I'm one of the billion people who watch the show, not part of the film community, so my perspective is that of an audience member.
However, I do have a background in live theatre, so I have some knowledge of what it takes to put on a play or a musical.
So below the orange squiggle is how I would run the Oscars if I had total control.
THE NEW RULES:
1. ADD an award for Ensemble Cast -- I stole this from other award shows, but it's a really good idea. Sometimes the best thing about a film is that it's perfectly cast, and everybody works so well together that it's impossible to single out one performance as outstanding.
2. Almost every year, the Best Song category nominees consist of: one decent song, two mediocre songs, and two songs so lousy that they make "If I Could Talk to the Animals" sound like a work of genius.
So I would limit the nominees in this category to THREE, except in years where the votes for a fourth song were really close to the number of votes for the third song, leaving an option to add a fourth song in case it was a better-than-average year for song-writing. This would also get rid of two embarrassingly bad production numbers on Oscar night.
3. Restore credibility to the Best Picture category by going back to five nominees. Does anyone seriously believe that there are ten great movies every year? This is purely a commercial ploy, and unworthy of the Academy.
Again, in the event of a really close vote between a fifth and sixth nominee, I'd allow the option for six nominees in a rare banner year of outstanding movies.
4. Cut some of the lame jokes and banter between presenters, and give them more worthwhile commentary to read on the Teleprompters. And I know the fashionistas want to see them take a long walk out on the stage so they can see the gowns, but think of the time it would save if the presenters entered from stage right or left and took the shortest route to the microphones.
5. Some of the most moving and memorable moments from past Oscars shows have been the speeches given by winners of the Lifetime Achievement and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian awards.
Last night, these awards were demoted to the same status as the technical awards -- I'm hoping this was because Maureen O' Hara was in a wheelchair and very frail at 94 (why did they wait so long to honor her?) and Hayao Miyazaki accepted his award in Japanese, and not because the Academy is making a permanent change. I wanted to see montages of the work for which O'Hara and Miyazaki were being honored, and to hear Harry Belafonte's acceptance speech for his Humanitarian award -- surely a better move on a night when many people already thought that "Selma" wasn't getting its due?
6. I would also restore the film clip format to the "In Memoriam" segment, and cut that generic song -- it wasn't nearly as meaningful as seeing clips that remind us why we should remember the people who died. It's nice to honor people who did great work as agents or marketing executives, but if you don't connect them with a picture of who they represented or what film they successfully marketed, it doesn't mean much even to the industry audience in the auditorium.
7. I rule that the Host has to appear fully dressed at all times -- I like Neil Patrick Harris, but it really wasn't his night, and parading him in his underwear was a real low point.
8. Safety issue: change the stairs up to the stage to RAMPS -- no more women falling off their 5 inch heels, or men slipping as they rush to get up there. And some of the winners aren't so young. Yes I know that means making the stage a little smaller, but remember I'm cutting at least two big production numbers.
So, now it's your turn -- what would YOU do if you ruled the Academy Awards?