There's always a lot of nay saying before the annual Oscar telecast rolls around, with prestige fatigue setting in even for those who haven't been covering the various awards, nominees, and campaigns for the past few months. But there is a silver lining to every gloomy, awards show-shaped cloud, and this year's broadcast, hosted by affably goofy song-and-dance man Neil Patrick Harris (who, it should be remembered, co-starred in the Oscar-nominated "Gone Girl"), could be really, really great.

But if you're saying to yourself, I really don't want to watch this year. It will be boring and repetitive. But I sure could use a Top 10 list to really lay things out for me, have we got the top 10 list for you. Read on for the top 10 reasons to watch the Oscars this year.