Beloved Oscars categories like animated short and original score slashed from live telecast

The ceremony to present the 94th Academy Awards next month will have a reduced running time to try to increase the audience, organizers announced on Wednesday. After last year’s ceremony hit a record low number of viewers, with only 9.85 million people tuned in, it looks like the awards program is being reshaped.

Academy President David Rubin sent an e-mail stating that eight categories from the upcoming ceremony will not be presented during the live broadcast. “We need to prioritize the television audience to increase audience participation and keep the show vital, kinetic, and relevant,” Rubin said in the letter.

The eight categories that have been cut from the show include documentary short film, film editing, makeup and hairdressing, original score, production design, animated short, live action short and sound.

Instead of airing all categories, the Dolby Theater ceremony will begin one hour before the broadcast. The presentation and speeches of the first eight winners will be edited and presented during the three-hour live broadcast, according to the Associated Press.

Many in Hollywood criticized the decision. Actor Patton Oswalt tweeted: “Dear @TheAcademy, with all due respect, this is a stupid and disrespectful move.”

Other Twitter users asked for the Oscars to keep the original format with the hashtag # PresentAll23.

Prizes awarded during the live broadcast on Sunday, March 27 include:

• Image
• Director
• Actor
• Actress
• Supporting actor
• Supporting actress
• Animated feature film
• Cinematography
• Costume design
• Documentary (Feature Film)
• International Feature Film
• Original script
• Adapted script
• Original song
• Visual effects

The Academy Awards have also recently announced their new hosts in an effort to attract viewers. In previous years, the show has gone without hosts, but this year the Academy announced that Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall will be the ones presented.