THB #81: Fixing The Oscars in 5 Steps

As I’ve thought about this piece, I considered whether to number the 5 steps. Do they all need to be done? Is there an order of priority?

I think the 5 ideas really break down into 2 categories with 2 different objectives... fixing the award and fixing the TV show. I don’t think any of the 5 ideas are directly in conflict with the others, so all 5 could work in tandem. But The Academy could prioritize either category as a goal over the others, in my view.

I am not a believer in people who say, “Let’s just slash and burn” in order to make a TV show they think a bigger audience would tune in for or prefer. I get the impulse, but it’s kind of like hoping drinking a Coca Cola will make the world a nicer place. It’s a lovely bumper sticker, but it’s not actionable.

I am looking for ideas that could actually change the course of things, but are not extreme in action.

Any change made is subject to unintended consequences. For example, the expansion to 10 (or as many as 10) Best Picture nominee…