ABC's Oscars were worth watching

I think ABC read  my mind. While not perfect — and while saddled with some difficult movies with which to promote itself — the producers of this year’s Oscar telecast did nearly everything they could to make the show entertaining on its own merits.

First, they hired Hugh Jackman. Yes, he did have some cheesy lyrics to sing, but he did it with style, panache and fun. Men at the Oscar party I attended were asking us to turn up the sound because they didn’t know Jackman — Wolverine to them — was so talented.

Then, they didn’t force him to engage in too much banter or reading of teleprompters. They had him lead big numbers — something the Oscars has been missing for years — and otherwise let him hang out backstage. Good move.

Finally, they brought back the singing and dancing, with Beyonce (who apparently is required to sing at all national events) and Anne Hathaway and those High School Musical sweethearts giving him an able assist.

While people may think the big numbers just take up time, they are what Hollywood is all about — glitz, glamour and talent. Giving speeches via teleprompter just isn’t the same. And they are deathly dull, even when Eddie Murphy or Will Smith is the reader.

That said, the teleprompter speeches weren’t so bad this year, and some presenters — Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman, Seth Rogan, James Franco, Tina Fey and Steve Martin — actually managed to be legitimately funny. That Rogan/Franco video was YouTube-worthy!

Finally, at first I wasn’t so sure about the five Oscar winners announcing the nominees with personal speeches, but by the end, I thought it was incredibly touching in some cases. OK, I didn’t believe that Nicole Kidman was remotely sincere about Angelina — Kidman is still young enough to feel threatened by Hollywood’s fertility goddess — but Cuba Gooding’s speech to RDJ was perhaps the best thing he’s done since Jerry Maguire.

On the other hand, here’s a view that completely opposes mine via The Daily Beast: The Worst Oscars Ever!

The show’s first round of ratings come in tomorrow. I bet they’ll still be down, but overall, I give ABC an A for effort.

Update: ABC has released household metered market ratings, and the Oscars are up 6% in households this year over last, to a 23.3 rating/35 share from  last year’s 21.9/33. Time adjusted fast nationals will be out after 3 pm ET, according to ABC.