In four short years, the Oscars (7 p.m. Sunday, ABC) will turn 100. Begun way back in 1928, the Academy Awards has always been about promotion. But just how they hype and what they ballyhoo has changed over the past few decades.
Well into the early 21st century, they encouraged moviegoers to buy tickets for the big winners when they were rushed back into cinemas. Did “Ben-Hur” (see below) really deserve 11 Oscars? Did “Titanic”? Was “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” as good as Oscar thought? Can you believe “Midnight Cowboy” was Oscar’s idea of a Best Picture? How could Oscar honor “Annie Hall” and all but ignore “Star Wars”? Was “Argo” really Best Picture material? Was “Parasite”?
For years, Oscar stirred controversy and conversation, and theater owners were glad to showcase the winners to sell tickets.
Then came Netflix and its red envelopes, and Oscar seemed to generate little more than an uptick in postal activity.
Then Netflix started making Oscar-nominated movies of its own.
Whether you actually want to watch Jimmy Kimmel host tonight’s 96th Academy Awards, you have (and in some cases have long had) the ability to stream most of the nominated films before tonight’s ceremonies. And if the proceedings get dull, you can watch the movies instead.
Of tonight’s Best Picture nominees, “American Fiction” can be purchased on all the major platforms; “Anatomy of a Fall” can be rented now on Prime Video and will stream on Hulu on March 22; “Barbie” is currently streaming on Max; “The Holdovers” streams on Peacock; “Killers of the Flower Moon” is streaming on Apple TV+; “Maestro” is a Netflix film; “Oppenheimer” is streaming on Peacock; “Past Lives” can be streamed on Paramount+; “Poor Things” began streaming on Hulu on Thursday and “The Zone of Interest” can be purchased on all the major platforms.
Will the ability to stream all the nominated films create more interest in the Oscars? Or the opposite?
Oscar viewership tends to rise when really popular films are being considered. It’s no mystery why ratings for the ceremony rose when “Titanic” and “Lord of the Rings” ruled the box office and waned when a film like “La La Land” (2017) was (incorrectly) anointed the Best Picture of the year.
“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” got people back in theaters in 2023. But will it be enough to spark interest in the Oscars? And are the movies themselves the only reason we watch, or remember?
What film was being crowned the night Will Smith smacked Chris Rock? Did it matter? Our memory of Oscar winners tends to fade faster than our recollection of controversial ceremonies, banal speeches or silly stunts — and egregious outfits.
Can we expect controversy this year? Kimmel is hosting the Oscars for the fourth time. So, he must be doing something right. But this is an election year, and Kimmel makes no effort to hide his contempt for the all-but-certain Republican nominee. Will political jokes abound, or be avoided? 2023 was marked by two major Hollywood strikes. Is it too soon to joke about them, or simply not funny? Are we ready for jokes written by AI or willing to be bored by too many jokes about AI? Will some outspoken talent touch the third rail of the Israel/Gaza tragedy? Or will protesters outside the hall do it for them?
With his fourth Oscar hosting gig, Kimmel joins august company. He’s now hosted as many times as Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon, and one short of late-night legend Johnny Carson’s five Oscar gigs. But he’s got a long way to go to match nine-timer Billy Crystal. And nobody is likely to match Bob Hope, who presided over the Academy Awards on 19 occasions, spanning entertainment eras between 1939 and 1977.
Hope, like Crystal, was a movie star as well as a host. Both men made jokes about being ignored and overlooked. Hope went so far as to dub the night “Passover” for all the times he was snubbed. It’s strange to think of the glib, scripted Hope as being offensive, but that joke might trigger sensitivities in 2024.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Providence hosts Connecticut in college basketball (8 p.m., Fox).
— A weekend getaway for four friends turns into a nightmare after a plane crash leaves them stranded in the woods with the distinct feeling that they’re being stalked in the 2024 shocker “Hunting Housewives” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— Two grown women scheme a “parent trap” for their respective unattached folks in the 2023 romance “Come Fly With Me” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— The Phoenix Suns host the Boston Celtics in NBA action (8:30 p.m., ABC).
— Josh Brolin hosts “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14), featuring musical guest Ariana Grande.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on two installments of “60 Minutes” (CBS): Ukrainian widows and children recover in the Alps; a profile of Jeff Loons (7 p.m.); A North Atlantic island adjusts to life after cod; Caligula’s garden; Africa’s Gorongosa Park (8 p.m.).
— Daniel Radcliffe stars in the 2002 adventure “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (7 p.m., NBC).
— Rick and Michonne strive to survive on “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— The Corporal (Matthias Schoenaerts) schemes a weird welcome for an American envoy (Martha Plimpton) on “The Regime” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— The Ridley Scott epic touch that made “Gladiator” (9 p.m., Showtime) the Best Picture Oscar winner for 2000 did not seem to work in the director’s 2023 biopic “Napoleon.” Joaquin Phoenix stars in both. The latter can be streamed on Apple TV+.
CULT CHOICE
At the time of its production, the 1959 epic “Ben-Hur” (8 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-PG) was the most expensive movie ever made. It would go on to win 11 Oscars, equaled but not surpassed by “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003). A remake of a 1925 silent film adaptation of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” the William Wyler-directed epic was remade in 2016 but received bad reviews, scant attention and little box office.
SATURDAY SERIES
A missing teen and a ticking clock on “Tracker” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “The Wall” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … An influencer’s party to die for on “CSI: Las Vegas” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “Missing Link” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “48 Hours” (10 p.m., CBS) … A vintage helping of “Saturday Night Live” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
Lisa solves a floating mystery on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … Local pubs and local lore on “Bob’s Burgers”(8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
On two episodes of “So Help Me Todd” (CBS, r, TV-14): a juror’s death complicates matters (9 p.m.); a bomb threat gets Margaret’s attention (10 p.m.) … Cheesecake becomes homeless on “The Great North” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Undercover at a wedding on “Grimsburg” (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
