NYC Viewers Get ABC Back as Oscars Begin

Cablevision-Disney spat yanks signal in NY area

(AP) - Millions of New York-area cable subscribers faced the prospect of Oscar night without the Academy Awards broadcast today after ABC's parent company switched off its signal to Cablevision customers over a dispute in fees. "Cablevision pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren't getting what they pay for ... again," says a Disney spokeswoman. Cablevision counters: "It is now painfully clear to millions that Disney CEO Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision." More»

Best Actress winner donates $10K to struggling Central Falls school

(NEWSER) - Meryl Streep's Best Actress win over Viola Davis was the big upset of the Oscars; even Streep herself seemed surprised, calling the whole process "a crapshoot." But now she's making it up to Davis—in a big way. Streep donated $10,000 to a struggling school in Rhode Island in Davis' honor, Reuters reports. Davis has been championing the bankrupt Central Falls, Rhode Island , where she grew up, inspiring Streep to send a check to the Segue Institute for Learning, a charter school in town facing the loss of its building. Click for more on Central Falls' woes . More»

Angelina gam busting out all over Internet

(NEWSER) - No one can quite shake the image of Angelina Jolie obsessively flashing her toned right leg from the slit up her dress at the Oscars. So what to do? Turn to the new "leg bombing" meme that's a runaway hit with Internet fans. The burgeoning meme has Angelina's leg handing (booting?) an Oscar to a winner, attached to Napoleon and Mahatma Gandhi, being raised at Iwo Jima by soldiers, and sticking out of a lamb carcass being hoisted by Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. Check out lots of variations at Pinterest here or the Sun to get a thighful—or follow AngiesRightLeg with 32,000 others on Twitter ("I just can't get enough of myself," gushes the gam.). More»

Blade Runner star struck guard: cops

(NEWSER) - Blade Runner vamp Sean Young was busted outside a post-Oscars party after she slapped a security guard when she was told to leave, according to officials. Now she's demanding an apology, reports TMZ . "She was trying to get into the party and couldn't," a Hollywood police commander tells AP . But the 52-year-old actress—who starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, No Way Out, Wall Street, and most recently, Celebrity Rehab—says the guards were overzealous, and she wasn't doing anything wrong. "I was just standing by the little line," says Young, who earlier in the evening had posed for photos with Angelina Jolie, Michelle Williams, and Sandra Bullock . "I wasn't bothering anybody." More»

Billy Crystal brings the same old stuff

(NEWSER) - Last night's Oscars, like its Best Picture, was a throwback to a different time in film history. And though the show may have topped last year's Anne Hathaway-James Franco fiasco, it was boring and tired throughout:

• "The whole night looked like an AARP pep rally," writes Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times . "For a town that prides itself on tinsel and titillation, the night was pretty tame." "It all looked very familiar," but that "is perhaps necessary when so few of the nominated films are."