Mar 20, 2026 4 min read

The Academy Awards show has long been worth at least a peek. Since the days I would see movies at the Crest Theater at Donaldson’s Crossroads in McMurray, the awards have held some interest for me. Movies were just a dollar back in the ’70s, and I would see everything that came around. I’d watch the Oscars with some personal context and preferences.

But something fell apart along the way. When I tuned in last Sunday to watch the awards, I felt oddly disoriented. What were these movies about? Who were these directors?

And most alienating: Who are these people?

What was once a must-see awards show has become just another TV program that couldn’t hold my attention much past the first (long) commercial break.

I realize I’m not being fair in my assessment. I tuned in to the show having seen only one of the movies with participants up for an award, that being “Song Sung Blue”, the film about a Neil Diamond cover band. Kate Hudson was nominated for Best Actress. I was familiar with the stories of only a couple of the other Best Picture nominees, including “One Thing After Another” and “Marty Supreme.”

I’d planned to watch “Sinners.” My children had seen it more than once and raved about it – particularly the music. It might have been the vampire theme that kept me away, but when “Sinners” was called as Best Picture, I didn’t know what to think.

Without the context of having seen the films or the performances, the Oscars telecast became a boring fashion show, and just five minutes of scrolling social media brought me up to speed on the gowns.

But who were these new young actors? Except for the presenters — the celebrities who starred in movies back when I actually saw them — I could identify only a few, Emma Stone and Timothee Chalamet among them. The rest were just beautiful, handsome and mostly angular newcomers with names I’d never heard.

In the days before the Oscars, I thought about getting up to date in at least a cursory way by watching trailers for all the nominated flicks, like reading the book jacket but not the book. For years when I subscribed, I read the New York Times Book Review instead of the books. It saved time, but it’s not the same.

Now that the awards season is ending, most of these films will be available to stream at home. Even with my biggish TV, something gets lost when a story unfolds in my living room. A friend suggested we go to the theater to see “Hamnet.” It’s the story of William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, losing their son to plague. (I started to read the novel, but it was too sad to continue. Not sure I could endure seeing it come to life.)

I’m reminded of how my grandparents would talk about the old movie stars. James Cagney and Bette Davis meant nothing to me when I was my kids’ age. Likewise, when I’d tell my grandparents about “Back to the Future,” they’d say “Michael J. who?”

Time is pushing the movies — and everything else — forward. I think I should spend some time watching, so I can get caught up. My kids keep telling me to watch “Sinners,” so we can talk about it. That’s about as good a reason as any to watch it.

As for the 98th Oscars, I can tell you that Kate Hudson was good in the “Song Sung Blue,” but I don’t know if she was better than the actor who won.

But she did have the best gown.