MARCH 24 • 2022 | 47
ARTS&LIFE
FILM
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
It’s Oscars Time!
It’s Oscars Time!
T
he Academy Awards ceremony will
be broadcast (ABC) on Sunday,
March 27 (8 p.m.). There have
been major changes this year. Oscar cere-
mony viewership has been down in recent
years, and ABC successfully leaned on the
Academy to virtually drop eight “lesser”
categories from the main ceremony.
ABC put a sugary spin on the change.
They said fewer “live awards” will allow
more time for musical and comedic bits
and, overall, reduce the time of the broad-
cast.
This year, the presentation and accep-
tance of “lesser” category Oscars will
take place an hour before the main
ceremony. An edited-for-time tape of
the presentation of these Oscars will
be worked-into the main, live cere-
mony broadcast. The “lesser” catego-
ries are Documentary Short Subject,
Film Editing, Live Action Short Film,
Animated Short Film, Make-up and
Hairstyling, Original Score, Production
Design and Sound.
Dozens of major Hollywood figures,
including Steven Spielberg, 75, protested
this change. They said it was “demean-
ing and threatened the future of the
Academy.”
This year marks the return of offi-
cial Oscars’ ceremony host(s). In 2018,
the Academy selected comedian Kevin
Hart to host, but dropped him when old
homophobic tweets of his surfaced. For
the last three years, the Academy tried
“no host” Oscars awards, and that was a
critical and ratings fiasco.
What viewers want is a host or hosts
who are funny and can ad lib “funny”
The most complete guide to Jewish Oscar nominees, 2022 edition.
Amy Schumer
BY MARIO SANTOR
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