Ryan: Speed Up Oscars But Don’t Trim Speeches

So organizers want the Oscars to zip along faster? Fine, writes Maureen Ryan. Just don’t cut the acceptance speeches. “There are so many other things that could be trimmed instead. How about taking out any and all musical numbers? That’s 20 minutes gone, easily. Lose the lifetime achievement awards, or make those presentations three minutes long, at most. As for the long montage of actors who’ve died, why not put that on Oscar.com? And do we need to see the accountants who tabulate the votes, listen to forced, unfunny “banter” from presenters or hear a speech from the head of the academy? No, no and no. But we do need to see actresses cry while wearing couture gowns.”