Too Many Oscar Nominees?

If you were like me and a lot of other movie fans, you were watching the Academy Awards ceremony last night to see the glitz, the glamor, and, oh yeah, which movies got the prizes.  I don't know about the rest of you, but last night I also saw something else I hadn't taken much notice of before.

While most categories had 5 or fewer nominees (if there weren't enough contenders), the category for Best Picture had 9 nominees!  Wow!  What happened there?

Apparently, when the Academy Awards first began in 1929, there were 10 nominees for Best Picture.  In 1943, however, the number of nominees for that category was scaled down to 5.  Everything was consistent and the film world was at peace until 2009 when AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) decided to go back to the original number of nominees.  Were they happy with their decision?  No.  Last year they decided to really mess with the category, and starting with last night's award ceremony, anywhere between 5 and 10 films can be nominated for Best Picture.

This is what I have to say to AMPAS: get your act together.  Nobody complained when there were only 5 films nominated for the Best Picture category.  It was easier for everyone to focus on 5 movies rather than on 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 movies.  In an era in which defeated teams or players get prizes for losing or coming in second, why, AMPAS, are you encouraging the culture in which the mediocre are rewarded?  Stick to your standards and man up: go back to tightening the competition and select the 5 movies you think are truly Oscar-worthy, the ones that are truly above and beyond.

My very humble opinion from the perch.