A Little Gold Man

OK, lets talk about The Oscars that were 2017. Unless you have been disconnected from the world you no doubt know about the the biggest snafu in the history of the Academy. It's being dubbed "Envelope-gate," and will no doubt live on in infamy.

But let's get past the biggest oops in prime time for just a bit (don't worry, we will come back to it) and look to some of the more memorable moments of the night. The opening alone deserves some major kudos. Who can bring down a house like Justin Timberlake? No one is the answer. He kicked off the show with 2016's summer song "Can't Stop the Feeling," which also happened to be up for an Oscar. Fantastic way to set the tone of the stuffiest of shows all award season. Sadly he would not take home the Oscar. (To see Justin's performance click here)

That was followed by a perfectly balanced intro/monologue from host Jimmy Kimmel. It was not too contrived and delivered impeccably with the right harmony of positive and negative jabs at celebs. If anyone was nervous he was going to get political, this was certainly the place for it. We all know that it was ripe for the picking too. But alas, Kimmel didn't take the low hanging fruit and instead lead with exactly what we needed... fun!

The entire first segment was a delight. As a person on the inside of the television industry, it's nights like this that are a producers crack. The reason you get into this business. It's the Super Bowl and you are the starting quarterback. As a viewer, it was downright delicious. A much needed break from the insanity of real life in America these days. If you are like me, you cringe every time you get an news alert on your phone, wondering life altering decision has just been made. Nope, last night's Oscars were the equivalent of winning a scratch off worth a few bucks.

Then, much to my very verbal dismay came the first category. Best Supporting Actor. No, I'm not upset about the nominees or even the winner. I am upset that the show had this great, no magnificent, pacing to it and was stopped short by showing the clips of the nominees. I haven't seen a Porsche make that fast a stop. I'm considering calling my doc to be seen for whiplash. Don't misunderstand me. The nominees absolutely deserve their moment. Heck, if for no other reason then for the shows directors to get their cameras in place. But c'mon - did it have to be in the first segment? A segment that pure perfection to that point!

Moving on now, there were some truly beautiful moments last night. Mark Rylance delivering one of the first poignant moments while presenting the Best Supporting Category. While speaking of the common thread of the roles in the category - that being opposition - he said, "Something that women seem to be better at than men: opposing without hatred." Wow!

He was usurped almost immediately by the winner of said category Viola Davis. in her acceptance, perhaps one of the most emotional of the night, she would say, "There’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered – that’s the graveyard. People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola? And I say exhume those bodies, exhume those stories, the stories of the people dream big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost. I became an artist and thank God I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it is to live a life. Here’s to August Wilson, who exhumed, and exalted, the ordinary people." I don't necessarily agree that actors have the market cornered on celebrating what it is to live a life, but I get the point.

Kimmel delivered up some of the more original sketches. You gotta commend anyone for trying. Sure, not all of them were home runs. Some didn't even make it to second base (Mean Tweets was not Oscar worthy). But not many have even been brave enough to step up to the plate. Not only did he and his team step up, gave out sugar, live tweeted the President of the United States, and even married some folks, kinda.

All in all it was entertaining and engaging. But good lord was it looooong. I could have done my taxes in that time. No, I take it back, I could have gone to school, become an accountant, started a business, hired some folks, and then done my businesses taxes! Can we have a real conversation about some traditional segments that need to go away. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the ratings were down from years past. If you aren't a movie buff there certainly isn't a reason to watch. I don't watch the Grammy's so I get it.

More highlights were....

Moonlight's win of Best Adapted Screenplay. Tarell Alvin McCraney, co-writer of the film told the audience, "This goes out to all those black and brown boys and girls and non-gender conforming who don’t see themselves. We’re trying to show you you and us. So thank you, thank you, this is for you."

Host Himmy Kimmel, "I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone, thanks to him … Black people saved Nasa and white people saved jazz – that’s what you call progress."

Oscar Winner Benji Pasek, songwriter for La La Land, "This is dedicated to all the kids who sing in the rain, and all the moms who let them!"

Now back to THE moment. Most of us knew the night would be memorable, we could never have guessed *how memorable it would turn out to be. And now that the dust has settled here are the facts. Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope. He was given the winning envelope for Best Actress which ended up going to Emma Stone. Upon opening it, he realized there was something amuck about it, no doubt what that long pause was for, and looked to Faye Dunaway for clarification. The envelope said La La Land, and so that was announced. Moments later it was a producer who delivered the news that Moonlight was the actual winner and the moments after that, the internet broke.

This was what Americans watching were like at 12:12am EST.

For everything Oscar go to http://oscar.go.com/