by Alexis Whaley

Created on: June 10, 2008

You've been nominated for an Oscar. You are thrilled and excited by the honor of just being nominated. You've likely been in your profession for years, maybe even decades, working hard and, while loving it, have never received this kind of recognition.

For weeks there are interviews, reviews, and articles written about you and your work. Friends and colleagues congratulate you daily. You think that you probably won't win, but you write a speech anyway. You spend hours thinking about who you want to thank and about all the people who have helped you along the way, and all the people you love. You choose your words carefully. Your heart is full with appreciation.

And then the day comes. You are wearing couture and jewelry, or a really expensive suit or tuxedo, that you thought you would never wear in a million years. You take someone who means the world to you: your spouse, child, mother, significant other. You are nervous and exhilarated.

Your category comes up, and everything is a blur. You won! The applause and congratulations all meld together into a roar. Everything slows down and speeds up at the same time. Suddenly it is silent, you are at the podium, and millions of people are waiting for you to speak. Your mind reels with all your gratitude, your heart is bursting with joy.

You make it halfway through your speech, the music blares, and the models push you off the stage. What?!?

Being awarded an Oscar is truly, literally, a once in a lifetime occurrence. For many it is recognition of decades of work, or an absolutely stunning performance that blew people away (and this includes work by non-actors). Can you imagine being so honored and only getting seconds to respond in a meaningful way?

And the truth, that seems to have been forgotten by the ceremony's producers, is that people watch the Oscars to see the unscripted, surprising moments that become legendary. The audience wants to see the actors they admire seeming like "regular" people. They want to hear the unexpected jokes, the mistakes, the tearful thanks that touch everyone's heart.

The ratings for the Oscar broadcast have gone down steadily over the years. It is baffling that the producers have responded to this by adding more comedy, song performances, longer introductions by stars that usually fall flat (hey, not everyone is a comedian), and odd video medleys that don't seem to have a purpose. One year there was a "tribute" to westerns that didn't make sense, it wasn't tied to a current movie and it was

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