This was unfortunately a pattern throughout the telecast. It turned out to be part of an extended bit where Walter revealed that there was a camera following her all night, recording every conversation - a bit that yielded close to zero entertainment, despite Walter’s best efforts.

It also didn’t happen for everyone! Netflix aired France’s interviews with White, Ayo Edebiri, Pascal, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and then a baffling interview with Walter - a fantastic actor and part of the exceptional “Abbott Elementary” ensemble, but neither actor nor show won during the show. If nothing else, it was constant whiplash for viewers to essentially jump back several categories for an interview with a winner who already accepted their award. It places extra pressure on both interviewer and winner to perform - to deliver a winning interview that’s not being watched by its usual discerning audience, and further still to manufacture viral moments in the haze of earning an award (a height achieved only by Pedro Pascal’s drunk interview, where he flirted with France, declared his plans to make out with Kieran Culkin, and was finally interrupted by a hug from Steven Yeun, who came to return Pascal’s envelope from the stage). The decision to include post-win interviews might stem from how such clips tend to perform on social media during or after other awards shows, but making viewers sit through the entirety of every interview is not the way. Instead, France returned in between awards to interview previous winners backstage, starting with Jeremy Allen White after his win for “The Bear.” Despite being an inventive alternative to traditional commercial breaks, this creative decision killed the telecast’s momentum early in the night, and it never recovered. It also meant no commercial breaks, as Idris Elba pointed out at the top of show (he commended anyone smart enough to bring a flask, which led to a brilliant cutaway of Rhea Perlman offering hers to Lisa Ann Walter) - at least not in the traditional sense.

If ‘Challengers’ Does Well in Theaters, Expect It to Be in the Oscars Conversation

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