The reviews are in: This year's Oscars broadcast, hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, was the worst in recent memory. I myself didn't think it was awful, but then again I can't really remember any high points. Can you? I did enjoy the opening Inception-based movie, but that's about it. The reviewers didn't blame Franco and Hathaway for the sub-standard show -- they blamed the writers. Weak, predictable jokes, and many failed attempts to make the show appeal to younger viewers.

The King's Speech won the top honors (Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Original Screenplay), but those were only four of the 12 it was nominated for. Inception also won four (Cinematography, Visual Effects, and the two Sound awards). The Social Network won three, and True Grit -- while it looked to be a favorite early on -- went home empty-handed: It won none of the eleven awards it was nominated for.

So how did we do?

It was a fairly sedate race this year, with no come-from-behind excitement. After six categories, Ryan was in the lead; three categories later, Donna, Gary, and John had caught him in a four-way tie. Two envelopes later, Gary enjoyed a brief lead (thanks for the early, but premature, congratulatory call, Hagtidakis'!), but by the 14th envelope, two-time winner John pulled out ahead and for the rest of the night only saw us in his rear-view mirror.

With that same envelope, Tristen took the lead in the 17-and-under group, and she too -- like Speedy Gonzales -- proved impossible to catch.

Grandma, while never taking the lead, kept pace with the front-runners all night, and with the last envelope finished in 2nd place all alone. Third place was a three-way tie: Donna, Gary, and Ryan. The Most Improved Performance award has to go to Ryan: In his last Oscar race he finished eight or nine places out, and on this year's ballot he wrote: "Given my schedule, I have not watched ANY of these movies. Well, I guess I watched How to Train Your Dragon but that doesn't count. Good luck to all the contestants. I will not be in the top 3 this year!" Not so, Sparky! Only three envelopes separated you from the winner!

Meanwhile, Tristen is keeping the Metcalf streak alive. Congratulations to her for her first-ever win! For the second consecutive year, the Oscar statuette will split its time between the Metcalf house and the Hatgidakis house.

Best performance in the top categories belongs to Donna: Of the six big awards, she picked five of them (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Supporting Actress).

Another great Oscar race. Thanks to everybody who played along this year. See you next year!

(Number of correct picks out of 24 categories)

15  John
13  Grandma
12  Donna
12  Gary
12  Ryan
11  Marsha
 9  Samantha
 8  Karen
 8  Tristen
 7  Amanda
 7  Anna
 7  Emily
 5  Erika
 3  Teghan

And totalling all the results of the past fourteen years, here are the standings, in order of percentage of correct picks:

54%   Gary       170 right out of 315
53%   John       168 right out of 315
50%   Marsha     156 right out of 315
49%   Donna      155 right out of 315
45%   Grandma    142 right out of 315
41%   Amanda     129 right out of 315
42%   Zachary     36 right out of  86
38%   Samantha   120 right out of 315
38%   Lori        56 right out of 148
37%   Paul        82 right out of 220
36%   Karen      113 right out of 315
35%   Anna        88 right out of 253
36%   Ryan        89 right out of 244
34%   Lindsey     90 right out of 267
32%   Emily      100 right out of 315
30%   Brent       28 right out of  95
24%   Erika       73 right out of 300
25%   Olivia      47 right out of 190
25%   Sean        12 right out of  48
22%   Tristen     52 right out of 237
19%   Teghan      23 right out of 120