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Unlike last year, when Oppenheimer was a lock to win for best picture, this year no one was sure what would win the top award, with Anora, Conclave and The Brutalist all having a real shot. Also, the best actor race was unsettled. When A Complete Unknown star Timothée Chalamet won in that category at the SAG Awards one week before Oscar night, it made people think he might just score an Oscar-night upset over the season’s front-runner, Adrien Brody for The Brutalist. Best actress was also up in the air, with Mikey Madison (Anora) and Demi Moore (The Substance) locked in a tight race.

This is the second year in a row that a lead acting winner at the SAG Awards faltered at the Oscars. Last year, Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) won at the SAG Awards, but then lost to Emma Stone (Poor Things) at the Oscars. By contrast, in the two years before that, all four SAG acting winners went on to repeat at the Oscars. That’s good for them, but it’s a little bit predictable (read: boring) for most of the audience.

Conan O’Brien was hosting for the first time, which may have made people want to tune in to see what and how he would do. Jimmy Kimmel hosted last year for the fourth time. He’s always a genial and entertaining host, but in O’Brien there was the element of the unknown. He might be great (which by most accounts, he was) or he might falter as David Letterman did in 1995 when he hosted.

Many in the music community were unhappy when Oscar producers announced that they would not book performances of the five nominated songs. But no one can say that music got short shrift on this show. The producers just used that airtime to spotlight songs that are far better-known than this year’s five nominated songs (not one of which was a hit by most standard definitions of that term).

The opening sequence of Ariana Grande singing the immortal “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, Cynthia Erivo singing “Home” from The Wiz and the two stars teaming on “Defying Gravity” from Wicked was flawless. The three-song medley of James Bond themes – LISA of BLACKPINK singing “Live and Let Die,” Doja Cat singing “Diamonds Are Forever” and RAYE singing “Skyfall” – was also first-rate. The only music number that disappointed was Queen Latifah’s “Ease on Down the Road” (also from The Wiz, and sung here as a tribute to Quincy Jones). That song requires fire, and on this night, Latifah didn’t bring much.

The producers were ruthless in nixing performances of the best original song nominees, but sometimes producers have to be that way if they want to maximize the show’s entertainment value.

The show announced the names of most of the performers and presenters on the show, but they held back some key names, which added to the element of surprise. They had not announced that Mick Jagger would present best original song, or that Quentin Tarantino would announce best director or that Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan would reteam to present best picture – all inspired choices.

Other presenters who had not been announced: Mark Hamill, Daryl Hannah, and Miley Cyrus & Miles Teller. The producers could not have known that they’d be calling on Morgan Freeman, who was an apt choice to salute fellow acting great Gene Hackman, who was found dead on Feb. 26, just four days before the show.

In a Zoom call with reporters a few days before the show, Raj Kapoor, the show’s executive producer and showrunner, did his best to answer questions without actually revealing anything. (He should go into politics.) “I mean we absolutely love the element of surprise,” he said. “What I can say is [that even with] every presenter and every performer that’s already been announced, there’s still more to come. There are people that are not going to be announced,” he teased. “You will have to keep a sharp eye out for a few different cameos that happen throughout the evening.”

Timothée Chalamet didn’t get a chance to deliver an acceptance speech, but he may have had more close-up reaction shots than any other celebrity in Oscar history. Seated in the front row in a canary-yellow suit, he laughed agreeably at all the many (mostly gentle) jokes about his age (he’s 29, but looks even younger), Bob Dylan’s singing voice and more. Demi Moore likewise didn’t win, but also brought star-power to the proceedings.