#OscarsFanFavorite: how the Academy’s plea for popularity fell into chaos

In an attempt to lure more viewers to the increasingly unwatched Oscars ceremony, a hashtag award has been introduced and quickly transformed into a circus

Unless you happen to have a vested interest in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it's plain to see that the Oscars are trapped in a death spiral. Viewers are abandoning the ceremony in record numbers and, after last year's debacle - a bizarre jokeless gushfest held in a train station - it's hard to see how they will ever return.

Fortunately, the Academy braintrust has schemed up two dramatic changes to this year's ceremony that should help to bring things back into line. The first is that a bunch of awards won't actually be televised live but edited into the broadcast, which will help to make the show's runtime far less punishing. The second change, though, has already backfired.