The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a point. It's a yawn when the "best picture" Oscar is announced and gobs of producers thank everyone but their goldfish.

Alas, the recent, three's-the-limit rule has local repercussions. Chicagoan Albert Berger - producer of "Little Miss Sunshine " and "Little Children" with a collective seven Oscar nods -- will be denied the spotlight if "Sunshine" wins top honors.

The Academy -- which restricted producer credits to three after "Shakespeare in Love's" producer-rama -- axed Berger and partner Ron Yerxa in favor of coproducers David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub. Friendly persuaded Greg Kinnear to star as the uptight head of a dysfunctional clan. Saraf and Turtletaub underwrote the $8 million budget.

Berger and Yerxa did everything else -- and it was a lot.

Berger, 49, declined to discuss the situation. "I can't talk about stuff like that," he apologized.

But the Latin School grad remains proud of his work. "It's been an amazing year," he said. "We've have two films recognized in great ways ... we did everything we could with both movies to support and produce them. We're just very proud of the films and grateful for the acknowledgment."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Berger and Yerxa were central to getting "Sunshine" made. They acquired the screenplay. They recruited husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris to oversee the tragicomic sleeper about a cross-country trip to a beauty pageant.

Though busy with "Bee Season" and "Little Children," Berger and Yerxa also watched the "dailies," stayed in touch with the directors and were "deeply involved with script decisions from the earliest days of the film's development," the trade publication said.

So will Berger -- who has every right to feel crushed -- be walking the red carpet Feb. 25? "It remains to be seen," he said diplomatically.

At least our local hero -- big brother of Chicago publicist Elizabeth Berger -- is in five-star company. The Academy nixed Brad Pitt and Paramount Pictures chairman Brad Grey as producers for "The Departed" at the 79th awards.

Bears grapevine

Krispy Kreme reports "Bears" doughnuts outsold "Colts" 20 to 1 at their Schererville store ... Since Morton's Chicago Steakhouse was a tad far for a pre-Super Bowl nosh, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera dined at Morton's in Miami the night before the game ... Times sportswriter Al Hamnik adds that Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and John Travolta flashed media IDs and followed him into the press box ... And the Brutally Honest Award goes to wide receiver Bernard Berrian who "didn't learn anything" from the 29-17 loss. "I hate losing," he said. "I don't like learning. It's hard, losing this game. You work so hard to get to this point and when you get here and you lose it ... I mean, the feeling right now -- it's horrible. It's hard on players. It's hard on the team. No one wants to ever have this feeling again."

Regular grapevine

Cowboy Mouth plays House of Blues tonight ... Look for domestic diva Rachael Ray (GMC), speed demons Mario and Marco Andretti (Bridgestone) and singer-model Patty Manterola at the Chicago Auto Show.