A topic of debate among AMPAS members of late has been whether to move the date of the Academy Awards into January or to leave them in their current slot in late February, as reported yesterday. Moving the date serves no form or function beyond a hopeful boost in TV ratings, which boils down to, you guessed it, more money for the organization and its producers. So they aren't doing it. They're sticking with February 27, 2011 as the date for the next Academy Award ceremony.

The gala was originally held in late March for many years until 2004 when it was switched up to February for presumably the same reason they're thinking about making this new switch. Thanks to the Winter Olympics, this year's event was in March, but not on purpose.

One question not asked of the AMPAS spokeswoman who announced the firmed up awards date was, "Who cares?" The Oscars are fluff, and while everyone loves watching them, the vast majority of viewers haven't seen half the movies, haven't heard of a quarter of them, and are only there to look at well dressed celebrities cry all over themselves and/or look disappointed. The people who really want to see all this will find a way to watch it whether it's in February or July, it doesn't matter. America's need for celebrity will win out and the ratings will more or less stay the same regardless of the time slot.