Congratulations are clearly in order. After decades of being overlooked, underestimated and sometimes just flat-out ignored, a Hollywood mainstay is finally getting some richly deserved recognition. Bravo!
No, not to for that to the Academy for making sure the world’s last remaining movie star will turn up for its next broadcast.
Let’s face it, at this point the need Cruise more than Cruise needs an Oscar, particularly an honorary one, which frequently go to stars of more mature vintage got one last year, at 97). In recent times, the show’s numbers — to say nothing of its cultural relevance — have been on the same spiraling trajectory as that biplane Cruise dangled from in the latest Mission: Impossible movie. Viewership has fallen some 66 percent since the Oscars’ peak in 1998 (Titanic year), with only about 20 million tuning in these days, about the same audience that turns out for a run-of-the-mill midseason NFL game.