The Oscar television audience this year hit an all-time low, and the Academy speculates that this is because the ceremony itself is beginning to feel outdated.  A makeover didn’t work for the Miss America Pageant, and there was a lot more to update on that wallflower.

Variety has served up the cringe-worthy suggestion of taking a cue from the Reality Phemonenon, but that (mercifully) doesn’t seem like a likelihood.  While it could be entertaining to see Streep and Dench race across a snow dune, tied to one another, carrying boiled produce in their mouths to win four points toward Best Actress, chances are it’s not going to catch on, even if statistics show that dignity is one of the damning things that makes poor Oscar seem so elderly.  And the truth may be that the program can’t catch up to the “YouTube generation,” because it’s a victim of it.

All the best acceptance speeches, jokes, and mishaps were up on the site by the next day, and a simple Google search will turn out a list of categories, nominees, and winners within hours of the broadcast.

Though, in LA and film-school circles, it’s not uncommon to find people throwing Oscar parties, catching the Academy Awards isn’t like catching the Super Bowl.  It’s not so much about the suspense as it is about the winners, since the game (the films up for question) was played months prior to the ceremony, and the most interested spectators tend to share occupational interest with the MVPs.

Maybe the answer lies in some clever promotional reworking and not rehashing the ceremony itself, which some see as “classic” rather than “old.”  Whatever the verdict may be, change is on the way.