Chris Rock was right about one thing. It was indeed the “greatest night in the history of television.” Or at least pretty darn close.
Forget all the hand-wringing over the past few weeks about sinking ratings – the Oscars actually ticked up from 10 million viewers last year to 15 million this year – and all the hair-pulling over which awards should be broadcast live and which should be pre-taped, which seems now, post-slap, like a quaint debate over silverware settings at the Governor’s Ball.
What happened last night at the Dolby Theater proved definitively that the Academy Awards are still capable of delivering a jaw-dropping water-cooler moment that can have the whole world talking the morning after.