The 86th Academy Awards aired March 2 with actress, talk show host, Emmy winner and stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres hosting the show, making it her second time with the prestigious awards. She previously entertained in 2007.
According to a USA Today article, The Academy Awards drew in a whopping 43.7 million viewers, which made it the most-watched Oscars since 2000. DeGeneres drew a larger crowd than last year’s host, Seth MacFarlane, who drew about 40 million viewers.
The show opened with DeGeneres’ monologue.
She joked about the copious amounts of rain that was plaguing Los Angeles but said that everyone in the city was doing fine.
She went on to poke fun at several celebrities in the audience, like June Squibb, Meryl Streep, Barkhad Abdi and Jennifer Lawrence.
The show continued with performances by Bette Midler, Pharrell Williams, Idina Menzel, Pink, U2 and Karen O, along with recognizing all the actors, actresses, directors and crews for their hard work and dedication into some of the best films of the year.
Best Actor went to Matthew McConaughey for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club.”
Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her performance in “Blue Jasmine.”
Best Supporting Actor went to Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club” and Best Supporting Actress went to Lupita Nyong’o for her role in “12 Years a Slave.”
“12 Years a Slave” won for Best Picture, which gave producer Brad Pitt his first ever Oscar. “Gravity,” directed by Alfonso Cuaron, won the most awards overall, picking up seven Oscars for Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.
Disney’s “Frozen” won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
One of the biggest moments of the night was the selfie. DeGeneres originally just wanted to take one with Streep and ended up with Bradley Cooper, Kevin Spacy, Angelina Jolie, Channing Tatum Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o and her brother.
The picture broke the record for most retweeted photo, along with actually breaking Twitter itself. The post has more than 3 million retweets and almost 2 million favorites.
The photo was retweeted so much in such a short amount of time that it actually caused Twitter to crash; the site was back up and running after about 30 minutes.
Another funny moment was when DeGeneres ordered pizza for the audience and actually pulled the delivery guy up on stage to hand out the pizza.
He had no idea and thought he was just delivering for the writers of the show.
But don’t feel too bad for him; he received a $1,000 tip.
Overall, DeGeneres was a breath of fresh air to what is usually an “uptight” night.
Her opening monologue was entertaining and she brought the same humor she uses from her talk show to The Oscars.
It wasn’t uncomfortable or inappropriate like MacFarlane’s. It was light and enjoyable to watch.
Not only were people at home entertained but it seemed like the celebrities who were in attendance really enjoyed the show as well.
The selfie allowed people at home to partake in the show, something that has never happened or been done before.
Not only were the actors and actresses part of the record-breaking tweet, but so was everyone at home who retweeted the photo.
The performances were amazingly powerful, especially the ones by Midler, Menzel and Pink.
Even though the show was 3 1/2 hours long, for once it didn’t seem it. DeGeneres was comical and interesting to watch.
Some viewers might have been wishing for even more of her.
The Academy Awards have already gone down in history as one of the best shows.
It was entertaining and all the winners deserved their awards.
Hopefully, DeGeneres will host next year.
SAMMIE JANIK
