I agree. And I liked the show being more about what they were judging(for the viewer's sake), than the winner's themselves. A special touch utilized this year, that I enjoyed, was when introducing each nominee in a category, a previous winner of that category stood on stage and recited what they thought of the nominee in their role, ie: Sophia Loren spoke to and about Meryl Streep.

My wife missed not watching it. I just am starting to feel overly inundated by celebrity fanfare. Something about not congratulating them too much felt nice.

It actually was more entertaining than usual. Like him or not, Hugh Jackman made the difference, in my opinion(which has a little more clout today).

Did anyone actually watch the Academy Awards this year? (I just feel like it's too boring to have to sit through.)