Oscar Spoilers: What Will 2010 Telecast Bring?

Expect fast, funny and at least one big dance number.

ByABC News
February 23, 2010, 2:17 AM

Feb. 23, 2010— -- Expect a faster, funnier Oscar telecast this year designed to appeal to younger viewers and, producers hope, bring in higher ratings on March 7.

Out this year: performances of the Oscar-nominated songs; in this year: at least one big dance number.

It appears first-time Oscar telecast producers Bill Mechanic, producer of the animated feature nominee "Coraline," and Adam Shankman, director of the movie "Hairspray," are doing everything they can to liven up a show that many think has become less interesting in recent years than the red carpet arrivals preceding it.

"The producers are hyper sensitive to keep the audience's interest from start to finish," Entertainment Weekly columnist Dave Karger told ABCNews.com

That means eliminating anything that threatens to drag down the show. This year that includes doing away with the long-held tradition of having artists perform their Oscar-nominated songs. Instead the songs will be played while showing clips from each film.

"It's always been an awkward part of the show," Gregg Kilday, senior film editor at The Hollywood Reporter, told ABCNews.com. "Individual songs have worked, but songs no one has ever heard of have always been a challenge."

Karger said the best song performances have been slowly disappearing from the broadcast over the last few years. Last year, artists were given only 90 seconds to perform snippets of their songs, which led Peter Gabriel to turn down the invitation. This year, all five songs are ballads -- two by Randy Newman for "The Princess and the Frog" -- and relatively unknown.

"It had the potential to include some deadly performances," Karger said.

One thing you can expect to see from years past is the big dance production number. Shankman, a former choreographer who once danced on the Oscar stage and currently is a judge on "So You Think You Can Dance," is planning to use some of the dancers who have appeared on the television show.

Shankman queried his Twitter followers to see what they thought of the casting: "would u watch the oscars with more excitement if I cast some sytycd dancers if there are musical #s." The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Oscar 2010 Presenters

Shankman also sought advice from his followers about who should appear as presenters on the show. "Curious: what and who do u wanna see on the oscars? What would make u watch?" he Tweeted, getting tons of responses suggesting cast members from "New Moon," "Glee" and "High School Musical."

Don't be surprised if one of the presenters is Taylor Lautner from the "Twilight" series. His castmate Robert Pattinson presented at the Oscars last year.

The Hollywood Reporter's Kilday said three past winners in the acting categories, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet and Sean Penn, will be back to present this year. If producers follow the previous years' tradition of having winners of the opposite sex hand out the trophy to the current winner in the similar category then they'll have to find a replacement for Heath Ledger, who was awarded the best supporting actor Oscar posthumously.

Either way, producers are hoping to boost viewership by including a mix of young, popular stars and established stars from academy-nominated films.

"I think if 'Twilight' fans find out that one or more of the stars are going to present, they'll tune in," Karger said.

Expanding the best picture category to 10 nominees, which includes some popular, high-grossing films, could also bring in new viewers, particularly "Avatar" fans," Karger added.