Last Sunday, when Images on Sunday announced the annual Oscar predictions, the industry was considered to be in a state of uncertainty. As it turns out, the Oscars — and the Academy voters — stayed true to their game. It was a night of “most likely” wins, which, unfortunately, many in Pakistan didn’t get to see live because of a countrywide blackout. The three-hour broadcast was instead followed on cellular devices tuned to Twitter.

As predicted, Argo, a partly-fictionalised account of a real-life rescue of American diplomats from turmoil-inflicted Iran, took home Best Picture, Editing and Adapted Screenplay. The other “real-life inspired” drama thriller about the hunt of Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, scored less, managing to bag just one trophy for Sound Editing; this became a recurring trend for several major nominees (Anna Karenina, Silver Linings Playbook, Amour).

The desolately-themed musical from Victor Hugo’s original work, Les Miserables, had a better showing with wins at Supporting Actress, Sound Mixing and Hair & Makeup — where it bested favourite The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Skyfall, Lincoln and Django Unchained managed two wins each, while the tiger of the house turned out to be Ang Lee and Life of Pi, with four major wins.

Lee (who we tagged as a likely upset last week) bested critic-favourite Steven Spielberg, whose last win in the directing category was in 1998 for Saving Private Ryan. Lee, who thanked the “movie god” for his win, is a second-time winner for Pi. His previous win was for Brokeback Mountain in 2006.

Including Lee’s trophy, Life of Pi bested the cinematography Oscar from Skyfall (whose photographer Roger Deakins had his ninth Oscar nod this year), as well as Visual Effects and Score.

Regardless of the awards going our way, the broadcast was another matter. The night, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, was a bumpy, wishy-washy affair that had an excruciatingly long re-run slot. The three-hour broadcast was stretched to five hours, including the Red Carpet coverage. Frequent cut-ins to commercials only amplified what was a so-so telecast in the first place.

MacFarlane’s monologue included the usual jabs at the studio system, including mockery of Hollywood’s treatment of Oscar winners. It was painfully obvious that the Oscars, produced by Neil Mernon and Craig Zadan, were trying hard to capture the Golden Globes lightness, without success.

As it happened, the night didn’t have great speeches either.

The only touching and humorous acceptance came from Daniel Day-Lewis while addressing a standing ovation: “I do know that I’ve received so much more than my fair share of good fortune.” This is Day-Lewis’ third win of third nomination in the same category.

While the Oscars telecast didn’t shine, on the internet, The New York Times had a comparably better outing with its live stream. Hosted by senior journalist David Carr and their Co-Chief Film Critic A.O. Scott, the internet-telecast was witty, kooky (the duo at one point, brought out fake Lincoln beards as Day-Lewis was about to win) and intelligent at the same time. Perhaps next year, the Academy can have them host the Oscars.