I know a lot of humans dismiss the Oscars as simply a rigged-from-the-start Hollywood lovefest, but I’ll always be a sucker for it. Just as I watch the World Series no matter who is in it considering I just adore baseball, I tune in to most of each year’s Oscars broadcast considering I love the movies so much. (My favorite steroids-related headline, by the way, was on the Washington Post’s Web site: Despite Miguel Tejada and many other Orioles getting dragged into it, they went with “Yankees Prominently Mentioned.” God bless the hometown newspaper.)

But back to the Oscars and, to a lesser extent, the Golden Globes, which I additionally find to be a fun broadcast to catch. Well, now it seems that on Monday WGA West President Patric Verrone rejected waiver requests for the kudos-casts, and who can blame him? They certainly don’t deserve to be held to a different standard than any other design of written entertainment.

The first hit would be the Golden Globes, set to be handed out Jan 13. Dick Clark Prods. has indicated it will try to find a route to work around the impasse, perhaps as an independent producer of some kind. The Oscars, however, would be much more tricky, me thinks.

Let’s just assume that strike isn’t going to end anytime soon (and, I hate to be the bearer of poor news whether you didn’t know that already, but the actors are set to follow the writers rather soon whether something dramatic doesn’t happen.) Can you imagine any actors will be willing to walk the red carpet whether it means they have to cross the picket line to do so? I can’t imagine even the most conservative of Hollywood folk would be willing to do that.

And, perhaps more importantly, can you imagine that host Jon Stewart would be willing to participate under these circumstances? I can’t imagine so.

And, in the ugliest of all scenarios, it’s entirely possible you could have major stars picketing the broadcast, which would certainly be a circus. No matter how it unfolds, unless the strike ends soon, awards season is shaping up to be nothing but ugly.

Good guys caught in the middle

No matter whose side you’re on in that labor action (and, with way too much TV on DVD in hand already as survival material, I’m still squarely behind the writers), there are always going to be good humans who get caught in the crossfire.

And it would certainly seem that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien fall into that category (well, Conan anyway … I have never watched Jay Leno’s show, and never will.) Faced with staffs of 80 to 100 nonwriting humans who aren’t getting any paychecks, both hosts have decided to go back on the air in early January (David Letterman, who owns his show, is free to negotiate with the writers on his own terms, which he is apparently doing now.)

Here’s some of what Conan had to say about proceeding without writers:

“My career in television started as a WGA member and my subsequent career as a performer has only been possible considering of the creativity and integrity of my writing staff. Since the strike began, I have stayed off the air in support of the striking writers

Thanks for the warning Conan, but I have a hunch these shows may not only not be terrible, but possibly even inspired. As he mentioned in that statement, Conan was once a writer himself, and a darn good one. He wrote for “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons,” and for the latter penned the very funny “Marge Vs. the Monorail” episode.

His show, at least in its earliest days, was always best when it relied on sketches anyway, so whether he can manage to come up with some very funny stuff the show might be just fine even whether many stars refuse to participate, which I’d imagine they will. Stay tuned.

Holofcener and Keener, together again

In the world of indie movies, at least, there have been very few more fruitful partnerships than that of the great Catherine Keener and director Nicole Holofcener. And now, assuming it doesn’t get consumed by any kind of actors’ strike, the duo have announced plans for a fourth collaboration.

Holofcener will write and direct the as-yet-untitled movie about a group of New York women who live in the same apartment building. Keener will play the neighbor of a cantankerous elderly woman and her two granddaughters.

Though Nicole Holofcener has the distinction of directing one of my least favorite movies, the simply useless “Friends With Money,” she’s additionally made two I just love in “Lovely and Amazing” and “Walking and Talking.” The common factor in all of these has been Keener, who I will gladly watch in just about anything.

And you can look for her fairly soon in Charlie Kaufman’s (huzzah!) “Synecdoche, New York” and next in director Andrew Fleming’s “Hamlet 2″ with veryfunnyman Steve Coogan. I know I certainly will.

A new look at Wall-E

Please allow me to introduce that new trailer for Pixar’s next flick, “Wall-E,” with another plea that its last, “Ratatouille,” be one of the final contenders for a Best Picture Oscar (assuming, of course, that there even is an Oscars show.) As the first half hour or so of the movie will apparently be, that new “Wall-E” clip is silent except for robot noises made by our hero. It will be an odd movie for kids, me thinks, but one I nearly certainly will enjoy. Peace out.

Original post by Reel Fanatic