This year’s Oscars could be fun. Really.

As the Academy Awards (March 12 on ABC) get closer, the signs are encouraging: This time, these people want to entertain us.
That hasn’t always been the case, you know. Two years ago, the main ceremony swept everything aside; it had no host, no songs, no fun.
That concluded a three-year stretch of hostless gloom. The Oscars bounced back last year with three hosts and some splendid songs from Beyonce, Billie Eilish and Reba McEntire. And now:
— Already announced is music from Rihanna (shown here), from Sofia Carson, from the actors in “RRR” and from a combination including David Byrne and the Son Lux band. With luck, Lady Gaga is next.
— Jimmy Kimmel finally returns to host. He always brings moments of sharp humor.
— And there will even be a post-Oscars “American Idol” hour that night. It will be after the late news in most time periods, but before the news on the West Coast.
The Oscars need entertainment. As Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild awards illustrated, acceptance speeches can deteriorate into dreary recitations of lists. Viewers need a clever monolog at the start, plus funny moments scattered throughout; we also need music.
For three years, there was no host and little fun. In 2021, the nominated songs were exiled to the preview hour. The show was held in a train station and the people probably wished they could just catch a train home.
Unlike previous years, that telecast planned to end not with best-picture, but with best-actor … allowing an emotional moment with Chadwick Boseman’s widow accepting. Alas, the winner turned out to be Anthony Hopkins, who was back at home in the British Isles, asleep.
By then, most viewers were asleep, too. The telecast drew only 10.4 million viewers – less than half the previous season and one-third of the 2017 total.
Fortunately, things returned to semi-normal last year. There were three hosts – Amy Schumer was excellent, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall were OK – plus lots of music. The ceremony skipped a Van Morrison song from “Belfast,” but had two songs (one not even nominated) from “Encanto.”
Now we can hope for more. Carson will sing “Applause,” from “Tell It Like a Woman”; Rihanna will sing “Lift Me Up,” from “Wakanda Forever.” The actors from the Indian movie “RRR” will sing “Naatu Naatu,” an upbeat song that became a global hit. And “This Is a Life,” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” will be performed by two of its songwriters – Byrne and Ryan Lott (via his Son Lux trio), plus Stephanie Hsu, an actress in the film. Next could be Lady Gaga doing “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Two of those films remind us why there might be more viewers this year. The ratings are higher if there are nominees that people have actually seen. This year’s best-picture nominees include a few – “Wakanda,” “Maverick” and “Elvis” – that scored big, despite the box-office slump.
Chances are, those films won’t win. But they’ll attract viewers … who will have some laughs, hear some music and remember that the Oscars really can be fun.