81st Academy Awards - Ceremony Information

Ceremony Information

Due to the declining viewership of the recent Academy Awards ceremonies, the Academy had contracted an entirely new production team in an attempt to revive the award ceremony and revamp its general script and theming. Marketing for the ceremony had even gone so far as to advertise it as "The Biggest Movie Event of the Year". Producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark announced their plans to rewrite the script, and they made attempts to keep the entire premise of the ceremony a secret, even from the presenters and performers. Film director Judd Apatow aired a new short film during the ceremony which starred Seth Rogen and James Franco reprising their roles from Pineapple Express. Previously, Apatow directed a short film aired during the 74th Academy Awards which starred Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. Chris Harrison hosted "Road to the Oscars", a weekly behind-the-scenes video blog on the Academy's website, oscar.com. David Rockwell designed a new set and stage design for the ceremony. The red carpet was directed by Robert Osborne. Host Jackman expressed his anticipation of the awards in the few days preceding, and had commented that he was thrilled with preparations for the ceremony. The recent global economic crisis caused a decrease in spending on the telecast from last year's awards, as well as a decrease in the cost to air advertisements during commercial breaks. The recession was mentioned by Jackman who said

this year, everything is being downsized because of the recession. Next year I'll be starring in a movie called New Zealand, and due to cutbacks, the academy said they didn't have enough money for an opening number; I'm gonna do one anyway

The presentation of the four acting awards was styled differently than in previous years (see Notable events section). among other changes, some celebrities presented multiple awards rather than only one or two as in previous years, and 2008 film genre segments replaced usual clip collections.

The telecast received a 6 second tape delay in some areas on the east coast during a section in which Host Jackman thanked Academy president Sid Ganis, and introduced Reese Witherspoon, who would present the Oscar for Directing. This was due to ABC, who panned out from the screen during the delay to present powerball numbers. This delay also occurred at the beginning of The Oscars Red Carpet 2009. There was also a 30-second delay at the start of the telecast, though not a tape delay, but a direct delay which affected the ceremony. Errors also occurred directly following Jackman's opening monologue. After he introduced the Best Supporting Actress category, USA Today reported that a stage hand could be heard yelling to director Roger Goodman for "cutting him off!". The curtain had not been opened when a montage of past Supporting Actress winners began, but was opened 2–3 seconds following. The telecast received a mixed reception from media personalities and critics, yet a more positive response from viewers at home.

Jerry Lewis was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. For the first time since the 60th Academy Awards (1987), no Honorary Award was presented.