Despite the fact that we saw stars like Mo’Nique, Vera Farmiga, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Anna Kendrick, and even director Kathryn Bigelow (she’s sure a star NOW!!!) on red carpets from the Golden Globes to the SAGS to the Critic Awards and for a zillion other occasions, the Academy Awards on ABC got a 23.3 million home rating on tv in its time slot, number one for the week of March 1 to March 7 – up a great deal from five years and every one since. So clearly, having ten nominated pictures worked for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Oscar’s Red Carpet on ABC had a rating of 15.2 million homes, which shows how much an interest there was in Oscar fashion, and what a lasting impression it makes on the public and on fashion trends. Meanwhile, The New York Times criticized the E! Red Carpet show because Ryan Seacrest seems to have refused to ask most stars what they were wearing – even though E! had Jay Manuel and Guliana Rancic and they’re fashion cam, and Joan Rivers to talk about it afterwards. it was VERY strange that Seacrest only asked a few stars what they were wearing – but of course, managed to thank Christopher Bailey of Burberry for his own tux.
In other media news, there’s much talk about Variety losing money – its ad sales are down, and of course, its readership is moving to the web and many entertainment biz related sites (Hollywood.com, TheWrap.com) – and now, Variety has let go of its chief film critic, Todd McCarthy, who has just a huge reputation as a truthful and important film critic in Los Angeles. The media times, they are a ‘changin’ – and particularly with the Ipad coming out in just three weeks!!!
I was also aggravated with Ryan Seacrest. He didn’t seem to care in the least what many of the women were wearing, but he seemed to know what all the MEN were wearing!(He even knew that Woody Harrelson’s suit was made of hemp!) He was even quite rude at times in cutting people off, like Matthew Broderick for instance, before he could answer his question fully.
If he’s going to continue to “host” like he did this year, I hope they replace him because he clearly didn’t have a clue why he was there. Or better yet, have him do the Red Carpet for “Spike TV” and then he can indulge his fetish for menswear!