Is Oscar next?

What happened

Oscar producer Gil Cates said the Academy Awards telecast would go on as scheduled next month. But Writers Guild of America president Patrick Verrone said his union would urge its members not to participate if their strike—which forced the cancelation of Sunday’s Golden Globes extravaganza—hasn’t been resolved. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

What the commentators said

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Now is the time when Hollywood should be abuzz with speculation on who will take home this year’s Oscars, said Martin Grove in The Hollywood Reporter. Instead, now that the Golden Globe telecast has been canceled, “it’s clear that this year’s awards angst isn’t about who’s going to win,” but whether the ceremony will occur at all.

The Academy Awards ceremony is set to air Feb. 24, said Kevin Downey in Media Life. “Don’t expect it to.” The studios and the writers are still miles apart on how much compensation writers should get for material that appears on the Internet. “The hard-knuckle union has every reason to scuttle the broadcast and none to see it air.”

Oscars producers insist the show will go on, said Lynette Rice in Entertainment Weekly. The question is whether it will be worth watching if the Writers Guild pickets, and all the big stars refuse to cross the line to get to the red carpet.

“All bets are off for the Oscars,” said Jon Friedman in MarketWatch. But Hollywood is dreaming if it thinks the rest of us will suffer as much as it will. ABC stands to lose millions in advertising revenue, and the studios will lose a fortune in easy publicity. The rest of us will just turn of our TVs and catch up on our reading.