The Oscars’ Popularity Crisis
The New York Times
Why academy efforts like trimming awards from the telecast won’t help. People watch because it’s a show about elite work, not in spite of it.
Hollywood has conditioned me to accept some nips and tucks, but what should I do when the Oscars venture into the realm of the extreme makeover?
Tune in on March 27, and you’re likely to notice a refreshed telecast, according to a recent flurry of announcements from the academy. There will be a slimmer figure, born from slicing several awards from the live show. There will be a new face — three of them, in fact, in the guise of hosts. And now that the show is adding two fan-voted awards meant to raise online engagement, I half-expect Oscar’s lips to be as pursed as a social-media influencer’s trout pout.
It’s a whole lot of change for a telecast that can sometimes be thuddingly traditional. But are all of those tweaks a good thing?
Puffy, pricey, and strangely perfect for the moment, the $455 ERLs are billed as skateboard shoes — but maybe don’t try to skate in them.
Whirling 360-degree photo booths have gone from red carpets to bat mitzvahs to tourist sites like the Cradle of Humankind.
The music mogul’s business portfolio has shrunk, in part because of multiple sex abuse allegations, but his wealth remains a critical factor as his criminal case unfolds.
You could take a lesson from Disney adults and others who turn to their own closets when they want to dress up.
The Grateful Dead bassist found new melodic byways through every song.
As the candidates raced to claim different corners of the national screen this week, it was “Undercover Boss” vs. “Roll the clip.”
The singer and songwriter’s fifth album processes intense pain through a high-concept homage to role models including Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen and Britney Spears.
You could take a lesson from Disney adults and others who turn to their own closets when they want to dress up.
The portrait by a French court painter is one of three displayed in a photo that came to depict the efforts of a U.S. Army unit that tracked legions of looted art.
One of the biggest small galleries tips its hat to its conceptual history, while bringing new artists and their market-friendly work into view.
Sara and Erin Foster took a short break to discuss the hit show loosely based on Erin’s life, everyone’s love of Adam Brody and their advocacy for reproductive rights.