Critics are saying the show needs "innovations." But doesn't the academy keep doing that?

It tried presenting some of the tech awards in the audience to save time. It combined the song numbers in the past, once even dropping the songs altogether. It eliminated presenter patter, then brought it back, then eliminated it, then brought it back again!

It has had movie stars host, comedians host, multiple hosts. Cameras are placed backstage to catch off-the-cuff reactions from the winners. Reporter Chris Connelly even did a running "analysis" of the horse race last year. It tried playing music under acceptance speeches to make them snazzier ... and on and on and on.

Some suggest producer Gil Cates is the problem but even in the many years he doesn't do the show, the complaints are always the same.

So far there have been very few pundit suggestions that the academy hasn't tried in some form or other, other than eliminating categories, which we repeat is NOT going to happen.

Bottom line is you can give only as good as you get and sometimes the academy just doesn't "get" the movies America wants to see honored. "Titanic" doesn't come along every year. Still, even when there are less popular titles, Oscar has never gone completely in the toilet. Can anyone remember a single year in which the Academy Awards was not the No. 1 entertainment show of the week, or even in most cases, the year? Yes, we know the "American Idol" season premiere got bigger numbers but that show doesn't have to figure out how to make documentary short subjects compelling to Oklahomans.

Certainly there is lots of room for "innovation" and change and inevitably we will get more of it next year after the board does its usual post-mortem. Academy President Sid Ganis has one of the smartest marketing minds in the business but you have to play with the cards you are dealt.

Here's a suggestion. Stop letting the orchestra drown winners out after 45 seconds. And get more spontaneity among presenters by actually making them announce the names of nominees live onstage instead of the too perfect, pre-taped package that all kudos shows do now. Some of the best moments occur when nervous actors screw up.

One of the all-time funniest bits on any award show came on an Emmy telecast in the mid '70s when Lucille Ball lost her glasses and could not find the right envelope in order to announce the winner of best comedy series.

Above all, don't forget what the show is really about -- movies. As Ganis reiterated during the bleakest days of the strike, the Oscars are first and foremost about honoring all the people who have done the best work of the year in motion pictures and that ratings or not, stars or not, red carpet or not, that show would go on.

In other words, even though it's broadcast on television, it's not a TV show.

Since 1953 and the first broadcast on NBC, the academy has been inviting viewers into its industry celebration and we're just glad, hi-def warts and all, that it's still letting us crash the party.

Ah, The Season just wouldn't be The Season without the trials and tribulations of Oscar.