The polls in California closed a couple of minutes ago — the Oscar polls, that is. “I’ve talked to lots of people and almost no one really loves any of the Best Picture candidates,” one insider told me this afternoon. “Which means it’s going to be incredibly tight. The only thing that’s for sure is that it’s going to be a very long night. The last time Laura Ziskin produced the Oscars, in 2001, they ran a record four and a half hours. The people at ABC must be terrified.”

Even the ever-ebullient Tom O’Neill at The Envelope, who has never really recovered from “Dreamgirls” not making the Best Picture cut, is starting to sound a little weary at the thought of trying to figure out whether it will be “The Departed,” “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Babel.” Imagine how the viewing public will feel if the ceremonies stretch into a fifth hour.