I don’t know but this paragraph seems a little, um, forced?
Who wants to be the lowest rated Oscar show ever? We are rejiggering the show. Rethinking it. Remarketing it. And whaddya know, the movies we have as Best Picture this year are helping us along, they are much more in the mainstream. Between ‚ÄòSlumdog‚Äô ‚Äì a populist movie ‚Äì and ‚ÄòBen Button‚Äô ‚Äì a big, successful, Hollywood type movie, ‚ÄòFrost/Nixon‚Äô ‚Äì serioso, but populist studio movie, and then Milk ‚Äì which has Sean Penn doing his rather incredible performance. So, yes, the ratings were low — too low — last year. And we are working, all of us, to change that.
Sid Ganis had a funny look on his face when he read the nominees for Best Picture and there was what appeared to be audible disappointment in the room, much the way it seemed when Jack Nicholson had the misfortune of having to read “Crash” as the winner, beating Brokeback Mountain. Ganis looked down at the crowd with a sightly goofy smile on his face and I thought, either he has no clue about what just transpired or he has a clue and he’s gloating. “See, we weren’t going to nominate a comic book movie, sorry fanboys.” Either way, the media collectively puckered at the thought of having to go through this race with the star of the year missing — anyone paying attention immediately knew that meant lower everything across the board. Oh well. Thems the breaks. Check out the full interview, which talks about some surprises here and there potentially, on The Wrap. But really, Mark Lisanti’s take is funnier.