Why were characters cold? It sounds to me that the characters were the writers who had been on strike.
Context:
Cold characters heat up Hollywood's big night
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Hollywood's biggest night opened with host Jon Stewart joking about the writers strike that ended last week.
Stewart, who is hosting the Academy Awards for the second time, and his writing staff have been rushed even more than usual this year because of the recently concluded writers strike, which threatened the Oscar telecast before a settlement was reached.