Life Not Beautiful for ABC's Oscars (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Ad Week ^ | February 16, 2009 | Anthony Crupi

[Savage Beast]

Who wants to watch a tacky, tasteless spectacle like that? I haven't bothered to see any of the movies, and the "STARS" are Norma Desmond clones, giving advice on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian problem to child rearing to how to make a fruitcake (an interesting point in Hollywood).

Just imagine Sunset Boulevard with a different outcome:

De Mille finds a vehicle for Norma Desmond. She makes a spectacular comeback return.

Suddenly she's a huge international "STAR" again--on TV, in magazines, on talk shows.

Remember she's still a nutcase who's so delusional that, when they come to cart her off to the hoosegow, she thinks she's starring in a movie as a teenage Salome--but having staged a return she's giving her opinion on everything--and her breathless fans are giving her opinions serious consideration.

[Milhous]

"Yesterday's news tomorrow." as Right Wing Assault so aptly put it all those years ago.

[abb]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090213/FREE/902139979
Magazine ad pages plunge in March

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/02/google_devalues.php
“Google Devalues Everything It Touches” - Wall Street Journal Chief

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/02/09/daily102.html
Cumulus Media trims jobs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090214/ap_on_bi_ge/young_broadcasting_bankruptcy
TV station owner Young Broadcasting files Chp. 11

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE51C6IE20090213
Ad, DVD sales drag down U.S. media, cable may shine

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hm-NaXE47tuN1DQKXQlgBaYJpNJA
Wanted: ‘survival strategies’ for dying US newspapers

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/13/journalism-newspapers-internet-business-media_0216_oxford.html
Journalism Challenged In A Changing Landscape

[Varda]

I’ve watched one Oscar telecast in 20 years. It was one where the old guy that played Gandalf was shown holding hands with a very young guy. Giant EWWW factor. Never again.

[Milhous]

Yet another shot of the cluetrain shows Old Glory proudly flying high on the side of the locomotive.

[abb]

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/02/16/in-all-fairness
In All Fairness

[Bender2]

By-- Uh-- Executive Order-- Uh, I command ABC... to give-- Uh-- that free Oscar air time--- Uh-- to Zig-Zag

They-- Uh, are... the-- Uh-- very best!

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

Many people have stopped reading newspapers because of the inherent left-wing bias that is constantly shown in many, many newspapers. People want to be educated about both sides of the issue, not preached to. As Roger Ailes said to journalists.."If there isn't anything in your piece that you disagree with, it's probably biased".

I see many, many one-sided pieces of journalism. Why is that? As Bill O'Neil of Investors Business Daily speculates, they probably learned that bias in journalism schools.

What this country needs is a national newspaper called "Both sides now", (remember Murrow?) and have a two-sided, completely unbiased newspaper that can educate us on the issues

[abb]

[Bender2]

Gadzooks! Am I... besides... myself?

[Grampa Dave]

A fairly conservative Democrat friend used to hold Oscar Parties. The year of the orgy over the homosexual cowboy film, I told her, her husband and my wife that I wouldn’t go to the movie nor would I go to a party where it would be the center piece.

My wife was mad at first, and then more guys and a couple of the wives in our group said the same thing and the party was cancelled. We now do a non political Mardi Gras party.

[abb]

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=100338
TV.com Attracts More Viewers

[leilani]

Thus far, it would appear that a replacement for the L'Oreal business has yet to be nailed down, although some buyers believe that the show may have aged beyond the reach of the category. "A lot of cosmetics companies reach out to younger women and those viewers are leaving in droves," said Shari Anne Brill, senior vp, director, Carat.

Which I suppose is now the, um, polite way of saying that it just isn't cutting-edge cool for anybody under the age of seventy-five to sit around for three mind-numbing hours and watch a gaggle of undereducated botox-bloated egomaniacs smugly regurgitate their shallow bloviations about government policy while passing a creepy gold statue back & forth anymore, nor has that revolting spectacle been even slightly cool to most sentient adults of any age or any gender for a very long time now.

In fact the Oscars long ago ceased delivering a market demographic of any discernible affluence with any discretionary income to speak of at all to its sponsors, except perhaps those thrifty souls currently confined to cut-rate nursing homes where scarce attendants aren't always available to change the channel to a hipper alternative for residents after Pillow Bingo.

So the ever-diminishing value of Oscar's ever-diminishing audience of trendy consumers to corporate sponsors is not new.

What has changed is that the downturn in the economy has made it impossible for sponsoring executives, who'd previously used the event - and their corporations' cash reserves - as an excuse to party lavishly in Hollywood, to continue throwing their respective companies' money down the sclerotic Oscar ratings rat hole as a self-dealt job perk anymore without inciting massive shareholder revolts & ensuing class-action lawsuits.

My suggestion for beleaguered ABC account execs peddling their toxic Oscar sponsorships right now? Hey, manufacturers of discount adult diapers just might be worth a shot!

[reagan_fanatic]

Sources last week said that L'Oreal Paris would sit out the Feb. 22 spectacle, effectively leaving ABC without a beauty brand.

Oh no - no beauty brand!!?? The HORRORS!!

[mewzilla]

Well, there’s always Dow Corning :)

[abb]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/business/failing_academy_155369.htm
FAILING ACADEMY
L’OREAL IS SKIPPING OUT ON OSCAR, JOINING GM

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE51F1V720090216
Recession takes little sheen off Oscar gold

[Milhous]

Many people in my circle became apathetic about Oscars soon after the Academy celebrated a gritty turd named “Traffic” in 2000 where Hollyweird deceived Utah Senator Hatch into playing the part of an inept government buffoon. This year only the viral marketed “Dark Knight” (actually an allegory with Batman as Bush and the Joker as a terrorist) really caught on with the younger people.

[Right Wing Assault]

Wow, thanks for recalling that one. I still use it every once in a while.

[RJS1950]

The last time I remember watching even part of the Oscars was in 1975 when the morons got up and praised the Khmer Rouge as the “true liberators” of Cambodia.

Why waste your time? They are pimples on the ass of time. Your time would be better spent picking your nose, dozing off in traffic or slipping into a coma than listening to their drivel.

[Joan Kerrey]

I probably should know but would someone tell me what exactly what is an Oscar and what are the Oscars?