Advertisement

‘Life of Pi,’ ‘Argo’ win big at Oscars. NBC takes big fall.

"Argo" director Ben Affleck and some of the movie's principals accept the Oscar for best picture.
(AFP/Getty Images)
Share

After the coffee. Before getting the tuxedo to the cleaners.

The Skinny: I kept my tweeting to a minimum during the Oscars. Just as New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day are amateur night to drinkers, the Oscars is amateur night for tweeters. Monday’s headlines include a recap of the Oscars (the show did end, right?) as well as who won the weekend box office.

Daily Dose: Commuters in New York City will be bombarded with new ads promoting Aereo, the over-the-top pay-TV operator that launched last year. Aereo, whose backers include media mogul Barry Diller, launched last year and is now trying to kick its service into high gear even though it is in the midst of copyright battles with broadcasters. Aereo transmits the signals of broadcasters to consumers via the Internet.

Advertisement

Something for everyone at Oscars. “Argo,” the Ben Affleck-directed thriller based on the true story of the daring rescue of six Americans hiding in Iran, took home the Oscar for best picture. It also won for best adapted screenplay. But no one movie dominated the awards. “Life of Pi” had a big night as well, collecting four Oscars including best director for Ang Lee. Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” didn’t walk away empty-handed either as Daniel Day Lewis won for best actor. Analysis of Hollywood’s big night from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Variety.

He said what? Critics were all over the place on Seth MacFarlane’s performance as host of the Academy Awards. MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy” and director of the hit movie “Ted,” was an unorthodox choice to host the Oscars. As expected, he delivered jokes of questionable taste, some of which were funny and others of which fell flat. But did he and much of the show have a bit of misogynistic feel to it? Reviews from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood.

Stolen box office. “Identity Thief” snagged the top spot at the box office, which says more about what opened last weekend than it does about the staying power of the comedy. “Identity Thief” took in $14 million, which topped the $13 million that the action movie “Snitch” made. Box-office recaps from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News.

Falling fast. Last fall, everyone wrote stories about how great NBC was doing. Its new drama “Revolution,” the musical talent show “The Voice” and NFL football lifted ratings, and everyone thought the peacock network was flying high. But winter has provided a rude awakening as several other of its new shows have flopped. The New York Times is the latest to weigh in on the woes at NBC.

Doing laps around the networks. Satellite broadcaster Dish Network found a way to get around a broadcast network ban on TV ads promoting the Hopper, its commercial-skipping device. Dish sponsored a car in the Daytona 500, which was carried by Fox. No word if the networks will fire back in a future race with a car covered in stickers saying commercial skipping is a violation of copyright. More on Dish’s drive-by from AdWeek.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: A look at Amy Sherman-Palladino, the driving force behind the ABC drama “Bunheads”

Advertisement

Follow me on Twitter. I’m finally a verified tweeter! @JBFlint.

Advertisement