Though the 79th Annual Academy Awards were scheduled to take three hours (not including all the pre-coverage and after-coverage, of course), it actually ran almost one hour longer. What went wrong at the Oscars this year? Was it long-winded speeches (many of which were cut off by the music), unimportant backstage coverage, somewhat tedious tributes? The entire broadcast was just shy of the four-hour mark at three hours and fifty-two minutes, which many fans dutifully sat through just to hear which flick won Best Picture. Though host Ellen DeGeneres tried to liven the broadcast up with humor, a lot of it (even her banter) was tedious and seemed to take for ever. Without all the extras, the Academy Awards could run like clockwork, instead of putting audiences to sleep.