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Alec Baldwin Has a Few Unkind Words for the Oscars

Apr 10, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Alec Baldwin, whose name came up this week as a possible host for an NBC late-night show, made news again with his comments about the Oscars.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Baldwin appears to have taken himself off the list of possible hosts for the 2014 Academy Awards.

“Baldwin, who hosted the 2010 telecast with Steve Martin, had some pointed things to say about the Motion Picture Academy and the Oscars in a free-wheeling interview in The Hollywood Reporter tied to his current run on Broadway in the play ‘Orphans,’” the piece reports. “Baldwin told the magazine he would ‘never, never, never’ do it again and that ‘the Oscars is a completely thankless job.’”

The show’s long running time appears to be one of Baldwin’s main complaints. The “30 Rock” star said that ideally the program would “last about two hours, and it would be a very tight show with a lot of serious, cineastic appreciation.”

The report adds: “Baldwin noted that that the broadcast raises much of the academy’s annual budget. (The 2012 show netted the group more than $51 million, according to the group’s annual report.)”

Baldwin is quoted as saying: “ABC and the academy, they have no interest in doing a tight, better-produced show. They are forced, because of economic constraints, to have a flabby, tired show.”

The actor reportedly suggested Ellen DeGeneres as possible Oscars host, but he added: “I’m dying to see who they get to do it next year. They’re going to have to go dig someone up from the cemetery. They’re going to have to go dig up Bob Hope.”

2 Comments

  1. It isn’t often I say this – “Alex is right”. The show is stretched and filled to justify all of the ads that have to run in order to raise the money they want, and the profit the network needs, to justify what it pays the Academy.

  2. Uhm, you mean, “Alec is right”, correct?
    I’d like to see an overhaul of the program that’s a little more NCAA tournament than ‘amateur night at the Improv’. I know the Academy likes to think of themselves as the only film awards that really matter but what if they made certain that they were the LAST awards given out? You could reference the other awards during the telecast, sort of compare & contrast approach but then you could also have a special set of awards that take all of the winners and recognize film, actor, actress, etc that made the greatest impression. It would take care of issues like Ben Affleck’s winning nearly every other award for Best Director but didn’t even get a nomination from the Academy. It might even make the Academy look like they actually give a damn.

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