IT WAS A MAD DASH TO finish up the chores I had before the telecast began. I had an appointment in the morning, food shopping in the afternoon, preparing food for the week, packing up my gym bag and laying out my work clothes before the show. I finished up 5 minutes prior and quickly nestled myself into the sofa to see the return of not one but three hosts for the Oscar telecast. The opening of the show with the Williams sisters introducing Beyonce was a well-played move by the producers of the show. Let me first say Beyonce has a wonderful voice and knows how to deliver a song. However, I feel every performance of hers recently must be a big production with a multitude of people and large settings. At a live concert, I appreciate when the musical artist mixes up the songs so that there are some intimate moments in between the bigger song productions. I wish Beyonce would just come out on stage and sing the heck out of a song.      NEXT UP WERE THE 3 HOSTS: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall. I respect all three and have enjoyed the performances I have seen them in. With Amy and Wanda being more of a comedienne, where they can do standup comedy, I felt the three of them were a bit awkward working with each other. There were jokes that hit the mark, but I thought Regina’s bit concerning the testing of male movie stars went on too long. Because I think the three women, especially Wanda and Amy, have great comedic timing, I would have enjoyed their opening more if they had been given leeway to adlib and perform more like it was one of their stand-up shows. As the first award category was coming up, I realized my excitement in seeing the show was not at its usual level. The main reason was the fact I had not seen all the major nominated films, like Coda. There was a layer of sadness from this but also from the fact that some categories’ nominees were given their awards prior to the show. To me, everyone who works on a film is equally as important as their fellow workers. It takes a group of people to bring a story to life on the big screen. I know the academy made this decision in the hope of keeping the telecast tight and on time. Well, I have to say it did not make a difference to me.      THE DURATION OF THE SHOW WAS something I was aware of due to it being slow in my opinion. Doing a big number of a non-nominated song from a nominated film made no sense to me, wasting more time. I am upset that I even must address this since it has already sucked all the air out of the room; but Will Smith should have been removed from the theater. Violence solves nothing and correct me if I am wrong, but when the camera cut to Will and Jada after the joke, it looked as if Will was chuckling until he saw Jada’s sour look on her face. Then suddenly in testosterone mode, Will has to get up and defend Jada’s honor? Do not get me wrong, no one and I mean no one should ever make fun of any individual who suffers from an infliction. Maybe Chris knew or maybe he forgot. A better option would have been Will making a statement after the show or confronting Chris off camera. Since he was the frontrunner for best actor, I feel the academy stood paralyzed in what actions they could have done. Since Will did win, he could have easily made a statement during his acceptance speech and turn this episode into a real learning moment. What he did instead was to ramble on without taking full responsibility for his actions and not apologizing to Chris and the public who were stuck watching his foul-mouthed tirade. Yesterday the academy said they are starting an investigation and now today, Will comes out with a prepared apology to Chris. Can we say damage control here? What upsets me is the focus is off the films and on Will’s actions. My time is valuable as well as yours, who wants to listen to this stuff.      FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE TELECAST one could tell things were off kilter; though, I loved Amy’s joke about taking too long to undress from her Spiderman outfit, asking if she missed anything. I felt the choices for the winners made sense and I was fine with them. One thing I have a hard time with is when celebrities in a confused state are brought onto the stage for a tribute or to speak in front the audience. It was obvious there was some confusion going on with Liza Minnelli. However, I will give credit to Lady Gaga for handling it in such a way as to maintain Liza’s dignity. But as I was cozy on the couch, I could not help feeling like I found a precious jewel that had a flaw in it. The value of it was lessened and my enjoyment level was not at its usual peak. Having gone past its scheduled time and with the feelings I was experiencing, as soon as they said goodnight I jumped up and quickly got ready to go to bed. This telecast will always be remembered for the poor behavior and lack of respect on display. They are movies, pure entertainment and that is all I want out of them. I hope the academy can get to a place where this show once again is a celebration of movies instead of a display of egos.