Last week's decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to expand the best picture Oscar nominees list to 10 finalists isn't the only tweak intended to make the show more appealing to TV audiences.

From now on, all testimonial awards -- the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and various honorary Oscars -- will be presented at a separate, black-tie event in November, rather than cluttering up the telecast with more introductory remarks, film clips and acceptance speeches. I'm guessing that about 12-15 minutes can be knocked off the running time right there.

The move may even bring back the Irving Thalberg Award for a producer's lifetime achievements, which hasn't been presented since 2001, presumably to trim the telecast program a bit.

At the same time, another decision to revamp the voting procedure for the best original song Oscar could shorten the telecast even more -- and possibly eliminate the category altogether in certain years.

The academy's music branch selects the nominees by rating eligible songs on a scale of 6 to 10. Under the new rule, if no eligible song earns an 8.25 overall average there won't be a best song competition. If only one song reaches that 8.25 average, it will be nominated along with only the next-highest rated song.

Therefore, a year could have as few as two best song nominees (three was the previous minimum) and no more than five finalists (which has been the case for decades). But that still doesn't explain how Bruce Springsteen (The Wrestler) and none of Eddie Vedder's songs from Into the Wild were nominated in recent years.

For that answer, check out Variety's story about the academy's latest game of musical chairs.