'Odds are' Oscars go hostless again, ABC exec says
Are the days of a hosted Oscars ceremony over?
One month after the Academy Awards went hostless for the first time in 30 years, the new entertainment president of the Oscars’ broadcast home hinted that the 2019 approach could be The New Normal.
“We’re having those conversations with the Academy right now,” ABC exec Karey Burke told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “We are extremely happy with how the show went. Odds are you’ll see us repeating what we consider to be a successful formula.”
As you probably recall, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t set out to drastically flip the format ahead of February’s telecast. Comedian and actor Kevin Hart landed the gig in early December only to step down two days later following backlash over years-old homophobic jokes that were resurfaced. Although there were rumors that Hart might be back — especially after Ellen DeGeneres publicly advocated for him — by early January he was out for good.
On Feb. 5, Burke announced the show would go hostless for only second time — after the 1989 ceremony that lives in infamy for its awkward Rob Lowe-Snow White encounter in the show’s opening.
It’s no surprise Burke and company deemed the 2019 edition “a successful formula.”
Audiences and critics seemed generally pleased with the new format, which had a fluid, cut-to-the-chase (meaning the awards and musical numbers) feel without anything overly superfluous. The show opened with an energetic performance by Queen, followed by a strong monologue by Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey, who adamantly stated they were the show’s “non-hosts” and, true to form, never reemerged the rest of the evening.
“People tuned in expecting to see a train wreck and got a good show instead,” Burke told THR.
Ratings were up for the first time in five years and the run time was the shortest in seven years. Though it clocked in at three hours and 23 minutes — 23 minutes over the Academy’s target length — the telecast was down a whopping 30 minutes down from the 2018 installment.
And though Hart initially called the honor of hosting the Oscars the “opportunity of a lifetime,” it’s doubtful his fellow comedians in the business are going to be disappointed by the news.
Along with other major awards show, the Oscars gig has long been called one of “the most thankless jobs in showbiz” due to the high level of scrutiny (i.e., hate tweets) the performance typically draws.
Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle’s newsletter.
