The Oscars will always be flawed when they're bound to network TV standards

https://www.vox.com/2022/3/28/22999282/ads-academy-awards-tv-save-the-oscars-sponcon

"The Oscars have a problem," says Alissa Wilkinson. "But that problem is not with the Oscars. The problem is that, somewhere along the way, we’ve decided the Oscars ought to be a TV show. That means it has to succeed by TV standards — not just TV standards, but network TV standards for live broadcasts: lots of viewers, lots of ad sales, some unpredictability but nothing that will upset any of the viewers, who can just turn it off at will. (Admittedly, this year they got that when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage, yelled at him, and then won Best Actor minutes later. But you can’t plan for that kind of thing.)" Wilkinson adds: "I’m no expert in making TV shows. But it seemed, watching the Academy and ABC make unforced error after unforced error in an attempt to “save” this year’s Oscars, that at least part of the problem stems from some fundamental misunderstanding of how the internet works — and what their ceremony is even for. For instance, one week before the ceremony, Rachel Zegler — the leading lady of multi-nominated West Side Story — announced to her fans on social media that she hadn’t been able to get an invite to the ceremony. While plenty of people don’t get invited to the Oscars, the omission was especially silly for a ceremony visibly desperate to get younger viewers."