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How the Oscars retain their lustre – in a sea of rival award ceremonies

12 January 2013

'AND the nominees are . . .' Four words that kick-started Oscar frenzy in earnest, were uttered by the show's latest host, Seth MacFarlane, on Thursday morning , announcing which movies, casts and crews are up for the ultimate industry nod, come February 24.

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Year-on-year, the public interest in the Academy Awards' shortlist, show and red carpet seems to be unwavering in intensity. But do tomorrow's Golden Globe Awards and the other awards' season ceremonies have any chance of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with entertainment's grand spectacle, and do the Oscars still have the Midas Touch?

The spring hunger for celebrity and fashion was traditionally satiated by the Academy Awards alone, but in this platinum age of media and the propagated 'fame game', red-carpet events are 10-a-penny, providing a constant flow of star-gazing fodder.

From January to late February, we are bombarded with countless award ceremonies, such as the Globes, Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) and Grammys, complete with red carpets, witty and emotional acceptance speeches, after-parties and associated pomp. All formerly lower-key affairs, these events have upped the ante in recent years to compete with the Academy Awards.

But even with live broadcast reportage and gaggles of blogs devoted to "What They Wore" at various events, the Oscars, which will see its 85th anniversary this year, has not been watered down in relevance or prestige.

This year there is much talk of the Oscars and the Globes going head-to-head. Although they are broadcast over a month apart, the latter's producers are keen to become the big fish. To say they have their work cut out for them is an understatement.

'The Hollywood Reporter' ponders that the choice of on-trend comic actors and writers for both ceremonies is no accident. The Golden Globes' choice of ' Saturday Night Live' alumni Tina Fey and Amy Poehler is deemed to be smart, playing to the award show genre's strength – a predominantly female audience.

The Oscars' producers went with the more risque Seth MacFarlane, and the ' Family Guy' creator does not boast a roster of "gal pal" material. He presented the nominees for this year's awards with actress Emma Stone in Hollywood last Thursday.

The Golden Globes' viewership is growing. Though the 'Reporter' claims that last year's audiences for the Globes were 17 million on NBC in the United States, versus the Oscars' 39 million on ABC, the trend is on the up for the ceremony that recognises excellence in film and television.

Increased budgets and on-demand technology have put the small screen on a par with its silver-screen sibling in terms of production values. The Golden Globes offers the more diverse guest list from a contemporary perspective: the casts of ' Glee', 'Homeland' and ' Mad Men' alongside those of 'Les Miserables', 'Lincoln' and ' The Hobbit'.

On the other hand, the Oscars exclusively invites nominees, former nominees and winners, and a hand-picked roster of A-list presenters to work the demographics. On any given year you could see Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, regardless of their work in that year. The calibre of this guest list is arguably second-to-none.

Despite the thrill of such an occasion to fans of fashion, the Globes serve only as hors d'oeuvres to the golden statuette arrivals. Held in mid-January, the Globes' red carpet does not benefit from the hottest gowns from the runways of the Haute Couture or Fall 2013 fashion weeks.

The Academy Awards' late February schedule benefits from Fashion Month and the couture shows, offering stylists the most up-to-date options for their celebrity clients. Though designers offer custom and archive frocks for the SAGs and Globes, the Oscars will always be the most fashion-forward of them all.

So has the Academy Awards retained its Midas Touch in a sea of awards ceremonies? Even up against the dynamite draw of 'Mad Men' duo Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks, and the devaluation of the red carpet by six weeks of events, the Oscars easily conquers that awards season fatigue.

We will undoubtedly be raving about the Golden Globes on Monday morning, but by the afternoon it'll all be Oscar-talk.

Irish Independent

Donal Walsh during his appearance on RTE's Saturday Night SHow with Brendan O'Connoe. Picture courtesy RTE

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Donal Walsh during his appearance on RTE's Saturday Night SHow with Brendan O'Connoe. Picture courtesy RTE

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Since 2008, economic policy in Ireland has been understandably focused upon the deflation of the bank credit bubble and its budgetary consequences. But Ireland faces serious economic policy problems which pre-date the financial crisis. Two reports released in recent weeks highlight one of the most serious – the unsustainable current system of retirement income provision. State pension schemes are unfunded (the social insurance 'fund' is just a book entry in the State accounts) and reliant entirely on the health of future tax revenues. If these fail to grow strongly, the State will struggle to meet pension commitments to its own employees and to the wider public who are covered by the contributory and non-contributory old-age pension schemes.

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Donal Walsh during his appearance on RTE's Saturday Night SHow with Brendan O'Connoe. Picture courtesy RTE

Brendan O'Connor: He took what life he had and made it matter

When I heard Donal Walsh had died, I couldn't help thinking of Spike Milligan's line: I told you I was sick. For those of us who didn't know Donal, who didn't live with his illness and see its progress, there was a strange sense of surprise that he had really died, that his young life was actually snuffed out in the end. Obviously everyone knew Donal was dying. His imminent death was central to the life-affirming message he brought to the nation. But somehow, when the inevitable came, it was a shock. I suppose this young man, whom none of us really knew but we all felt we knew, didn't seem like the type to die.

Colm McCarthy: Retirement age must rise by eight or 10 years

Since 2008, economic policy in Ireland has been understandably focused upon the deflation of the bank credit bubble and its budgetary consequences. But Ireland faces serious economic policy problems which pre-date the financial crisis. Two reports released in recent weeks highlight one of the most serious – the unsustainable current system of retirement income provision. State pension schemes are unfunded (the social insurance 'fund' is just a book entry in the State accounts) and reliant entirely on the health of future tax revenues. If these fail to grow strongly, the State will struggle to meet pension commitments to its own employees and to the wider public who are covered by the contributory and non-contributory old-age pension schemes.

Paul Moran: Labour still between rock and a hard place

Our latest opinion poll, conducted earlier this month, shows little change in terms of party support, with most of them tipping along at more or less the same position as last month. Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have slipped back (an insignificant) one point, with Sinn Fein the apparent beneficiary. It is as you were for both Labour and the independents. There has been some stabilisation of the Labour vote over the past couple of months, stalling the steady decline that we witnessed earlier in the year.

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