Academy Awards 2021: In a year of streaming, the Oscars should go with the flow

The Oscar nominations reflect the breadth of quality work produced and released in what was by any measure a difficult, terrible year for the movie industry. Viewers can now flock to the streaming services of their choice to see whether they think the voters got it right.

Therein lies the challenge for the producers of this year's awards, after a stretch that has already seen the Emmys and Golden Globes sink to record-low ratings. It has left producers of the ceremony in what looks like a difficult bind -- with no theatrical blockbusters to help drive interest in the ceremony -- but also with an opportunity, if they embrace the freedom that should come with diminished viewership expectations and having little to lose. In the past, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the awards, has collectively exhibited mixed feelings about Netflix's role in the movie industry's marquee event, unable to clearly decide if streaming was friend or foe. The effects of the pandemic -- and the related shift toward home viewing -- essentially pushed the Academy into Netflix's waiting arms.