THB #191: Dawn Hudson's Ivory Tower

show me the part that has anything to do with movies…

Every time I think it’s done, they keep pulling me back in.

The L.A. Times made the effort to do a fair and balanced exit piece on Dawn Hudson today. “Did departing academy chief Dawn Hudson ruin the Oscars — or save them?”

The piece has clearly good intentions to offer balance. But like almost all mainstream coverage of The Academy, it is about a half-inch deep. Also, despite the title, it doesn’t really deal with Oscar much or in any depth. It’s really about the general internal status of The Academy.

The most telling thing about the piece is that it’s Dawn and Laura Dern defending Dawn’s leadership, with special guest stars David Oyelowo and public-facing Academy staff, David Rubin and Bill Kramer.

Equally so, making the case against Dawn are Bill Mechanic and Michael Shamberg with a pithy non-response from Terry Press.

These are “the usual suspects.” That doesn’t make any of them right or wrong. But what it tells you is that the B…