Here are a couple of observations from the first couple of segments of the Oscar broadcast:
- First of all, WHERE IS ELLEN? Ellen DeGeneres is the host by which all others are judged, in the mind of this viewer ... well, Ellen and Billy Crystal. Jon Stewart ... just isn't funny.
- The first segment of the show left me wondering whether it was written before the writers' strike was settled. Really, how difficult is it to list every actor who's been nominated?
- The only really funny moment of the first half hour was Stewart's line about Away From Her, a movie "about a woman who forgets her own husband. Hillary Clinton called it the 'feel-good movie of the year.'"
- Stewart's line about the election ("Have you all studied the candidates, gotten to know their positions on the issues and decided which Democrat you'll vote for?") fell flat ... maybe it's because the assembled masses thought Stewart was giving them a lecture about civic responsibility.
