> Pro: Fabulous stage. Some good one-liners from Crystal, especially in the apparently improvised "what celebs in the audience are thinking" segment. Hipper orchestra. Few horrible outfits aside from Cameron Diaz and Erykha Badu. Longer clips of the nominated pics and performances -- major points for that. And a general sense of moving things along between segments, unlike last year's seemingly endless waits; having the offstage Peter Coyote announce many of the presenters via voice-over certainly helped.

Note that I only actually watched the preshow (hey, I like to critique everyone's outfit), Billy Crystal's opening, and one of the nominated movies (in *any* category - The Sixth Sense). But I caught a few minutes of it here and there, and I agree with you. But I think my favorite part was the dresses on the guys from South Park. (Cameron Diaz - bleh. "Hello, I'm Cameron Diaz, and these are my breasts.")

-Fob"I refuse to watch an awards show longer than the movies it's honoring"ulis