t
s
h
e
h
s
p
t
h
e
o
n
g
a
n
O
e
d
o
s
t
t
h
e
e
c
h
e
s
w
h
o
l
e
dance
N FEBRUARY 15, 2010, at the annual
luncheon for Oscar nominees, producer Bill Mechanic
delivered a simple message: stick a cork in it.
“We want you to think about [the speeches] more
seriously than you have in the past,” Mechanic told
George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Kathryn Bigelow
and the rest of the 2010 Oscars class assembled at
the Beverly Hilton hotel, according to the Los Angeles Times. The
ritual of rattling off a list of names
while the world looks on “isn’t
just boring,” declared Mechanic,
who co-produced that year’s ceremony. “It’s the single most hated
thing on the show.”
If only that were true. If only
there were a single most hated
thing about the Oscars, and a simple way to kill that thing. (Mechanic’s idea was to create a “thank-you
cam” where grateful nominees
could thank their agents, junior
high school principals, etc., in videos that would be posted online.)
But dull speeches are just one gripe
in a chorus that starts up every