With so many beats and events to cover, sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle, so let’s get caught up. – Eddie Murphy will be the host of the Oscars and I like the choice. I did want Oprah, though. It seems when Billy Crystal says he cannot or will not, the search goes on. Murphy has had a long career and his kid movies of late plus his “adult’ stuff early on, might make both crowds happy. Here’s how the Academy released the info Sept. 6: Oscar® nominee Eddie Murphy, whose performing career spans movies, television and the stage, will host this year’s Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, 2012, telecast producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer announced today. This will be Murphy’s first hosting stint on the Oscars®.That was a nice lead from AMPAS, but let’s go deeper. Most picked up and rewritten stories use on quote and move on. Not us. “Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever,” said Ratner. He wasn’t done, yet. “With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances – especially on stage – I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February.” As for Mischer, he noted: “Eddie is a truly ground-breaking performer, whose amazingly diverse array of roles has won him a devoted audience of all ages. His quick wit and charisma will serve him very well as Oscar host.” By the way, they are correct, and on the surface, this seems like a good choice, no matter what the blogs may say. They have loved other choices and see where that went. Truth be told, this is like singing the National Anthem, because it’s not easy and all eyes are on you. Murphy’s response: “I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others,” said Murphy. From that, he gets it. He is the host and the host must give way to the show itself, like they did. Murphy added, “I’m looking forward to working with Brett and Don on creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the Kodak Theatre as we all come together to celebrate and recognize the great film contributions and collaborations from the past year.” Well, come on, he had to say that, right? – Almost at the same time came the CMA nominations announced. That would be the Country Music Awards, which are not the ACMs, but many get confused. ACM is the Academy of Country Music, the cream of the crop for that genre. Here was my reaction to that: First note: CMAs are not the ACMs, so, mean less to me and many others, But, just looking at the list of nominees just released Sept. 6, Taylor Swift is the only female in Entertainer of the Year – – shameful. Also, no Kenny Chesney there. Huh? The Band Perry with “If I Die Young” is an impressive showing While many male artists have many songs out there, and hits, for that matter, but I couldn’t name them. Brad Paisley and Keith Urban come to mind. It’s kind of like Dave Matthews. Huh? Oh, yeah, he packs arenas but what was that song again? The full list is at cmaawards.com – Here was my reaction of the snafu on the speech called before the joint session of Congress: Who would have thought a little thing like scheduling a speech would split the nation? I did because of the nature of things these days. Protocol calls for a lot and the White House did not work things out before telling us when it would be. Then it got ugly. Ratings for the Packers/Saints would dwarf it if NBC ran the game and then the others ran the speech. One network with the game would beat a combined number on the other nets. I’m sure of it, judging and tracking all things ratings over the many years doing this crap. And that is why it will have an earlier start time. Meanwhile, the new TV season is starting up, and thus, money time kicks in more than the summer. When The White House, any White House team, asks for TV air time, that is free, no matter how short or long it is. T delay the game time, means money lost. To take away prime time means money lost. It’s that simple. When one throws all the crap into a blender, it will make sense. On the emotional level, it does not. – Then there was something that will most likely hit the radar later this month. That is another Sarah Palin documentary. Again, my gut reaction: Oh, by the way, an upcoming documentary of Palin is due to drop on Sept. 30. This one will be loved by critics and they will urge us to see it because it is critical of her. Come on now, they urged us not to see the favorable documentary “The Undefeated.” Biased? You be the judge but this one is obvious. The new one is “Sarah Palin: You Betcha.” It’s at the Toronto Film Fest now. Wow, can’t wait to hear what they say. To me, both will be ignored. – A new feature has arisen from the ashes of an old one. My 15 year trivia column is back and will be a part of twitter and my site. It was back by request and wreaks havoc with those not-so-well known items. Over the years, I had a column in a few newspapers called Tidbits & Trivia, plus I was a researcher for Crown Syndicate, World Features Syndicate and Sports Features Syndicate. Enjoy and play along. Until next time, catch me on www.obriennewsservice.com and twitter @ Timobns or @ timstidbits Sources: www.oscars.org More on CMAs at www.cmaawards.com
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