Dave hosting the Oscars was the same Dave that hosted his show, and the sense of humor he brought to the Oscars was the same as his show. And it turned out, LA didn't like so much at their corporate event.

Jimmy Kimmel has spent 20 years hosting a talk show in Los Angeles. He is firmly entrenched as a part of the (liberal) Hollywood community. They know what he does and what kind of humor he engages in, and they know that's what he will do at the Oscars. He won't shake the place up or tear the place down.

Too bad they would never hire Ricky Gervais to host and let him go off like he did at the Golden Globes.

The year Dave hosted is one of my favorite Oscar shows. I loved that he hosted it as only he could (I'll never forget his throw-away line to Tom Hanks when he invited him on stage "Would it killed you to have worn a tie?") and that year's show is unique, just as Billy Crystal's years have their own unique feeling. For the past fifteen or so years, the host is often so minimalized, basically there just to introduce the next announcer that I feel like they might as well not bother getting an official host.

I don't think you understand the point of the Academy Awards. It is not supposed to be like all the other movie award shows because it is not like all the other movie awards. It is THE award. It's is the highest recognition for persons working in English language films. That means the actors and the directors, as well as the makeup people. For the vast majority of the people who win an Oscar, that will be in the first sentence of their obituary. The ceremony is supposed to be entertaining and contain fun, humorous parts, but the awards are serious. It's not a roast or a dinner party for drunks. For many of the winners, that night will be the greatest night of their professional lives. It may be the only public recognition they ever receive from the industry they have devoted their lives to working in. If anyone is out there complaining that the shows are not funny enough or too boring because there are too many awards, then DON'T FUCKING WATCH!

I love the Oscars for its history, and trivia, and statistics, but it also strikes me as a version of companies giving out Employee of the Month certificates instead of fairer wages.

You need to relax, man. Jesus.

No shit.

No thanks. Geez, you pine for him every single year. He’d be a terrible Oscar host. He’s a raging asshole and everyone in power in Hollywood hates his guts (except Jennifer Garner, I guess). His schtick of being disrespectful of everyone has long since gotten old. The last time he hosted the GG it was received very poorly. He’s okay for the GG because they’re joke awards that nobody cares about or takes seriously (last year they snubbed Brendon Fraser because he said mean things about the HFP — that’s not how you’re supposed to award merit. Gervais gives off strong IDGAF vibes, not what the Oscars want to present to the world.
Now his US replacement on The Office, Steve Carell is a former Oscar nominee, well liked and I bet he would do a great job. I would love to see him host, — or Will Farrell, or maybe Jonah Hill.

I like Ricky Gervais a lot, but he would be a terrible Oscar host. It's OK to poke fun at the guests, but it's neither a roast nor a Ricky Gervais stand up special. If you can't respect the audience members or the instition itself, because you don't give a fuck, it's totally fine, but a host has to be respectful or at least act respectful.
Jimmy Kimmel is a solid choice. He's a pro, the stars know him, he pokes fun at them, without overstepping boundaries and he knows he's not the star of the evening. My facorite was Steve Martin. He's not that vanilla, but still respectful. I would like to see him and Martin Short as hosts.

Uma! Oprah!

Exactly. I think this same conversation has happened multiple times for multiple different awards shows springboarding off of his same comment... every year.

Stop trying to make Fetch Gervais happen.

I’m sorry to interrupt the current conversation for the following post:

If there is not a showdown between Jack Black’s “Peaches” (The Super Mario Bros Movie) and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” (Barbie) for Best Original Song, I’m not watching.

’nuff said!

(… and my money is on “Peaches” for the win!)

As you were.

There are three Barbie songs entered for consideration. The other two, Dance the Night and What Was I Made For were both nominated for top Grammy Award consideration. I expect they'll be selected over Ken. The just out Olivia Rodrigo song from Songbirds and Snakes is also strong and will likely be in the running.

Yeah, but a guy can dream! 😉

Thread is about the Oscars. I have a strong opinion about any efforts to turn the greatest professional recognition in the American film industry into just another meaningless movie award show.

But I do need to relax. I'm a real live wire. Fa-fa-fa-fa. Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa.

"
If Billie Eilish hasn't just won an Oscar for the Bond song, I'd say she was a lock. Don't you think "Peaches" and Jack Black are a little to tongue-in-cheek for an Oscar win?

Of course he is… but on its merits as a meme it would be a wildcard. Shake stuff up.

Well, lately, the voters have been rewarding more "wildcards," but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

I like Jack Black and he was far and away the highlight of that soulless piece of poo, but Peaches is barely even a song. It's just Black riffing for like 60 seconds.

We can disagree on the hosts but they do have to reformat the show and make it go faster and be at least somewhat more entertaining since the ratings drop every year and except for true movie aficionados and a older demographic of viewers it does not appeal to younger viewers and it is not must see TV like the Super Bowl anymore.

It is nice the people we don't know the names of get recognized for their achievements but 90 minutes of that does not make compelling TV for the average viewer.

I've always felt that the three Short awards shouldn't be on the main telecast. They aren't feature films, almost nobody has seen the nominees. It would be fine by me if those were given before the main broadcast.
That said, I wouldn't mind if Wes Anderson won his first Oscar for a Netflix live action Short

What are the betting odds the Oscars join Miss Universe and Miss USA as events that are no longer carried by broadcast networks by the end of the decade?

I'd go a step further and suggest they retire the three categories completely. It was a worthwhile category when short subjects played as part of the theatre experience, but now they're as obsolete as how they used to have two categories for Best Black and White Photography and Best Colour Photography.

Odds are long. The Oscars are BY FAR the most watched award show. It’s not even close.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE (March 23, 2023): This year’s Oscars live+7 ratings are in, bumping viewership for this year’s telecast close to the 20 million viewer mark. According to ABC, with seven days of viewing across linear and digital platforms now accounted for, the 95th Oscars drew an average audience of 19.9 million total viewers, as well as a 4.43 rating with adults 18-49. That means the 2023 Oscars were now up 8% in viewers from 2022 (19.9 million vs. 18.4 million) and up 1% in adults 18-49 (4.43 rating vs. 4.38 rating).

UPDATE: The 2023 Oscars attracted an average audience of 18.8 total million viewers on Sunday night, pushing the show up 13% from the previous year’s figures, according to final time zone-adjusted data which includes Live + Same Day numbers from Nielsen. The ceremony earned a 4.0 rating in the adults 18-49 key demo, pushing it to three-year highs in both total viewers and demo — up 5% since 2020.

The telecast outperformed the 2023 Grammys on CBS by 50%, which picked up an audience of 12.5 million total viewers for the Feb. 5 show, and last year’s Emmy’s on NBC by 219%, which brought in an audience of 5.9 million last September. Among adults 18-49, the Oscars bested the Grammys by 38% and the Emmys by 264%.

The 95th Oscars ranks as the strongest awards show telecast on any network in both total viewers and adults 18-49 since ABC’s broadcast of the 2020 Oscars.

On social media, the show managed 27.4 million total social interactions across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and was the No. 1 entertainment program of the year to date in terms of social video consumption with 60.6 million video views.



PREVIOUSLY: Oscars viewership was up Sunday when an average of 18.7 million viewers tuned in to see “Everything Everywhere All at Once” earn best picture honors and dominate the 95th Academy Awards on ABC with seven wins. That’s according to early, time zone-adjusted ratings from Nielsen, which includes out-of-home viewing — but keep in mind, that number could change when the final nationals are in.

The Oscars, which repped the return of host Jimmy Kimmel for the first time since 2018, was up 12% from last year’s ratings. And according to those time-zone-adjusted fast-national numbers from Nielsen, it bested the previous year’s 3.8 rating by 5% in key adults 18-49, earning a 4.0 in the demo.