the popular culture. everybody went to the movies and everyone cared. that is no longer true. it's been a real crisis of relevance for the academy in part because i think the movies are less relevant. people go to the cinemas now to see big tempo movies like avatar, top gun. there are much fewer movies that wed the oscars to popular culture. i mean, when you think about the '80s and '90s, movies like terms of endearment, forrest gump, these big hits that weren't franchises, people went out and saw them. and so when the academy nominations came out every year, people had seen those movies. if i get an interviewee, would you go to that instead of the package? i spent several years intermittently broadcasting live from the red carpet. it was a thrill... ah, sorry, say that again? ..and a privilege, but fraught with technical difficulty. can you hear me? do you hear me? the red carpet had grown to become almost as important