hosted the 71st Academy Awards Riding on the success of the
previous year's ceremony which garnered record-high viewership figures and several
Emmys, AMPAS sought changes to the festivities that would help build upon this recent success. In June 1998, Academy president
Robert Rehme announced that the show would be held on a Sunday for the first time in history. AMPAS and network
ABC hoped to capitalize on the high television ratings and viewership that benefit programs airing on that particular day of the week. The Academy also stated that the move to Sunday would ease concerns about traffic gridlock and transportation that are significantly lower on weekends. The following January,
Gil Cates was selected as a producer of the telecast. He immediately selected Oscar-winning actress
Whoopi Goldberg as host of the 1999 ceremony. Cates explained his decision to bring back Goldberg as host saying, "The audience adores Whoopi and that affection, plus Whoopi's extraordinary talent makes her a terrific host for the show." In a statement, Goldberg expressed that she was honored and excited to be selected to emcee the telecast commenting, "I am thrilled to escort Oscar into the new millennium. Who would have thought that I would be hosting the last Oscar telecast of the century? It's a huge deal." In addition to supervising the Best Song nominee performances, choreographer
Debbie Allen produced a dance number featuring five dancers from around the world showcasing the nominees for Best Original Dramatic Score. For the first time, the Academy produced its own
pre-show that preceded the main telecast. Produced by Dennis Doty, the half-hour program was hosted by actress
Geena Davis and
CNN reporter
Jim Moret. Similar to coverage of red carpet arrivals on networks such as
E!, the pre-show featured interviews with nominees and other guests, recaps of nominations and segments highlighting behind-the-scenes preparations for the telecast.
Box office performance of nominees At the time of the nominations announcement on February 9, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees was $302 million with an average of $60.4 million per film.
Saving Private Ryan was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $194.2 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by
Shakespeare in Love ($36.5 million),
The Thin Red Line ($30.6 million),
Elizabeth ($21.5 million), and finally
Life is Beautiful ($18.4 million). The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were
Armageddon (1st), ''A Bug's Life
(5th), Patch Adams
(12th), Mulan
(13th), The Mask of Zorro
(17th), The Prince of Egypt
(18th), The Horse Whisperer
(24th), What Dreams May Come
(37th) and Pleasantville
(49th). The Washington Post'' television critic
Tom Shales bemoaned that Goldberg "spent a great deal of time laughing at her own jokes, many of which were dirty, a few dirty." He also lambasted the host's presentation of the five Best Costume Design nominees calling it time-consuming and tasteless. Film critic John Hartl of
The Seattle Times lamented that the telecast "was the longest and possibly the dullest Oscar show of the century, clocking in at four hours." Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Television columnist Robert Bianco of
USA Today commended Goldberg's hosting performance writing that he liked "the sharper, more socially conscious edge Goldberg brings."
The Boston Globe television critic Matthew Gilbert commented, "It was the perfect year with more than enough Hollywood intrigue and a battle for her to play off."
Ratings and reception The American telecast on ABC drew an average of 45.51 million viewers over its length, which was an 18% decrease from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 78.10 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. It also drew a lower 1849 demo rating with an 18.85 rating over a 37.31 share among viewers in that demographic. In July 1999, the show received seven nominations at the
51st Primetime Emmy Awards. Two months later, the ceremony won two of those nominations for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program (
Roy Christopher and Stephen Olson) and Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special (Robert Dickinson, Robert T. Barnhart, Andy O'Reilly, Matt Ford). =="In Memoriam"==