The Bloated Oscars: Bad Jokes, Great Speeches, Too Many Musical Numbers

TV Tattle

The Bloated Oscars: Bad jokes, great speeches, too many musical numbers
The best song performances were terrific, notes Alan Sepinwall, but did we really need to hear Jennifer Hudson sing a song from “Smash”? — which was produced by Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “Usually,” says Sepinwall, “the desire to put on a good show seems at war with the functional purpose of the evening, and as a result, you get shows that are too long, badly-paced, and that awkwardly shift gears throughout. (Sunday night), though, the awards themselves were entertaining enough that the show would have done much better without so many of the bells and whistles that were thrown in to compensate for what was presumed to be the boring ceremony itself.”
Neil Patrick Harris choked, but was the material to blame?
Harris seemed overwhelmed by the proceedings
Harris isn’t a comedian capable of making something out of nothing
Harris’ underwear bit was memorable — unlike anything he said
Harris delivered precisely the exact sort of Oscar night you’d expect from him
Harris “came oversupplied with quips but seemed uncomfortable with emotion”
Music salvaged the telecast: From Gaga to Lego Movie to Selma
Some on Twitter called the Octavia Spencer/locked box bit racist
Harris is also catching flak for the Edward Snowden treason joke
The orchestra lost control of the Oscars

Why Oscars In Memoriam snub of Joan Rivers was so egregious
Joan Rivers may have had limited work in film having directed a terrible movie and appeared in films such as Spaceballs. But as Dan Kois points out, “she was one of the reasons that many of us even CARE about the Oscars—because we watched what happened after she disemboweled hapless celebrities on the red carpet.” PLUS: Read all the outrage over Rivers’ omission.

Sesame Street spoofs House of Cards with House of Bricks
“Frank Underwolf is on a mission to huff and puff and blow down all the little pigs’ houses.”

Jimmy Kimmel unveils his School of Perfect Acting with Sean Penn, Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon, Mila Kunis
Also appearing in the post-Oscars sketch are Jeff Bridges, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Eddie Redmayne, Gary Oldman and Kimmel’s neighbors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. PLUS: JK Simmons brought his Oscar to thank Kimmel for teaching him.

Eddie Murphy finally takes a stab at being funny on TV by crashing a Jimmy Kimmel video chat
After serious appearances on SNL 40 and the Oscars, Murphy disrupted Kevin Hart’s video chat with Kimmel from an Oscar party.

John Travolta explains how Goldie Hawn helped cause last year’s Idina Menzel Oscar flub
Travolta tells Jimmy Kimmel that there was so much chaos backstage. PLUS: How John Travolta hijacked this year’s Oscars.

Watch the promo for The Goldbergs‘ spoof of Ferris Bueller, featuring Charlie Sheen
Sheen isn’t the only Ferris Bueller’s Day Off cast member appearing on Wednesday’s episode. PLUS: Check out the promo for Modern Family‘s Macbook episode, and Black-ish does an Oscars dance.