This made my head explode. It’s still exploding.

The New York Times has a poignant article today headlined, “With Its Future at Stake, the Academy Tries to Fix the Oscars (Again).” It begins, “The awards telecast has been losing viewers for years. New leadership wants to reverse that starting Sunday, and ensure the financial well-being of the organization.” The article goes on to explain how new leadership at the Academy realizes that desperate measures need to be taken to regain the interest and trust of the audience. It goes on to say,

To secure a distribution contract of similar value when its deal with ABC expires, the academy must reverse viewership declines. A less lucrative deal could imperil some of the organization’s year-round activities, including film restoration. “This is so important to the livelihood and future of the organization that we better confront it,” Ms. Yang said….

The academy is hopeful that Nielsen’s ratings meters for the Oscars will tick upward on Sunday. Big musical stars, including Rihanna, are scheduled to perform their nominated songs; Lenny Kravitz will perform during the “In Memoriam” segment. Lady Gaga will be absent, though, with Oscars producers saying on Wednesday that she was too busy filming a movie to perform her nominated song from “Top Gun: Maverick.”

The nominee pool for best picture has never before included more than one billion-dollar ticket seller, according to box office databases, and this year there are two. “Top Gun: Maverick” collected $1.5 billion, and “Avatar: The Way of Water” took in $2.3 billion. The front-runner for best picture, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” generated $104 million in ticket sales. (Viewership tends to increase when popular films are nominated.)…“It should be about unity and celebrating this industry,” Mr. Kramer said. “People are still consuming movies. People love movies. Perhaps they’re doing it on streaming more than they did a few years ago. But our art form is as relevant as ever.”

Oh…the article casually drops in this bit of information, almost as an afterthought:

Jimmy Kimmel will return as the host on Sunday…

KABOOM!

The Oscars are run by cloistered fools who no longer understand the public and culture their product must satisfy. The article goes on and on about how the show must appeal to the young with streaming options and links to social media and the web, and yet, like the Academy, sees nothing out of sync with the show employing an obnoxious hyper-woke host who has alienated much of the demographic that most cares about movies.

You couldn’t pay me to watch Jimmy Kimmel, and I am as big a movie buff as can be found in captivity. How could an organization trying to reverse a serious decline in audience interest think, “What we need is Jimmy!”? Such a brain-dead pick shows the perils of complete bubble-dwelling, which has become an existential problem for Hollywood. Kimmel has directly and repeatedly insulted at least half of the American public, and the portion he might otherwise appeal to has to have some significant percentage who find him personally repugnant. How could this have escaped the notice of the Academy?

There are popular entertainers who don’t alienate large portions of the country and who can be entertaining without being politically toxic. There are no Bob Hopes or Johnny Carsons any more (Billy Crystal is too old), but finding someone better than Kimmel could be accomplished by throwing a rock into a random crowd.

Morons. The Oscars deserve to die.