Norm Macdonald, Bob Saget, and Ed Asner were left out of the Oscars In Memoriam tribute
But don’t worry, Betty White received a special tribute from Jamie Lee Curtis and a dog
Film News Ed Asner
“In Memoriam” segments on awards shows are tricky to get right: you can’t honor every single artist who’s no longer with us. There’s always bound to be a notable name excluded.
The 94th annual Oscars ceremony this past Sunday was no different, with many fans expressing outrage at the omission of Bob Saget, Norm Macdonald, Ed Asner, Robert Downey Sr., and more from the list. Sharp-eyed Twitter users began decrying Saget’s omission within moments of the segment’s conclusion; the star of Full House and host of America’s Funniest Home Videos died on January 9.
Since the Oscars are meant to celebrate the big screen, it’s often the case that talent known predominantly for their work on television don’t make the In Memoriam cut. (So here’s hoping that Saget, Macdonald, and Mary Tyler Moore Show star Asner get their special tributes at this year’s Emmy Awards.)
If it’s any consolation to their fans, the Academy’s website includes them on a more exhaustive list of all recently deceased contributors to cinema’s legacy. With critics bemoaning overly long awards ceremonies, it’s understandable that Oscar telecast producers would opt for an abbreviated version.
Speaking of those producers, in keeping with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ desire to shake up ceremony proceedings—plus broadcaster ABC’s desire to bring TV ratings back from an all-time low—the In Memoriam segment was an unusual one.
Instead of a slideshow and solemn musical number, a joyous gospel choir singing Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” underscored the names, faces, and clips appearing onscreen behind them. And receiving special tributes were the late Sidney Poitier, honored by Tyler Perry; Ivan Reitman, honored by Bill Murray; and Betty White, honored by Jamie Lee Curtis—and, distractingly, her dog, Mac N Cheese. White, surely, would have had the perfect quip to poke fun at this bizarro moment in Oscar telecast history.
56 Comments
I’m sure Norm would have told them to piss off with that bullshit anyhow.
You know who likes the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars? Crack whores.
“you guessed it, Frank Stallone”
This year’s curator of the Oscar In Memoriam list? That’s right, Frank Stallone.
Frank Stallone?! Someone call Spoony!
You guessed it, Frank Stallone.
And David Hasselhoff.Which means that, by the transitive property, Germans love the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars.
I blame the Germans!
What a slap in the face to their memories.
The necro-montage is usually my favourite part of this thing but I don’t want it peppy. Gimme that old-time somber necro-montage!
Dancing was a… unique choice this year.
I didn’t watch. Was it like the mournful dancers from The Running Man after SubZero dies?
“Now. . .Plain Zero!”
I wish.
White women boppin’ in velvet suits was definitely not the tribute mood I expected, to be sure.
Nice anti-spunk h/t to Asner.
Seems like “these are all people better known for things other than their film roles” is a fine reason to leave them out of something that’s always going to be limited in who it include.
There’s too much awfulness going on in the world right now to be even remotely bothered that someone known almost exclusively for their work on television wasn’t mentioned at an awards show exclusively for film.
Yeah, I’m not upset they also left out Arthur and DW from the montage. I’m assuming they died.
Worse- DW’s a cop.
This is blatant Dirty Work erasure.
The Academy needs a punch in the stomach.
It’s a little crazy that Artie Lange outlived Saget and Macdonald.
Hadn’t thought of it before but you’re right
…and Half Baked!
To be fair, the primary reaction to the movie Dirty Work has been forgetting about it.
Someday, but incredibly not yet, we’ll decry Lange’s exclusion.
Every year I always go who’d they forget this time? The morning after I looked at my dad and went oh fuck it was Ed Asner. (My dad looks like Ed Asner so much its profile pic at work) Which is especially egregious since Betty White was included and he was in the same show! He also almost created a Best Voice Acting Oscar due to Up, which would have been nice. How dare you disrespect my boy Cosgrove!
The We Hate Movies podcast calls is “Getting Farina’d”
Ive used that phrase a lot since first discovering it. Its absolutely perfect and also forces people to watch Get Shorty and his amazing performance as Ray Barbony.
I liked him in Snatch, too.Customs official: “Anything to declare, sir?”Farina: “Yeah…never go to England!”
Not even a controversy. The Emmys tribute is clearly where they belong.
Then why was Betty White included?
You say that like it disproves my point. I think it just indicates that Betty White also shouldn’t have been in it.
But we all know the real answer: They will bend the guidelines depending on how famous someone was, and she was top-tier.
Lake Placid?
I didn’t much care for the chorus. I’ve always thought the in memoriam segment worked best as a solemn, poignant interlude. That said, if they wanted to try something different with the chorus, that in and of itself didn’t really bother me.What did bother me is that they made the chorus be the focus. Most of the time the slideshow was way off in the distance where you couldn’t even read it. If the point is to show the people who died, then make it where we can actually see them.
After all the horrible people the Academy still honored, it turns out that the line is if you raped and murdered a girl in 1990.
I still can’t believe Ed Asner got away with that!
Shit, you can walk on stage and smack someone in the face and they’ll give you an award an hour later.
Leaving people out has long been controversial. For example, Oscar-nominated character actor Michael J. Pollard died a few years ago, and there was zero mention of his passing. Sometimes they are mentioned elsewhere though, like at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
I thought being nominated made you a shoo in.Seems like there’s always a set dresser or something that got nominated years ago.
The best worst example is Abe Vigoda. I like to think the producers genuinely thought he had died years prior.
It’s column A, column B of “assumed he had been dead for years” and “this is just another Conan O’Brien bit”
Celebrated film actress Betty White
Lake Placid is a classic.
Her resurgence would have been nowhere without it.
So here’s hoping that Saget, Macdonald, and Mary Tyler Moore Show star Asner get their special tributes at this year’s Emmy Awards.
Given that Asner and Macdonald died before last years Emmys and were part of that In Memoriam I’m thinking they won’t be in this years. Saget definitely will be.
That was a long list, and I had no idea.
Why is there no sound on this video?
Betty White’s not dead. She just had a big spread in People Magazine.
How do you know she had a big spread? You the ghost of Allen Ludden or something?
I realize it seems strange to switch from a solemn somber song to a joyous celebratory song, but IMO, the more traditional somber song is a weirder choice. I really like the idea of a funneral as a celebration of someone’s life, as oppose to being some tragedy (I mean when someone dies of old age and not if it is an actual tragic death / young person).
Given all of these people’s amazing contribution’s to filmmaking, why would the song be anything but joyous and celebratory?? People get too attached to their obsession with holding on to special people in their life and never moving forward / wanting to freeze time.
Isn’t Betty White know primarily for her television work (some of it with Ed Asner)?
The academy when this was brought to their attention:
Even though he did a couple of movies, credit to Saget for staying true to himself and focusing more on standup and TV instead of trying to do more “serious” work. And sure, he could have cozied up to the right press people to be more widely acclaimed, or kissed up to some producer to get added on to some Oscar-bait film, but he wasn’t so addicted to fame that he was going to suck some dick for Academy recognition.