Hollywood had a rough 2024. Here’s who came out on top

There were plenty of things that went wrong for Hollywood in the year 2024. Netflix’s big contender is the operatic “Emilia Pérez,” a boundary-pushing festival darling that received mostly positive reviews but a tepid response from streaming audiences. The latter is a tradition going back to Richard Nixon going on “Laugh-In” and Bill Clinton playing the sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” But for President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, sitting for long, friendly podcast interviews wasn’t just part of the Republican presidential candidate’s media strategy. Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed campaign also used podcasts like Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” while still doing more standard TV appearances. The Oscars were good again, briefly For all the justified doomsaying over awards shows being increasingly out of touch the general public, it’s worth noting that this year’s Oscars gave its highest honor to a genuine blockbuster, “Oppenheimer,” while also giving out multiple awards to the hilariously weird “Poor Things.” That, and a relatively embarrassment-free telecast, is about as good as one can expect from the Academy Awards.