As those well informed people will know tonight is the night of the Oscars. One of the biggest award ceremonies of the year and arguably the most important in terms of films. So I drag myself through a long day at work expecting to come home and relax to this momentous occasion, but what do I find? It’s only being broadcasted in America, unless you happen to be in Britain and have Sky Movies. So instead of watching some of the greatest work from the last year be celebrated, I’m watching that one guy who did that one thing that one time on Eastenders, attempt to be as elegant as a swan with razor blades on his shoes. I think we all know which is better.
This just goes to show the extent of how terrible British television can be sometimes. We won’t try to broadcast something that actually matters and is prestigious, but we’ll happily go to the effort to broadcast the exploitation of desperate celebrities, clinging onto their fame like Jack on the wood at the end of Titanic. Well I’m Rose sitting on the wood, and I’d happily nudge them over the edge if they’re going to be that silly. So instead of sitting here eagerly watching to see if Daniel Day Lewis makes film history, which I greatly hope he does, I’m sat here watching some person who I’m supposed to care about make a fool of them self on a patch of frozen water. Why do we continue to celebrate this as a culture? If I ever get a job in television in the future I want to be the person in charge of the ticker tape line with the voting numbers for contestants. That way I change the text to “stop supporting this rubbish. Don’t even think about picking up your phone, use it for something more constructive, like tilting the screen to run away from a large monkey in a floating cloud city in order to rescue an idol”.
It’s just annoying how this is where our priorities are. Something that is is important and will be hammered in to the stones of history is happening, but we would rather see if Keith Chegwin is going to fall over on the ice. It’s not just because it’s the Oscars and I’m a big film fan, it’s because the whole reality t.v problem still raging on. More and more shows are churned off while the old ones still continue in all of their glory, exploiting person after person while the makers don’t even bat an eyelid as the money comes flooding in to their hands.
Just to clarify at this point; there wasn’t a toss up between the Oscars and Dancing on Ice. It just feels annoying because we go to effort to broadcast the dancing and put minimal effort in to trying to obtain events such as the Oscars. I can feel my faith in the human race draining out of me like a sand timer, someone flip it back over please!
The Oscars mean something to me, because films are a passion of mine and a lot of hard work goes in to the making of them so it’s nice to see the genius and effort rewarded. So to see that pushed aside and made way for whatever rubbish will make people money, is near enough offensive. It’s like winning the egg and spoon race in primary school and the head teaching turning around and saying “You won, but instead of receiving a medal or little trophy we’re going to drop the egg on your head because it’s funnier for us than seeing an outstanding performance, and my mate Barry bet a tenner that I wouldn’t do it. Everyone’s a winner!”. Possibly a little extreme but the point remains. I hope Simon Cowell never becomes involved in the education sector. He’d be the first teacher who doesn’t want his pupils to get decent GCSE results. As long as they can sing Mumma Mia while jumping through fiery hoops on a unicycle then he’s happy.
I know what some people are thinking by this point; ‘but films make a lot of money. Surely that’s just as bad as reality t.v because they’re greedy’ which isn’t the case at all. Films make money, yes granted, but they deserve it. The amount of money and hard work that is put in to the making of a film is worth the money it makes back. Being part of a film is more credible than being in a reality t.v show obviously because any credit that is gained as result has been well earned. Embarrassing yourself on t.v to gain money and slightly elongate your five minutes of fame is not even in the same league as taking something that started off as a little idea in a person’s mind, that is then put to paper and then developed in to a solid piece of work that entertains and inspires us. Well if it’s done well, there are exceptions to this of course (hint Avatar), but that is another post for another day.
The problem can only ever get worse from here. Shows like the X Factor will be broadcasted all year around to satisfy our need for dull singers who don’t write their own songs, and near unknown celebrities being crowned the one who stuffed up the least on the ice rink. And what happens when the awards are on? We’ll simply think “All that person is doing is standing on stage talking and clutching on to a little golden man. Turn it over to ITV, there’s a 36 year old woman singing Whitney Huston like an agitated goat, that’s far more entertaining!”.
It’s fine at the end of the day though, because the ‘celebrities’ on such shows get nowhere, and the people at the Oscars boost their careers and credibility just by being nominated. Sounds better doesn’t it? ‘they were nominated for an academy award in 2013’ rather than ‘they’re the one that was in the jungle who was covered in green stuff while munching on a kangaroo nose in an attempt to get votes’. The people who go on these shows get the publicity they deserve; bloody awful.
I’ll happily go out of my way to find the results of the Oscars online and eagerly wait to see the speeches of those who win awards tonight. I’ll also make the effort to turn the t.v off and write something constructive and creative such as this, rather than sit around and take part in encouraging such stupidity to be repeated.
Apologies for another rant, I hope it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. Expect a follow up post from this related to the Oscar winners and nominees, feel free to comment leaving your opinions on them in advance.
Until next time; au revoir.
Adam Lester. 
The simple fact is that Sky have paid good money to get exclusive TV rights to the Oscars in this country, so other channels are simply attempting to attract the rest of the audience, ie people who are not so interested in films and / or those who can’t / won’t pay for Sky.
Of course, you could have always listened to the live radio coverage to get the live results you wanted. Or is it the fashion / reactions / falling over of celebrities that you really want to see?