The king of all mind-numbingly addictive media Mark Burnett has been signed by MTV to produce this year's MTV Movie Awards. Ratings for the annual masturbatory celebration of mainstream media and young Hollywood have been slipping for the past several years. MTV is hoping that Burnett, who has never produced an award's show before, will shake things up. His first step in that direction - airing the show live. While Burnett will keep the zany movie parodies and kooky categories, he's trying to turn down the slick and get the stars to go "off-prompter." Burnett and MTV are also talking about upping the buzzworthiness of the program by incorporating user-generated content into the proceedings.awards shows-related stories
Burnett to produce a live version of the MTV Movie Awards
The king of all mind-numbingly addictive media Mark Burnett has been signed by MTV to produce this year's MTV Movie Awards. Ratings for the annual masturbatory celebration of mainstream media and young Hollywood have been slipping for the past several years. MTV is hoping that Burnett, who has never produced an award's show before, will shake things up. His first step in that direction - airing the show live. While Burnett will keep the zany movie parodies and kooky categories, he's trying to turn down the slick and get the stars to go "off-prompter." Burnett and MTV are also talking about upping the buzzworthiness of the program by incorporating user-generated content into the proceedings.Continue reading Burnett to produce a live version of the MTV Movie Awards
The 78th Annual Academy Awards
Even though I rarely watch movies (until they hit On
Demand, that is), I love to watch the awards shows. I aspire to be a movie watcher, but I have children, and I'd rather
spend my babysitting money drinking wine and talking to adults. Call me crazy. So I read all the reviews, and I
pretend like I know so much about the movies. "Memoirs of a
Geisha is sure to win Best Costume!" I say, and I'm right. I totally called Best Song for It's Hard to be
a Pimp. The only nominated movie I've seen: March of the Penguins. And while I again called the win for
Documentary Feature, I never would have expected them to bring out stuffed penguins. I mean, come on! This is a documentary! I didn't get it.
But what everyone surely wants to know: was Jon
Stewart funny? Someone
wrote about how Stewart was an odd choice, given that he's all about New York, and news, whereas Hollywood is about
Los Angeles, and fiction. I didn't see the disconnect - don't most of today's stars have homes both in LA and NYC? -
but, still, I was worried. Jon seemed pretty nervous on his Daily Show performances leading up to the Oscars.
Jon's the sort of guy who (despite his ever-present sarcasm) wears his heart on his sleeve. He uses the comedic device
of truth, and geekiness. And that's what is oddest about having him at the Academy Awards. Self-effacing
truthful geekiness is so out of place next to Jessica Alba (who, to follow a tangent Stewart started me upon, I
definitely would not pick to repopulate the earth).
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