The Kids Are All Right, And All That

Stuever: Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on ABC Sunday night, as scheduled. And her co-host, James Franco, did what exactly? (Besides be handsome? Besides a little Marilyn Monroe drag? And besides shouting "NYU, whassup!" to the Best Live Action Short winner? What, that's not enough?)

Don't get me wrong. The kids are all right, and all that. I like pushing the Academy Awards in whatever next-gen direction will get people's attention, and, probably like the rest of your Oscar-watching party, I long ago gave up hoping for fantastic television and decided to revel in the attempt to lift that immovable boulder off of Hollywood's deadened extremity. Oscar had part of our attention. It had the minimum amount.