If they were going to...., well, they're not. But if I had to....

So the biggest and most talked about change regarding the Oscars last year was having past winners introduce the current slate of nominees. I, for the most part, liked it. The supporting actress crew was probably the best, given how much a surprise it was being the first of the acting categories and it seemed to be the one that produced the most emotion. You could see it in Viola Davis and Amy Adams's eyes how touched they were.

There were downsides: Adrien Brody's "Who is Richard Jenkins? If you googled..." and Halle Berry making Melissa Leo's tribute all about Halle Berry. (Just imagine if they had Julia Roberts do one of these! Cringe!) And then there was the best: My Anne Hathaway emotionally putting her hand to her chest, tears in her eyes, mouthing 'thank you' to Shirley MacLaine. The Robert De Niro - Sean Penn one was pretty solid as well. And Marion Cotillard proved to be one of Kate Winslet's biggest fans.

The biggest disadvantage of this is a lack of acting clips. Yes, we love those screaming, tearful, campy clips. Or totally random ones like Heath Ledger's for Brokeback or tonally misleading ones like Nicole Kidman's Moulin Rouge clip. But still. Doing what they did last year really brings a sense of history and pedigree to it. It's really nice seeing some of the past winners. Of course, if they did this every year, we'd have to see Mira Sorvino or Roberto Benigni or Cuba Gooding Jr (oh wait...) at some point. Not only that, if you have a case like this year where Penelope Cruz won last year and is nominated this year, then what happens? Does she present herself? That would be kinda funny. I'd say do this every 5 years as sort of an anniversary idea.

But if they did it this year...

ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges - Robert Duvall
George Clooney - Jack Nicholson
Colin Firth - Jeremy Irons
Morgan Freeman - Denzel Washington
Jeremy Renner - Sean Penn

ACTRESS:
Sandra Bullock - Ellen Burstyn
Helen Mirren - Kate Winslet
Carey Mulligan - Julie Andrews
Gabourey Sidibe - Jodie Foster
Meryl Streep - Emma Thompson

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Matt Damon - Robin Williams
Woody Harrelson - Louis Gossett Jr
Christopher Plummer - Michael Caine
Stanley Tucci - Chris Cooper
Christoph Waltz - Javier Bardem

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Penelope Cruz - Catherine Zeta-Jones
Vera Farmiga - Geena Davis
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Marcia Gay Harden
Anna Kendrick - Anna Paquin
Mo'nique - Rita Moreno