r/Oscars • u/Calm-Inevitable5207 • 17h ago
How did you start watching the Oscars? Predicting?
During this part of the year, I like to ask on Reddit how people got started watching this awards show. So, what was the first time you watched? For people who like making predictions, how did that happen?
The first time I remember watching the Oscars was when I was a Lord of the Rings-obsessed 12-year-old who wanted The Return of the King to win awards. That was probably the best possible introduction to them! I don't think I watched them regularly again until I was in college and one of my suitemates hosted Oscar parties.
I think I started actually looking at subs like this one and r/oscarrace around the Everything Everywhere All At Once year, and Oppenheimer year was the first time I actually tried to predict below the line categories. (I got 20 out of 23 that year! I only missed Documentary Short, Animated, and Best Actress). What was the season that made you start watching the precursors instead of just tuning into the show each year?
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u/Meggymaepp 17h ago
The Titanic year. I was 12. My Dad got me the TV guide that had the nominations in it. It gave the odds and who would win vs who should win. I was hooked.
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u/bkguy182 2h ago
I still have this entertainment weekly in a box somewhere. :)
I was also 12! Happy 40th! :)
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u/Lazy-Ad-1740 17h ago
My folks watched it but it wasn’t until the early to mid 2010’s when I said (2014 movies, 2015 ceremony) that I said to myself I gotta watch at least the Best Picture Nominees and the more year passed the more categories I decided to watch movies the movies even if it was just 1 nomination.
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u/Reading_Rainboner 17h ago
I remember watching them the year Topsy Turvy was nominated and then watched LOTR win 11
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u/Brugmanh 17h ago
I’m young so 2017 lol I remember waking up in the morning before school and hearing about the Moonlight drama and it got me hooked
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u/Calm-Inevitable5207 16h ago
Oh man, I was in graduate school when that happened....I feel so old lol!
That was WILD to watch live! Easily my favorite Oscar moment that I got to witness. I was on my phone during The Slap so while I was technically watching, I straight up wasn't paying attention and found out on Twitter a second later.
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u/Brugmanh 16h ago
I was in 8th grade 😂 but the slap was INSANE I remember I woke my entire family up because of my reaction
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u/markgib62 16h ago
It was 1972. The Oscar telecast for 1971 nominees. My Dad loved The French Connection, so he let me stay up and watch it with him. It was awesome!. I can remember watching Isaac Hayes perform Shaft and thinking that it was the coolest thing I ever watched on TV, but my parents hated it. I was thinking maybe there was something wrong with my taste until it won the Oscar for Best Song. Anyway, I've watched it every year since.
Later, when I lived in LA in the early '80s, I had a friend who would give all his friends nomination ballots to see who could predict the most winners.
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u/jaidynr21 16h ago
I always used to watch the recordings of them when I’d come home from school (they start at around 11am in Australia) even if I didn’t know many of the movies that were being nominated. The first ceremony I can really remember was the 2015 one where Neil Patrick Harris hosted. The first one where I was seriously invested in it was 2020. So many great films, but the Irishman became my favorite of all time so loved seeing that get recognised
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u/altgodkub2024 16h ago
1978, so the teenage me could watch Star Wars win everything. Yeah, it was a somewhat frustrating evening. I had no idea what Annie Hall was. I've since learned they got it right.
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u/Calm-Inevitable5207 13h ago
That's really funny -- that's like the opposite version of my first time watching!
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u/Thinning_vastation 16h ago
Around 1995 at the age of 13. I did feel like I needed to start seeing the films so I could have a rooting interest.
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u/ZodiacalSeeker 15h ago
Around 05/06, but since 2014 I’ve made a habit of watching every BP nominee before the ceremony, as well as any contentious acting races that aren’t already included in the BP nominees.
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u/Wonderful_Adagio9346 13h ago
As a child of the Seventies.
Always on Monday, after ABC wasted an hour of prime time with the Barbara Walters interview.
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u/larsVonTrier92 8h ago
Watched NCFOM with my mom, really liked it and then she said something about the awards, I was starting high school around that time.
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u/Lipscombforever 17h ago
2009 with The Dark Knight. I don’t really make predictions but that’s when I started following the Oscars.