Seth MacFarlane! Really?
Monday, October 1, 2012 at 9:01PM 
I can't say I saw this one coming. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has been named host of February's Oscars. Honestly I wouldn't even have guessed that if you'd let me guess 100 names.
Rule #1 of Oscar Host selection in the past has always been that the host was an instantly recognizable celebrity and household name, the kind of celebrity that even your grandparents would be familiar with: Whoopi, Steve Martin, Letterman, etcetera. It's never a behind the scenes creative, however famous his name or voice might be.
While MacFarlane is considerably less famous than past hosts that doesn't mean he won't do a fine job... his musical referencing will be a natural fit on Oscar night though the non-sequitor nature of his jokes (at least on Family Guy) might be a stranger fit. Are we in for another "Uma. Oprah"?
MacFarlane's selection is yet another example of the Academy's increasingly schizo "who are we?" identity crisis over the last handful of years. They can't stop themselves.
Are you a MacFarlane fan or were you hoping for someone with more star wattage? Who do you think they also considered before this left turn?
Oscar Hosting, Oscars (12), Seth MacFarlane
Reader Comments (43)
MacFarlane fan. I think this has the potential to be awesome OR a complete disaster. Like the 2010 Hathaway/Franco fiasco. Or the Jon Stewart one, which everyone thought was a fiasco but I generally loved it.
I hope he brings Stewie - or Ted - for something like THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPrbBwtCoPk (I hope he does one for the Oscars too)
I giggled when i saw the headline earlier today. I thought "ah, that Onion." But then i saw that the headline came from Entertainment Weekly.
oh.
well, at least that douchebag friend that we all have will be tuning in for sure.
Plus, i'd bet my vast fortune (of tens and tens of dollars) that he'll do the voices several times throughout the evening. The academy gets points for thinking outside the box though.
I get why he has an appeal; however, he doesn't have the specific kind of appeal to people who always watch the Oscars. That being said MacFarlane is no worse choice that Crocodile Dundee in the late 80s.
Um...yeah. If what they wanted was someone known almost entirely as a voice actor, at least choose someone who at least kind of looks like a host. Seth MacFarlane just LOOKS like the squirrelly jerk-off you want to get away from at a family reunion or company Bar-B-Q. Dan Castellaneta? Hank Azaria? Neither of those crossed their minds!? Even though The Simpsons has actually made it to the big screen!!!?
With the exception of one joke that went flat at the very beginning, and some of the tasteless jokes ala Family Guy, MacFarlanes Saturday Night Live monologue a couple weeks ago was the best I had ever seen. If he can manage that level of skill and enthusiasm for the whole of the Oscars, while maintaining some of the dignity (best to avoid the racist, and jewish jokes, even if they try to offend everyone equally on his cartoons), it could be a smashing performance.
I think this is an excellent choice. He'll do great (I hope).
When analyzed, this is a very smart choice. It’s surprising and fresh. It’ll attract the younger demo. Yeah – they don’t care about foreign film and doc short – but advertisers care about a younger demo. This would be a great year for the Academy to actually nominate some blockbusters that were also critical faves like The Avengers, The Hunger Games and perhaps The Dark Knight Rises along with independent and auteur work like The Master. MacFarlane has a wonderful old-fashioned singing voice – so there’s the musical theatre performance part. He’s risque (but not too edgy), witty, has a great knowledge of entertainment and is good looking and charismatic. He had a surprise hit this year with Ted – wouldn’t be surprised if there was a joke supporting actor campaign! The perfect combo of young, old-fashioned, biting wit and persona. Great choice. And I'm not even a fan.
I don't watch Family Guy anymore. It's been too much of the same thing since, like, season 3 or so. But I love MacFarlane. I think he'll do a great job, and he'll definitely bring younger audiences, which we all know what the Academy is really looking for.
If he does well, I can see them sticking with him for a few years the way the Globes have with Gervais.
O: I get MacFarlane might be skilled enough for a live performance, and maybe for a show of less overall worldwide importance like SNL, skill alone is enough. But, like I said, I don't conflate "squirrelly jerk-off you want to get away from at a family reunion or company Bar-B-Q" with Oscar Host. More than skill should have been thought about, in other words. Unless MacFarlane gets extensive plastic surgery in the next couple months, there's much better choices, at least in terms of a visual angle. I even mentioned two I think at least LOOK closer to an ideal "Oscar Host" than MacFarlane. Castellaneta has that genuine teddy bear thing going on, and Hank Azaria has that appealing angular face working to his advantage.
Just bring Ellen again! She was awesome.
"It’ll attract the younger demo. Yeah – they don’t care about foreign film and doc short – but advertisers care about a younger demo."
When I was in the younger demo, I cared a great deal about the foreign film and short film doc, and I imagine there are many young people who care about it now. That's why Oscar would be smart to appeal to potential long-term fans rather than thinking: hey, some young people who may, or may not, like movies, like Family Guy! Let's hire that dude! Again, not wose than any other Oscar host choices, but I wish they'd be less . . . desperate.
Joseph: Good looking doesn't always mean that they're universal host material that can be considered a visual fit for every hosting job. SNL, a very late night and occasionally dangerous show? That can justify a handsome but squirrelly looking host like MacFarlane, but for the Oscars? I mentioned a couple voice actors who I'd think would fit more as hosts for that ceremony.
V: Ted's revenue domestic and world wide justifies why he was chosen to host.
Who was it a few years ago who suggested Werner Herzog as host? HERZOG AS HOST FOREVER!
This feels like a disaster in the making. Why this group tries to appeal to people that don't give a damn about the Oscars continues to be one of the Academy's biggest errors (besides the nonsense the pick to win every year). Should have picked Queen Latifah.
At the end of the day, Seth loves film. Sort through all the offensive, disgusting, cheap potty humor in Family Guy and Ted, and you get grade A movie-based jokes and parodies reminiscent of Mel Brooks. From The Sound of Music to Star Wars, Seth has - in a very humorous and, in my opinion, smart way - poked fun and, in turn, paid homage to the world's biggest movies. It takes someone who REALLY KNOWS and REALLY LOVES those movies to be able to make such smart and precise jokes about them... I have full faith in Seth that at the very least, his hosting gig will have the best intentions.
Well, there goes my Idris Elba write-in campaign. There's always next year.
I picture many a ridicule joke at the Oscar's expense, and not in the cheeky fun way.
As my friend said on Twitter: "I wouldn't let Seth MacFarlane host a parasite."
And he even stuffed up his Emmys presenting duty by going to the wrong microphone!
While I'm not big on the "inappropriate automatically = funny" mentality of his cartoons, MacFarlane is a charismatic guy, a big conossieur of pop culture and enough of a song-and-dance man that he could pull it off. I'm sure they'll have him on a short leash. It does still wreak of AMPAS still throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.
I have never seen Family Guy .. but I have heard it's bold and rather vulgar...
I have to say I have seen Seth on Talk shows and i do like his humor ... I think he'll do well...he can't be any worse than the ones we have been stuck with the last decade or so/
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If the creators of South Park can win Tony Awards, I don't get why people are so quick to jump on the creator of Family Guy to host the Oscars.
He's too Comedy Central Roast type. Why not just get Lisa Lampanelli to co host and call it a night. *eye roll*
Can't stand him. Even just looking at pictures of his stupid smarmy face makes me rage.
I don't really care who hosts to be honest; the thing I take away most from the Oscars are the upsets/travesties that occur on a yearly basis. Although I have to say I am surprised they didn't go back to Eddie Murphy. Or maybe they did and he turned them down?
I have a visceral 'ew' reaction to Seth MacFarlane. I'm not looking forward to this.
OMG thar's so exciting!!!!! im so in love with seth macfarlane, love his voice, love his humour
I didn't know who the guy was but.. well, now I do.
I think the best for him would be to combine a "I'm too cool for this shit" with a respect for cinema and the people that will be there so that it feels neither obnoxious nor an effort by him to not be himself.
is volvagia serious? who cares if thier host looks like a host. Were you serious or am I missing some joke here? honestly.
I want my Steve Martin back!
I wish they'd give ellen another go,this could be letterman mark 2
Honestly, until I saw some Ted promos I had no idea who he was. Still not much interested now that I know. After Franco, the bar is really low, though, so he'll do just fine.
You know, after the initial shock has worn off - and believe me, that took some doing - I'm actually coming around to MacFarlane as Oscar host. On the surface, he seems all wrong for the gig, but when he's just being himself (in interviews or on SNL) his humor isn't nearly as offensive and smarmy as it is on Family Guy (except for the Comedy Central roasts, where such humor was actually appropriate). For that matter, the Family Guy animated bits on the Emmys have been VERY funny. And he has put together some pretty great Old Hollywood-style musical numbers for Family Guy. He could be a younger, hipper version of Billy Crystal in the 90s - able to rib Hollywood just enough to be funny without being disrespectful, with some clever musical numbers and film inserts to boot.
I never would have thought he'd be an Oscar host in a million years, but I also never would have thought I'd feel this okay about him being the Oscar host in a million years!
He could never be worse than Anne Hathaway.
I agree with Denny's post. The more I think about it the more I'm OK with this. I don't think Anne was terrible. She was just trying too hard to overcompensate for James' lackadaisical attitude. Jon Stewart was pretty bad too. And ITA about Ellen. I thought she was terrific. The vacuuming near Judi Dench and asking her if she wanted a rum and coke--classic.
Seth MacFarlane, eh? No way the telecast doesn’t include cutaways to an animated waiting area in which Oscar Levant, Oscar Isaac, Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison, and Oscar the Grouch (all poorly voiced by MacFarlane) comment irreverently on the festivities, while a sign reading "Oscars Green Room" hangs on the wall behind them.
But hey, gotta reel in the kids, right?
It's a shame they passed on Jimmy Fallon...he seems born for this role. Benign but talented.
I think it's an ok choice, but I don't think it's all that bold of a choice. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, now that would have been a bold (and better) choice.
They're searching for their Ricky Gervais, who would probably ditch the GG's in favor of Oscar in a second if he were asked.
I'm a little confused by all the comments about his looks. I think he's handsome and very "host" looking. Maybe game show host more than oscar host but still.
He's obviously qualified for the job, and I've been a fan since his remarks on Bill Maher's show in 2009:
http://www.queerty.com/seth-macfarlane-i-like-a-good-ass-fcking-as-much-as-the-next-guy-20090511/
Go Seth!
He's pretty much an icon to the under-30 crowd, so this could certainly help with the youth ratings. As far as my own feelings about how he'll be, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm worried he'll rely too much on his Stewie voice to get cheap laughs all night. I wish they had gone with Kevin Spacey.
why not kristen wiig?
It's like the snark of the Golden Globes with the star power of the Emmys. :/