Shockingly bad production numbers, a glad-handing host, parodies that were outright offensive … three and a half hours felt like 10 The 81st Academy Awards suggested how, as an annual TV event, the Oscars could become extinct — and frankly, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. And...

Just five years ago it was unthinkable. Even one year ago no one could have conceived of it. Even last summer this kind of earth-shattering upset would have been labeled a pipe dream. But several years after all but being completely out of the business and all but forgotten someone out there thought...