The Top Ten Highlights of Oscar Night

Oscar night is always full of surprises and this year was no exception. From the hits and misses of the Red Carpet, Ellen's opening monologue to the surprising winners, we were entertained, shocked, touched and moved to tears by various parts of the show. Let's take a look at some of the top ten highlights of this year's Oscar show.

Red Carpet shows - Always entertaining, mostly in part to the antics of Ryan Seacrest. I cannot believe he flashed his Calvins on national TV! I enjoyed watching him more than "plastic" Joan Rivers (step away from the plastic surgeon, Joan!). In my opinion, the best of the Red Carpet arrivals was Jodie Foster. She was simply breathtaking in her periwinkle blue Vera Wang gown. Don't even get me started on Kelly Preston! (Read my review "Oscar Fashion Hits and Misses" to find out more!)

Ellen DeGeneres - She had us laughing from the moment she stepped onto the stage. I loved how she referred to her lifelong dream of hosting the Oscars. That made it a bit more personal for her, which made her try a little bit harder to make sure she gets a repeat performance. One of my favorite parts is when she ran behind the screen and did that bit with the interpretive dancers for "Snakes on a Plane". While she is no Bob Hope, she did a great job and has a better shot of coming back than David (Oprah ....Uma....Uma...Oprah) Letterman.

Al Gore - Who the heck knew that the former Vice-President had a great sense of humor? The bit he did with Leonard DiCaprio was simply hilarious, especially when he pulled out a piece of paper and started saying "My fellow Americans.." only to be cut off by the orchestra (on purpose, of course!). His gracious acceptance speech and his reminder that we can all make a difference regarding global warming had people in the audience wishing he was running for President this year.

Best Acceptance Speech: In my opinion, it was Alan Arkin. In a category that everyone thought Eddie Murphy would win for "Dreamgirls", it was the veteran actor Arkin that was standing at the podium, thanking his wife, three sons and all of his supporters throughout the years. It was the first win in three nominations for Arkin, who was previously nominated in 1967 for "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!" and in 1969 for "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter".

Show stealers: Abigail Breslin and Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. The two young actors were announcing the nominees for best animated short film, and instead of saying "And the Oscar goes to...", Jaden started to introduce the next category before Abigail stopped him. He said, "Oh, that's probably not the right line anyway," as everyone, including his parents, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, laughed along with him.

Best Original Song - how many of us REALLY thought that Melissa Etheridge's song "I Need to Wake Up" would win? Given the rich music and three nominated songs from "Dreamgirls", I thought for sure I would end up guessing which of the three songs would win. I was shocked and very pleased to see Etheridge win. Considering the things she has gone through in recent years, it was good to see something positive happen (besides the birth of her and partner Tammy's twins!).

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride...until now - Given the large body of work that Martin Scorsese has done over the years, and how many times he has lost the best director award, I quite honestly did not want to get my hopes up for the poor man. Look at Steven Spielberg: it took him many years before he was even honored by the Academy. I truly expected (while silently hoping I was wrong) that Clint Eastwood would win for "Letters from Iwo Jima". I loved it when Scorsese asked them to double check the envelope, just in case. It was great to see Martin get the recognition he so richly deserved a long time ago.

African-American nominees and winners: for the third time in Oscar history, there were two African-American winners on Oscar night. Denzel Washington ("Training Day") and Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball") were the first to win lead actor/actress honors in 2002. Jamie Foxx ("Ray") and Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") did it in 2005. This year it was Forrest Whitaker taking home best actor honors for "The Last King of Scotland" and Jennifer Hudson taking the best supporting actress award for her role in "Dreamgirls". I think it is fantastic and very long overdue!

She finally wore a dress! - For years, we have watched Diane Keaton wear dress suits and other outrageous outfits to the Oscars. The press has trashed her every year for her taste in clothes, but she never listened...until this year. Ms. Keaton came out wearing a black skirt and blouse, her short hair streaked with grey, but it did not make her look old, but distinguished. I thought she looked wonderful; much better than Jack Nicholson's bald look (I hated it, even though it was later noted that he was bald because of a movie he was working on). But there was one thing about old Jack that hasn't changed: he's still wearing shades to the show.

Time management - Try as they might, the producers could not keep the show from running over this year. A three-hour show stretched into almost four, despite the fact that the orchestra cut off the speeches and Ellen tried her best to move things along. Maybe next year, they should consider a commercial-free Oscar telecast. That would certainly keep things moving along!

Overall, it was a very entertaining awards show that kept me on the edge of my seat guessing who was going to win, especially after Arkin's surprising best supporting actor win. So while the stars are partying away at the Vanity Fair shindig, or relaxing at the Governor's Ball, we will begin to guess who will be nominated for next year's awards, who will get trashed on the Red Carpet, and who will get that surprising win.