It's been a long and trying winter, at least here in the Pacific Northwest, and spring is waiting in the wings. And so are film and TV actors, directors, producers, writers, and crew, that is, anxiously waiting for the biggest game in Tinseltown to arrive- the 2023 Academy Awards Show.

The 95th Oscars show will be on Sunday, March 12 this year, somewhat earlier than previous presentations scheduled toward the end of the month. The program will come from Hollywood live on ABC. Last year's Oscars received lots of buzz for a couple of reasons.

Comedians Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes joined award-winning actress Regina Hall to host the long-running show. By all accounts, the women did a competent job and were engaging. But the flow of the show was interrupted when actor/comedian Will Smith ran onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock in his face for a comment Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia. Smith thought the comment about his wife went over the line. He was since apologized but has been banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Will Smith also resigned from the Motion Picture Academy. However, he could still get a nomination for his lead as the slave named Peter in the movie "Emancipation."

Ironically, this slap seem around the world gave the show a rating boost. It created drama and was unscripted.

That's what I loved as a kid. I looked forward to sitting in front of the TV with a tub of popcorn, admiring the glitz and glamour of the show. It was exciting to see celebrities like Paul Newman and Sally Field accepting gold trophies. And the entertainment had a wow factor that seemed to be lacking in later productions. Ratings were high back in the day. Over the past few years, the once heavily viewed show has dropped in ratings, and TV is all about Arbitron. Despite this, the Academy Awards are on par with ratings such as NFL games grab. 

The Academy continues to promote its show because it still gets ratings in a business where numbers are dropping because of streaming. This year, late night's Jimmy Kimmel will host, as he did in 2017 and 2018. I imagine producers are hoping last year's debacle will encourage more viewers. They are banking on Kimmel to do the job. 

Who watches the Oscars? I was quite surprised to learn that it includes a strong demographic of young viewers (Gen Z) who are liberal (not as surprising because Hollywood is associated with liberalism). The Forbes article of 2019 mentioned that the larger youthful audience might have been due to the release of "Black Panther" that year, starring the late Chadwick Boseman.

Nominees will not be announced until January 24, but predictions on winners are already coming out. Variety Magazine has named these six films, — “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár” and “Top Gun: Maverick" as their top picks.