Oscars a go, but toned down
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/19/2003 6:00:00 AM
While the Oscars still are scheduled to go on as planned Sunday, most media coverage is being canceled, as are the red-carpet entrances, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told reporters at a Hollywood press conference Tuesday.
"We all understand that the country is on the brink of war and may be sending American men and women into harm's way almost as we speak. We must prepare for the show to be produced under those circumstances," said Gil Cates, the show's executive producer.
While many media outlets had already reported that ABC and the Academy planned to press forward with a toned-down version of the gala event, the Academy wanted to reiterate its intention as rumors continued to fly about the show.
Cates said the Academy had gotten many calls from agents and managers because the celebrities they represent do not want to be interviewed before the show. As a result, press coverage will be limited to a pool report and most of the 500 members of the media who had planned to cover the show now will not be attending.
"Many of them or all of them are going to be horribly disappointed," Cates said. "We all have to make this thing happen in the best way for everyone."
For entertainment newsmagazines -- Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and Extra -- and entertainment cable networks such asE! Entertainment Television, this means coverage plans are going to have to be drastically altered.
"We were planning on doing our Monday-night show from inside the Kodak Theatre [where the Oscars are held], but now that's not going to happen. And there's no red carpet, so that changes," said Rob Silverstein, executive producer of NBC Enterprises' Access Hollywood.
At this point, the shows' one-on-one rooms where anchors interview winners will remain, and Pat O'Brien and Nancy O'Dell still plan to handle the honors for Access Hollywood.
Also in question is whether the after-parties will go on as scheduled. Silverstein said Access Hollywood plans to cover the galas, but if they don't take place or if press isn't allowed, the show instead will cover that.
Meanwhile, the entertainment-focused shows are switching their coverage to the impending attacks on Iraq, Silverstein said.
Celebrities are also concerned about dressing appropriately, Cates said, and he expects the dress code to be a more somber than usual.
While Cates expects presenters to stick to the script, he said each winner gets to use his or her 45 seconds to say what he or she wants "within the bounds of good taste," so some anti-war comments are likely to be made.
If the Academy Awards somehow end up being canceled, which has never happened in the history of the show, advertisers stand to lose a lot of money. Advertisers are ponying up $1.3 million per 30-second spot, which they could lose if the show does not go on.
The Academy Awards has been postponed three times in its history: when a flood hit Los Angeles in 1938, after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 and after Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
There is still a possibility that the awards show could be postponed, Cates said, but that decision rests on war-related events the Academy and ABC cannot yet predict.
The Academy will hold its traditional press conference Friday afternoon before the show, and more information may be available at the time, Cates said.
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