by Nathaniel R
This just in: The Oscars will have a host again after two years of going without, two very tumultuous years! We assume that the Academy will select someone safe, like Jimmy Kimmel again, but we really hope they take a risk and think "entertainer" rather than "talk show host". Given the Academy's talk show host preferences we live in absolute fear of James Corden being asked to host. But the Oscars are not meant to be a conversation but a spectacle/party. The best hosts have nearly always been Oscar-ceremony loving actors who are naturally fun (funny is less important) and at ease with live performance like Hugh Jackman, Whoopi Goldberg, or Billy Crystal. We know Hugh Jackman is off the table as a returning host since he's in the middle of a Broadway run with the revival of The Music Man. We're not sure who started the "Tom Holland should host" thing on the internet (during the Spider-Man No Way Home Oscar-campaign frenzy) but he'd mostly fit that bill minus maybe the Oscar-loving part. We enjoy him onscreen but in interviews he doesn't sound remotely aware of THE MOVIES beyond his own tiny corner of them. Nevertheless he'd probably be a good risk. He's charismatic, a great dancer, and very popular at the moment.
In our actressexual world here at TFE we always dream of naturally hilarious actresses hosting...
Imagine Emma Thompson, kicking off her painful shoes, mid-hosting. Hell, pair her with her Cruella co-star Emma Stone who gives off a similar kind of 'life of the party while not taking it too seriously' energy. Or imagine Meryl Streep being silly for three hours. Heaven.
Pitching unlikely Oscar hosts is always great fun. We giggled all throughout our friend Joe Reid's twitter thread of suggestions:
50 Recommended Hosts for the Oscars:
— Joe Reid (@joereid) January 11, 2022
1. The pig from "Pig"
2. The lamb from "Lamb"
3. The Boss Baby
4. Baby Annette
5. Bruno pic.twitter.com/OTwAC56pdF
But we know that naturally amusing actresses is not at all what the Oscars looks for in a host.
But what should they look for? We'd love your take in the comments.
No matter who the host ends up being above all else we wish the Academy would loosen up and try new things with the ceremony -- provided those things fit the needs of the ceremony (glamour & fun & movie love) and don't instead feel like desecrations of the institution, like so many of the ideas floated have. Whenever people suggest leaving the craft categories off the air we personally know that they have never understood why the Oscars remain the greatest and most discussed of all awards shows (and still the highest rated despite every media effort to convince you otherwise).
It's a high pressure moment for the Oscars and we feel for the Board of Governors at the Academy. We've often felt that one of their problems is lack of confidence in their brand -- judging from the frequent changes and thankfully aborted bad ideas like "popular film" Oscar and chucking the craft categories off the air -- but at this point the insecurity is a little bit warranted. The tumultuous changes in the industry, which have been highly acerbated by COVID-19 have everyone in Hollywood on shaky ground. Last year's disastrous experiment of a ceremony in which the glamour had to be curtailed and, much much worse, no clips from movies were shown in a legacy show entirely created to promote and celebrate movies! WTF? The show is now in recovery mode.
But whatever happens we hope that ratings aren't the focus of the story. The ongoing ratings slide is completely natural and we wish the media could acknowledge it as such. Nothing on television goes "up" in ratings now from 20th century viewing since everything is more niche and audiences are splintered and there are infinitely more options for entertainment at all times. This will not be changing. Once this is accepted as fact, things will get easier for the Oscars but it is not yet accepted as fact and the media doesn't yet seem willing to come to grips with that.