I give Jon Stewart about a C minus as host. Not a strong monologue, and he seemed determined not to venture too far from his lectern. Too many better-on-paper jokes.

Having had a moment to think about it, I'm a little surprised that the political content was as muted as it was, given the Iraq war and the way a lot of Hollywood feels about President Bush.

Relatively efficient telecast, coming in at 3 1/2 hours.  But you have to wonder why the movie academy keeps claiming that it will finish in three hours.

Good stuff: Opening sketch, Clooney's acceptance, Ben Stiller, Lily and Meryl, Reese's acceptance, the "Pimp" acceptance.

Bad stuff: Three high points were in the first hour. Misspelling Will Ferrell's name. Lauren Bacall. "Pimp" overly edited for broadcast. (Make that "Pimp" edited for broadcast, period. If the words scare the academy, then put some content rules in the nomination process.) Cutting off the best-picture producers.

Preshow: Thank goodness for Keira Knightley. Should have been more finery on view. Wish I had recorded Joan Rivers's chat with Ludacris.

Look later for a podcast from me and George Thomas. You're a beautiful audience! Goodnight!

I so hope Jon Stewart wasn't kidding about running out of film clips.

I like Lily and Meryl making affectionate fun of Robert Altman's directing style. It's better than his acceptance speech, although the old fox manages to get in plugs for his latest play and movie. Of course, I also love a lot of Altman's movies. (Memo: See if "Brewster McCloud" is on Netflix.) I also know that Altman's career has included stretches in television — the wonderful "Tanner '88, a nifty "Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" — but you don't get to hear about that on the movie industry's night.

But we did get more film clips!

And yes, they have held "Pimp" for late in the East-Coast evening.

Ludacris introduces the song. At least he's in "Hustle & Flow." And what was that, 3 seconds before we got an audio drop? Toned-done lyrics. But THIS is a real Oscar song performance, thanks to the cheeseball Vegasy choreography and costumes. OK, now go rent the movie and see how it should be done.

IT WINS THE OSCAR!!!!! And the acceptance speech comes not only with a bleep but a really boisterous expression of joy from the accepters. Now you really have to see the movie. Stewart nails it, saying that's how you accept an Oscar.

Oh, no, not another attack-ad parody. Time to see if … yup, Cavs won.

Best things about the Oscars at this point: It's moving along, so we may finish at a reasonable hour. And that "Hard Out Here for a Pimp" win has energized Stewart; good line about Martin Scorsese.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, shielding his eyes with the award announcement. It's almost as if his character in "Magnolia" won the Oscar. (And Hoffman's been owed one since that movie, and before.) Extra points for citing Van Morrison.

John Travolta had a little trouble with the word "memoirs."

Reese Witherspoon. (I hate those voice-overs offering tidbits about the winners.) Oh, she's such a sweetie. The camera's on her husband — AND she remembers to thank him! Nice line: "I'm just trying to matter."

Adapted screenplay. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, "Brokeback." McMurtry is one of my writing gods, so I am glad to see him win, well, anything, even a movie that recalls "Lonesome Dove" — and pales next to it. But it's good to hear him remind the people watching television to read, too.

"Crash" for original screenplay. Paul Haggis gets an Oscar. Could this please, please lead to the release of "EZ Streets" on DVD — and maybe a revival of it?

This ceremony is now longer than it was last year, but still within reasonable Oscar limits. (The record is apparently 4 hours and 16 minutes.)

Ang Lee wins. Not a bad acceptance speech, but not one for the ages.

Nicholson has his fun. And ends up out of sync with the nominee clips for it.

Oh, gosh, "Crash" wins best picture. The people are almost as excited as the guys who won best song. It's an amazing movie, by the way — and, I have to say it, better than "Brokeback."

And now that Paul Haggis has won another Oscar, the "EZ Streets" DVD is mandatory.

The loud music is cutting off the best-picture acceptance. THE BEST PICTURE ACCEPTANCE. For pete's sakem, it's the biggest award of the night, and this telecast is not setting a record for length unless the acceptance goes another hour. And they sure had time for some more commercials.

Stewart's joke about the Oscar statue and democracy was a little funny. Or I had just saved up a sympathy chuckle.

Best supporting actress. Memo to self: Time to take the shrink wrap off that "Constant Gardener" DVD and finally watch it. Or get that old paperback of the novel off the shelf and finally read it.

Coming up; the second nominated song. Dare we hope for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"? Or will ABC hold that back for after 10 p.m. (still 7 p.m. on the West Coast).

Commercials. Cavs up 3 in the third.

I love Lauren Bacall's old movies. So sad to see her labor through this "film noir" segment. But in a show that usually runs long, I don't get the point of this segment, except to drive a lot of people to Netflix. And for a genre known for its pace and urgency, the piece feels slow.

I think the Stewart material is coming off as too writerly. I can see the attack-ads parody looking good on paper. Not so good onscreen.

Terrence Howard. Give him an Oscar. I don't care if he won one. Just give him one. Take that talkative makeup guy's. This is Terrence Howard, folks. He's a great actor. Look at his movies — and look how dull he seems here. That's how great an actor he is.

"March of the Penguins" wins. The guys are carrying penguin dolls. What is this, prop night? And it's amazing what a bum's rush the recipients get — Jennifer Lopez is coming onstage as they're still heading off.

Not the "pimp" song yet. But a good one, from "Crash." Kathleen York's a decent actress ("The West Wing") but obviously a strong singer, too. Remember her as Naomi Judd in the "Love Can Build a Bridge" TV-movie?

A series of clips from issues movies makes sense this year, I suppose, And I welcome any excuse to see a clip from "To Kill a Mockingbird." On the other hand, it brings us back to what George Clooney was talking about in his acceptance speech — and reminds us how very long it has been since he made his remarks.

First good comment from Stewart in some time — looking at the clips and saying "and none of those issue was ever a problem again." But Stewart has me thinking of Tiger Woods at Doral today — going to the last hole, knowing that he can bogey and still win the thing. Stewart does not have that luxury. He needs a whole bunch of birdies to turn around his performance.

Stewart's line is even better now that the Academy guy is being windily self-righteous about Hollywood, And it would have been great if Stewart had saved it until after this guy gave his speech. (And what was that whole go-to-the-theaters plea? Don't the studios make tons of money from the DVD's, too?)

Jake Gyllenhaal introduces a segment on epics. And takes ANOTHER shot at watching movies on DVD. Dude, there are movies I would never see if it weren't for DVD. And with a decent-sized set and the lights out — the way we watched "Walk the Line" on Saturday night — it's still a very involving experience. Moreover, I didn't have to ask anyone to be quiet, wonder if my shoes would come unstuck from the floor and remember to bring my debit card in case we wanted popcorn.

And on that rant, we end the second hour.

Show opens with just the sort of fancy tech that this year's best-picture nominees are a reaction against.

Good opening gag with Billy Crystal and Chris Rock (and first "Brokeback" joke of the night), followed by a nice recap of previous hosts. Stewart with Halle is a good gag, too. We're off to a decent start.

Stewart's struggling with the monologue, though. By the Dick Cheney joke, he's getting sympathy applause. I'm sitting at home, and still found myself giving him a sympathy chuckle. The "gay westerns" clip reel had possibilities, but still fell flat.

And now .. the first award. Best supporting actor. George Clooney. "All right, so I'm not winning director," he says, admitting what all the Oscar strategy-analysts in the audience are thinking. And he gives a pretty good speech, setting the bar early for the other acceptances.

Tom Hanks is a very funny man. But not in the acceptance-speech bit.

I was going to get some cake for the visual-effects award, only I had to stay when Ben Stiller came out in the green suit. And the effects-that-isn't-there gag is kind of amusing.

Blah, blah. The bowties on the Wallace & Gromit guys are cute but the adding them to the Oscars is forced.

Ooh, ooh, best song! Do horrors await? Well, there is whatever has happened to Dolly Parton's face. But the song itself is bland, and blandly presented.

I am losing track of how many times the camera has shown Jack Nicholson. Surely someone was clapping along to Dolly's song without looking either awkward (like Jack) or uncomfortable.

Chicken Little. Find a picture of "American Idol's" Kevin Covais, See how apt is Heather Cox's comparison of the two.

All right, around the best-costume stuff, I began to fade. Went elsewhere online for a moment. Cavs trail at the half by two.

Russell Crowe. He may have a bad rep in some circles, but he cleans up for the Oscars.

Want proof that comic actors have trouble getting respect from the movie industry? The Oscar graphic misspelled Will Ferrell's last name, Unfortunately, the makeup joke — with Steve Carell — didn't offer much reason to correct the spelling.

And we have gotten through the first hour — ending with a long acceptance speech from some makeup guy,

Felicity Huffman chats. Which, of course, gives ABC an excuse to show off other actresses from "Desperate Housewives." Felicity gets teary at the sight, tells ABC flack that "you ruined my makeup." Fair enough. This show is ruining my evening.

The clip from "Good Night, and Good Luck" is messed up. David Strathairn is terse, opening up for a question about the smoking he has to do in the movie. I've been a Strathairn fan going back to his years in the John Sayles repetory company.

Wow, Jake Gyllenhaal is noting that redundant questions lead to stock answers! No doubt he has stocked up for the night.

ABC is devoting a lot of promo time to "Miracle Workers."

Ah, more honesty: Rachel Weisz admits that she has no answer to a question about what advice her obstetrician gave her. (She's pregnant.) Then says, "I was about to make something up."

Fashion overview — only the few gowns involved are ones that we saw earlier in the preshow.

Eric Bana, asked what he hopes to see: "I hope to see a lot of blood spilled." If they let the actors cut loose tonight, this might be fun after all.

Late last night I watched "Good Night, and Good Luck." Today I sat through "Brokeback Mountain." I am trying to get my Oscar-telecast game face on. Of course, the anticipation of all that earnestness and solemnity has forced me to cleanse the movie palate, so right now I am watching "Caddyshack" on HDNet Movies.

Cleansing is done, and I have turned to "Oscar Countdown." This is the bride's favorite part, because she likes to look at the gowns. So far, though, she is thumbs-down on Keira Knightley and Amy Adams, and has shouted "NOOOOO!" at Naomi Watts. I am feeling more kindly toward Knightley, because she has a sense of self-mockery and humor that is largely lacking in the Oscar pre-show hosts. Billy Bush did not know what to do with Knightley's banter.

"YUCH!" screams the bride. Helena Bonham Carter is in her sights. "If I had the money to buy any gown I wanted … " the bride says.

Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger. Williams looks grossly over-made up. Bush sounds as if he is reading his comments off of cards.

Jada looks good. (Bride concurs.) Will is coolly whimsical. But the show still has 45 minutes to fill before the Oscars really start. Now they're running a series of clips from movies with monkeys and apes, tied to "King Kong." Nor is this the first time "Kong" has been brought up. They must be trying to showcase a movie that most of the audience actually saw.

Commercials, More blah blah. Recap of the best-actor nominees. And now the "top critics" — Leonard Maltin, Joel Siegel and someone I don't recognize. The bride is miffed. "Show me the gowns," she declares, "and you'll keep me around."

Over to TV Guide Channel. Joan Rivers is talking about hip-hop with Ludacris. Much funnier than anything on ABC.

I dutifully return to ABC. Commercial. Back to TV Guide Channel. Joan Rivers is asking Ang Lee if his approach to directing is like Hitchcock's. Melissa is with Cleveland's own Tom O'Neil and with Greg Proops. Melissa plugs the fashion wrap tomorrow night. New categories for the show: "Best rack" and best backside. Back to Joan. Jane Seymour and James Keach (Seymour's husband and a producer of "Walk the Line") stand by as … Joan wraps up her show!

Back, to stay, to ABC. George Clooney affably deals with silly questions. Clip of Terrence Howard, now live with an ABC interviewer. "Is this all a dream come true?" "It's the beginning of a dream come true," he replies. I suspect the interviewer does not know that Howard has been knocking it out of the park in movies and TV for years.

Nice gown on Jennifer Aniston. She's being called a ''style icon." She's asked what she thinks of the movies this year. Manages to answer without mentioning a single movie by name.

The questions for the stars are getting so lame that they can do only one thing: Give lame answers. Which of course means, another clip reel. 23 lonnnnng minutes to go.

You're invited to the Beacon Journal offices in Akron on March 1, when movie writer George Thomas and I will take questions, some of which we might even be able to answer; listen to your comments and bicker. (We are famous around our office for that last category.)

Likely topics will include the February sweeps, the Olympics, the Oscars (which will take place a few days after this event) and, of course, "Brokeback Mountain." But we're open to just about anything.

We will start talking at 7:30 p.m. Tours of the Beacon Journal will also be available before our chat, from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Reservations are not required. Come on down.

As long as I'm engaged in blatant self-promotion, I will be blogging here during the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday. And once they are over, I'll be doing my first podcast.

For about the hundredth time today I heard one of those "Commander in Chief" promos referring to star Geena Davis's Academy Award. And for about the hundredth time I wondered if that should make any difference in your decision to watch the show.

After all, does Davis being billed as an "Oscar winner" mean she is a better actor than Donald Sutherland, who co-stars in the show but is merely an "Emmy winner" in the ads? I don't think so. Nor does her performance in "The Accidental Tourist," which won her the Oscar for best supporting actress, mean that she's going to be convincing as president of the United States in "Commander in Chief."

After all, I'd rather watch her TV series "Buffalo Bill," made before she could be called an "Oscar winner," than "The Geena Davis Show," a sitcom she made post-Oscar. And I'm not excited by what I've seen of "Commander in Chief" so far.

All this then got me thinking about Oscar winners and TV series, specifically people who won the Oscar and then did TV. (A lot of future Oscar winners got their starts on the small screen.)

Some of the people who fall in that category: Walter Brennan (who, by the way, won three supporting-actor Oscars in five years), Burl Ives, Anthony Quinn, Jack Albertson, Louis Gossett Jr., Timothy Hutton, Dianne Wiest, Cloris Leachman, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Wyman, Yul Brynner, Ernest Borgnine, Shirley Booth, James Stewart, Bing Crosby, Sally Field and Mary Steenburgen.

You can probably name some of their series. I doubt you can name them all, since there are some short runs in there. And that should tell you something about the value of an Oscar in a TV career.

Before I tell you why Red Buttons is so great, I have to talk about Mickey Rooney.

On Tuesday, there was a press conference for a PBS show called "Pioneers of Primetime." It airs in November, and seems ripe for pledge breaks, but that's another story.

To promote the show, PBS had a press conference that included Mickey Rooney, Rose Marie, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Red Buttons and longtime director William Asher. Combined age: About 500. Every one of them is over 80. Rose Marie and Asher arrived in wheelchairs, and a frail-looking Caesar carried a cane.

Now, Rooney was an enormously talented actor. But he also loves to talk about himself, even when he is not the subject being discussed. Years ago, I saw him turn a press conference into a pitch session for himself and for projects he would like to do. On Tuesday — with his wife loudly applauding almost every time he spoke — Rooney pontificated, reminisced and generally tried to steal the show from the other show-biz veterans.

At one point, when a reporter asked about Milton Berle and Fred Allen, Rooney said, "Can I answer that?"

"I would be amazed if you didn't," a weary Reiner interjected.

Which brings me to Red Buttons. At 86, Buttons was the oldest person onstage. He was also the funniest and the most entertaining. He not only imitated James Cagney, he stood up and imitated Cagney dancing like George M. Cohan. And, as a smart performer, he read the room — and quickly sensed the impatience with Rooney.

He began needling Rooney for laughs, with Reiner joining in. A lot of the lines have a you-had-to-be-there quality on the page, and they don't include Buttons' facial expressions. But it was astounding, as well as mean. When Rooney introduced his wife from the stage, Buttons said, "Introduce your mistress, too."

Some of Buttons's jokes were ancient. (Recalling wartime service with Rooney, Buttons said, "One day, he saved our entire outfit. He killed a cook.") But he did not really need  Rooney as a foil. He also had jokes about his days in burlesque ("I was the youngest comedian in the history of burlesque. … I billed myself as the only comedian with teeth.") and other topics.

Most importantly, he had a sense of what worked at that press conference, with that crowd. Didn't matter if the jokes wouldn't work on the printed page, or even in the retelling by someone without Buttons's timing. That wasn't where Buttons was playing. He was working the room. And he knew how to work it.