U8c pic.twitter.com/JCW5TKiC35
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) February 22, 2022
So without the honorary awards which have long been moved to a non-televised event + few non-televised categories & the fan favorite thing, #Oscars is striving to fall somewhere between the Golden Globes & People’s Choice Awards.
Truly embarrassing.
— Tomris Laffly (@TomiLaffly) February 22, 2022
When you willfully piss off many folks who actually watch the Oscars in pursuit of demographics who were never going to watch the Oscars and then wonder why nobody watched the Oscars… https://t.co/1KTfB2HM6N
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) February 22, 2022
The holy grail of the Oscars has become this imaginary ABC viewer who is eagerly waiting for there to be fewer awards, no old people, no artsy movies, a super-fast pace, and Spider-Man. And I guess the Academy is going to chase that mirage right over the edge of a cliff.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 23, 2022
Gotta make time to honor fan favorites like CINDERELLA! https://t.co/MhuPEDRDRW
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) February 22, 2022
I can't believe we have to relitigate this every year. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of the people impacted and there is only one takeaway, which is "you're not as important to film as others in your industry." There's always fat to cut elsewhere in the show
— Will Mavity (@mavericksmovies) February 22, 2022
This is disgusting @TheAcademy. Why do they think this is going to improve ratings?
They debase themselves in hopes that people who don’t care about the awards somehow will now because you cut some categories?
This is shameful and disrespectful to the artists nominated. https://t.co/kFhs6M31Jb
— Carlos Aguilar (@Carlos_Film) February 22, 2022
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