> Nobody pays me to consult on this stuff and they probably have access to a lot more data than I...but I just think Oscars needs to get back more into celebrating the craft its there to celebrate. In years past they showed clips highlighting the amazing performances as they were presenting the nominees, they showed how the scripts looked, they showed sketches for the costuming and set decorating. I love all this crafting and highlighting of what makes movies good.

Problem is, they did that and ratings sank. So they tried to tighten it up, ratings sank. I actually do not blame them for experimenting because before the song performances used to get a FULL performance (elaborate song and dance for each one) and that tacked on an extra 20-25 minutes. Now they do a quicker medley of the nominated songs and people are fine with that (if they want to hear more, find the song on Youtube/Spotify). You don't find these things out until you try it.

So I don't mind some experimentation as some of it did stick and was preferred. I at first didn't like that they limited speeches and it used to be as long as you want to talk, but now I see why they did it (I think they get about 1.5-2 minutes). If you let everyone talk as long as you want, the show is easily running overtime to 3.5 hours, which people complained about. I would say, however, the Best Picture winner(s) should get way more time. That is the top prize of the night and they need more than 2 minutes. At least increase it there.