NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > OSCAR PRODUCERS STRUGGLING WITH LENGTH OF DEATH LIST

OSCAR PRODUCERS STRUGGLING WITH LENGTH OF DEATH LIST

August 14 2009

Hollywood, CA – When the first set of Academy Awards was handed out over eighty years ago it’s likely the producers had little idea what an institution they were starting. Now one of the most respected and acclaimed awards in any discipline the Oscars has
become the gold standard for film awards and one of the most viewed and lauded of entertainment broadcasts in the world. Like all great institutions the Oscars have not been without their troubles. From streakers to protests the Academy Awards have been faced with all type of obstacles, though none have been as burdensome as the running time of the show.

Now as producers prep the 2010 version of the awards show with an eye towards reducing the ever ballooning length of the broadcast they are being faced with a new obstacle, the ever present power of death. With a record
number of celebrity deaths producers are struggling with how to integrate the death portion of the telecast which has routinely been one of the most loved segments of the show. The ever growing list of 2009 deaths has tasked the awards in ways that they have never been tasked before.

“Every year the death list is a struggle. We’ve always limited the montage to a certain running time and that unfortunately means leaving out a handful of people, which of course causes some stress. We are in a Catch-22 situation with the same people who complain about the running time of the show being the same people who complain about their favourite star being left out. It’s a real puzzle,” said an Oscar insider. “We really don’t want to leave anyone out but so many people have left us this year and quite a few of them have been very high profile. That leaves us with some really difficult questions to answer and ultimately someone is going to be upset.”

Michael Jackson, David Carradine, Ricardo Montalban, Farrah Fawcett, and the recent death of John Hughes are just some of those to be included in the montage. With four months still left in the year many are concerned that the death portion of the show may become unwieldy.

“They are pretty safe as long as no one else high profile dies. They will be able to give enough time for the people everyone loves and some to the behind-the-scenes people who only their family recognizes, but that’s only if no one else passes on. The way things have been going unfortunately that is likely not the way things will end up. Death does not respect running time,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “They
also have to deal with who to give the most time to. In previous years names like Heath Ledger and Paul Newman were obvious selections to headline the list but with so many names this time around they will have to make hard decisions as to who people will want to applaud the most. I don’t envy them in this task that’s for sure.”

With an aging population in Hollywood, due in large part to the abundance of baby-boom era performers it is believed that the montage clog will continue for a number of years, likely bolstering the running time of the awards broadcast for many years to come.

“Producers have long bristled at the notion that people talk more about the running time of the show than they do the about the movies and performers being featured. They have made significant efforts to reduce the length of the show in recent years but all those efforts may have gone for naught with this level of death in the community,” continued Temple. “At the rate this is going it’s likely that we will continue to see lengthy broadcasts for a little while anyway.”

Reportedly producers are considering ditching the pre-show and red carpet portion of the broadcast and dedicating that hour of time towards the montage, though no decision has yet been made.

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

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