Spotify
Bruce Vilanch’s Podcast: 1999 – Saving Private Oscar
By Bruce Vilanch & Tex
Feb 18, 2025

On this episode of ‘The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?’ Bruce Vilanch and “Tex” storm the beaches of one of the Academy Awards’ biggest Best Picture controversies. 

Of course we’re talking about the 1999 Oscars, for the films of 1998.  This is known as the year that changed everything thanks to a guy you may have heard of named Harvey Weinstein.  In a shocking upset, a brash, shameless, indie upstart managed to out-campaign the Hollywood elite and take home a best picture Oscar for an artsy film about love and Shakespeare. Using the test of time, many people look back at this year as a complete miscarriage of justice. But was it really? And what other controversies and unbelievable moments took place that evening? Bruce was there and is more than happy to share them with us.  What do you think?  Did Shakespeare deserve Oscar love? Or did Saving Private Ryan “Earn it?”       

MOVIES MENTIONED

From Russia With Love

Shakespeare in Love

Elizabeth

Saving Private Ryan

The African Queen

Life is Beautiful

The Thin Red Line

Armageddon

A Simple Plan

The Truman Show

Affliction

Civil Action 

Apollo 13

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

In Like Flint

Shine

Rushmore

The Big Lebowski

Rocky Horror Picture Show

A Fish Called Wanda

Gods and Monsters

Hillary and Jackie

Little Voice

Primary Colors

Mrs. Brown

Schindler’s List

Amistad

Warhorse

Lincoln

West Side Story

Munich

The Mask of Zorro

Out of Sight

The Big Chill

Mighty Joe Young

King Kong

What Dreams May Come

Pleasantville

Velvet Goldmine

Beloved

The Last Days

Dance Maker

The Farm Angola USA

Lenny Bruce:  Swear to Tell the Truth

Regret to Inform

Prince of Egypt

Patch Adams

Mulan

A Bug’s Life

The Horse Whisperer

Babe: Pig in the City

Skyfall

Barbie

Quest From Camelot

Wicked

Tango

The Grandfather

Children of Heaven

Central Station

Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein

American History X

Two Women

Lord of the Rings

One True Thing

Gia

Bulworth

The Best Years of our Lives

E.T.

The Day the Clown Cried

Guilty By Suspicion

On the Waterfront

Streetcar Named Desire

East of Eden

A Face in the Crowd

Splendor in the Grass

America, America

Gentleman’s Agreement

Viva Zapata

The post Bruce Vilanch’s Podcast: 1999 – Saving Private Oscar first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?
Podcast: Bruce Discusses The 2025 Oscar Nominations
By Mister D
January 25, 2025

On this bonus episode, Bruce Vilanch and “Tex” react, breakdown & discuss the 2025 Oscar nominations for the films of 2024. Who and what made the cut? Who or what was snubbed? Were there any big surprises? Who are the front-runners and why? And which of these films, if any, will we still care about in 10 years???

The post Podcast: Bruce Discusses The 2025 Oscar Nominations first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?
Bruce’s Podcast: 1942 – How Green Was My Oscar?
By Mister D
January 23, 2025

On this episode of ‘The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?’ Bruce and Tex look back at the 1942 Oscars for the films of 1941 — easily one of the greatest years in movie history. And, among those great films is the film often cited as ‘the greatest film of all-time’ — the Stairway to Heaven of movies… Citizen Kane. But, did this Orson Welles masterpiece win the Oscar the year it came out? Find out — as well as hear about all the other great movies that should be on your must-see list!

To learn more about the show, go to Oscars.wtf

Please feel free to leave comments on Spotify and/or reviews on Apple. We’re always open to compliments (and criticism if it’s constructive!)

MOVIES MENTIONED

Gone with the Wind

Deep Throat

Citizen Kane

Mank

How Green was my Valley

Blossoms in the Dust

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Hold Back the Dawn

The Little Foxes

One Foot in Heaven

Sergeant York

The Maltese Falcon

Suspicion

Spellbound

Notorious

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Down to Earth (1947)

Down to Earth (2001)

The Informant

The Grapes of Wrath

Penny Serenade

None but the Lonely Heart

North by Northwest

Charade

His Girl Friday

Father Goose

Arsenic and Old Lace

Casablanca

The African Queen

The Caine Mutiny

The Roaring Twenties

Ball of Fire

The Lady Eve

The More the Merrier

The Devil and Mrs. Jones

The Devil in Miss Jones

Conflict

Shadow of a Doubt

The Great Lie

Miss Miniver

Blood and Sand

Tom, Dick and Harry

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Julia

The Razor’s Edge

Witness for the Prosecution

You’ll Never Get Rich

All American Co Ed

Las Vegas Nights

Sun Valley Serenade

Buck Privates

Blues in the Night

Riding on a Rainbow

Dumbo

Lady Be Good

Last Time I Saw Paris

The post Bruce’s Podcast: 1942 – How Green Was My Oscar? first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

We Got Bruce
Bruce Vilanch: The Oscars: What Were They Thinking? Podcast Starts Tomorrow, Monday, Nov 11, 2024
By Mister D
Nov 10, 2024

Have you watched the Academy Awards and thought… ‘What were they thinking?’ Have you ever wondered how so many of the awards for Best Picture go to one movie when there’s a much better movie staring them in the face? Or, why have so many actors not won Oscars for their best roles? Or, why do so many movies everyone loves and make a ton of money at the box office get no Oscar love while little-seen films rake in nominations and awards? If so, then this is the podcast for you. Co-hosted by legendary comedian, pop-culture icon, and writer of over 25 Oscar telecasts, Mr. Bruce Vilanch, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the nominating process, how and why some winners may have been chosen as well as tons of incredible, never-before-told, backstage stories about the world’s biggest stars on Hollywood’s biggest night. Joining Bruce is screenwriter, producer, podcaster, and film nerd Adam “Tex” Davis, writer of the very non-Oscar nominated movie Just Friends (starring Ryan Reynolds). Together, Bruce and “Tex” break down every Oscar ceremony, year-by-year, award-by-award, to reveal what the Academy got right and wrong, the flubs, snubs, and oversights. Ultimately, they’ll answer the question every movie-loving Academy Awards watcher asks: The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?

Did you know that two of the Top 100 American Films of All-Time came out the same year but weren’t even nominated for an Academy Award? Or that the film often cited as the ‘Greatest Film of All Time’ didn’t win the Oscar in its year? Or that Cuba Gooding Jr. has the same number of acting Oscars as Al Pacino?

Look, stuff happens. But if you’ve ever watched or read about the Academy Awards, you’ve probably been left scratching your head over which movies and performers won – and how many beloved films weren’t even considered.

Why do so many Best Picture winners become some of the least remembered movies? How is it that legendary directors like Stanley Kubrick never won an Oscar? And why do great actors miss out on their best performances, only to win later for less impressive work?

Sure, the Oscars aren’t sports – there’s no scoreboard to show the winners. But with so many Academy members voting, you’d think they’d get it right. Spoiler alert: They often don’t.

On The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?, Bruce Vilanch and Adam “Tex” Davis take a deep dive into Oscar history, looking back at the biggest mistakes, controversies, and snubs. From Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan to Dances with Wolves winning over Goodfellas, we’ll examine where the Academy went wrong.

Along the way, you’ll hear incredible behind-the-scenes stories and never-before-told moments from Hollywood’s biggest night. We’re re-examining each Oscar ceremony, year-by-year, award-by-award, to see what the Academy got right, what they missed, and how we would “fix” the Oscars.

Whether you’re a dedicated movie buff or just a casual fan, this is the podcast for you. Join us for The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?, where we break down the flubs, snubs, and forgotten gems of Oscar history.

It is available on most podcasting formats, including Spotify, Apple, and IHeart. However, you will have to subscribe to these apps to hear it.

The post Bruce Vilanch: The Oscars: What Were They Thinking? Podcast Starts Tomorrow, Monday, Nov 11, 2024 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Hollywood Reporter
Bruce Vilanch, Former Academy Awards Head Writer, to Spill Oscars Tea on Podcast
By Seth Abramovitch
October 28, 2024

Attention Oscar addicts: Bruce Vilanch is launching a new podcast that shares secrets from his 14-year tenure as head writer of the Academy Awards.

On The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?, Vilanch and co-host Adam “Tex” Davis will revisit some of the most controversial chapters from nearly a century of Oscars history. Vilanch’s backstage perch will cover many of those controversies as the telecast’s top scribe.

The first two episodes debut on Nov. 11. A trailer teasing the season was released today.

“If you don’t count sore feet, relatives, or politics, the Oscars are the most complained-about thing in America,” Vilanch tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Some of these complaints are as old as the awards themselves, which means people have been bitching for a hundred years. Here is a place to relive your favorite moments of righteous indignation and discover what really caused them.

“Along the way, there are many backstage stories and revelations from someone who wrote at least a quarter of those shows and knows everybody, living and dead, who wrote the rest. What a great opportunity to scratch that itch you’ve had since Chill Wills was egregiously overlooked for the first version of 1960’s The Alamo. Or something else awful that happened after you were born.”

Among the burning questions promised to be tackled by the new podcast: Why do so many of the awards for best picture go to one movie when there’s a much better movie staring them in the face? Why have so many actors not won Oscars for their best roles? And why do so many movies everyone loves and make a ton of money at the box office get no Oscar love while little-seen movies rake in nominations and awards?

Along the way, Vilanch will reminisce about Oscar scandals. Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr. in blackface in 2012? Angelina Jolie professing she was “so in love” with her brother in 2000? Seth MacFarlane singing “We Saw Your Boobs” in 2014? Vilanch was there. (He wasn’t there for Will Smith’s slap of presenter Chris Rock in 2022 — but he certainly has opinions.)

The Oscars: What Were They Thinking? is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms.

The post Bruce Vilanch Debuts Podcast ‘The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?’ on Nov. 11 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.