OK, the Oscars broadcast opening the doors to movie commercials is one thing. But this appears to be something different altogether:

Producers of the show — to be hosted by Hugh Jackman and broadcast Feb. 22 on ABC — are even trying to liven up the proceedings by asking studios and others to provide scenes from future films, according to a request sent to various companies last month.

The idea, if the clips prove watchable, is for Mr. Jackman to sign off the broadcast with fresh 10-second snippets of two dozen new movies, to run on a split screen with the end credits.

How is this going to work? I know the producers of the show are trying to create a more entertaining broadcast, especially in light of the decidedly un-audience friendly lineup of nominated films, but this seems a tad ridiculous.Commercials are commercials. But this sort of in-show intrusion would seem, based on this report, to cross a line.

And let me just state that the ban on movie commercials within the broadcast was ridiculous to begin with. Studios simply worked around it by arranging for “The stars of (fill in the blank with the name of an upcoming movie)” do the presenting honors, thus getting their movie marketing in an unpaid, though no less obvious manner.

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