By Lee Pfeiffer
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues its controversial changes to forthcoming Oscar broadcasts. Honorary Oscars, such as the Hersholt and Thalberg awards, will no longer be part of the ceremony and will be presented at a separate black tie dinner. This may please the unsophisticated crowd who don't even know who these legends are, but is sure to alienate classic movie purists who count these awards as a highlight of the broadcast. The policy change is further proof that the purpose of the broadcast has less to do with honoring the right people than it does with getting ratings. If the policy had been in place in recent years, movie fans would have been denied such emotional highlights as seeing Sidney Lumet, Peter O'Toole, Jerry Lewis and many others receiving their lifetime achievement awards. All this to make more time to squeeze in the stars ofÂ
Transformers 2? The Academy is also tweaking the Best Song category rules in a way that may result in the complete absence of nominees in any given year. Given the quality of what's been nominated recently, it's hard to argue with this plan. For more
click here