Each year, the Academy Awards season seems to drag on longer and longer as Hollywood stages one black-tie gala after another to honor the year's best achievements in film. The pre-Oscar buzz generated by these star-studded affairs has given shows such as the Golden Globe Awards a status and influence that can affect the Academy Awards race.
Now, the American Film Institute is planning to launch its own prime-time televised awards show Jan. 5 on CBS--two weeks before the Golden Globes on NBC--in a move that is likely to kick-start the Oscar race even sooner.
Called "AFI Awards 2001," the show--to be announced today by the AFI--will mark the first time the institute names its choices for top film of the year, along with best actor, actress, director and other categories.
Meanwhile, a group representing the nation's broadcast film critics plans to upgrade its annual Critics' Choice Awards luncheon to a full-blown gala dinner, which will be taped for airing sometime in January by the E! Entertainment cable network.
The proliferation of awards shows is becoming a concern for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which will host next year's Oscar extravaganza March 24 live on ABC.
"It would be nice to think of ourselves as the climax to a series of playoffs," said Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director. "But the fact is that these awards tend to involve the same films, the same people presenting them, the same people receiving them, and I think we would be naive to think that the specialness of our event wasn't being eroded by the proliferation of these early-year film award shows.
"You don't want to get into a battle about it and tell people you can't come on our show if they go on another show," he added, "but you hope, at some point, that potential presenters themselves may begin to worry about overexposure."
Awards From AFI Likely to Be Coveted
Because of the AFI's high profile in the industry, its awards are likely to be coveted by filmmakers and actors. But AFI Director Jean Picker Firstenberg said it was for others to decide what impact the awards would have on the Oscar race, saying, "I don't think [the awards show] infringes on anyone else in the community at all."
