The 85th Annual Academy Awards

[Dukefrukem]

Seth MacFarland will host the Feb 24 Academy Awards in Los Angeles

I fucking approve

Use this thread for Pre-Oscar noms too.

[number8]

Haha, not that I think it's a terrible choice necessarily, but that really reeks of the Academy trying to be hip 10 years too late. I can imagine that they're going to ask Louis CK to host in 2023.

[Spinal]

Awful.

[Watashi]

I'd rather have Todd McFarlane host.

[Dukefrukem]

Awful.

He's funny, charming and can sing. It's not at awful choice at all. Quite fitting actually. And to 8's point, yeh the Oscars need an more current host that can offer the trifecta.

[Watashi]

Bring back stoned James Franco.

[NickGlass]

Seth MacFarland will host the Feb 24 Academy Awards in Los Angeles


Gross.

But, whatever. It's like the Academy is trying to shame Brett Ratner once again by trying to out-douche their pandering-to-youth choice this year.

After MacFarland's part-embarrassing, part-lame ("let's fall back on Stewie voice") presentation at the Emmys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjTZ0wj0x4o), may we expect more gay slurs about rehearsing? One can only hope!

[Watashi]

Isn't Seth McFarlane one of the biggest advocates of gay rights?

[Mysterious Dude]

Haha, not that I think it's a terrible choice necessarily, but that really reeks of the Academy trying to be hip 10 years too late. I can imagine that they're going to ask Louis CK to host in 2023.
Hm. Ten years ago, Seth MacFarlane was the 28-year-old creator of one TV show that had just been cancelled after three seasons. I don't think a lot of people would have recognized him.

He is far more visible today. He's got three TV shows on the air. He's hosted SNL and two Comedy Central roasts. He's been a guest on a lot of other shows (including Real Time with Bill Maher and Inside the Actor's Studio) and has spoken at numerous universities. I think this is a much better time to have him host anything.

[NickGlass]

Isn't Seth McFarlane one of the biggest advocates of gay rights?

I don't know about "biggest," but, yes, I don't actually believe he's a homophobe. More a jab at Ratner, again.

[Ezee E]

I think he's funny, and his work is funny, but many times drawn out.

Just like the Oscars, so a perfect fit!

[Robby P]

What an awful choice. Not that I was going to watch anyways. But still.

[MadMan]

Look I still like Family Guy, but that show isn't even remotely as funny as it used to be (and yeah yeah some smart guy here is going to point out it was never funny. I already got that sort of thing in another thread, so go fuck yourself if you're gonna post that).

Anyways I don't like this choice, but I'll probably tune in as usual. Watching the Oscars is a bad habit, like eating fast food, smoking, or drinking.

[Spinal]

He's funny ...

Nope.

[Spinal]

I'd rather have Todd McFarlane host.

I'd rather have Seth Green host.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hate Family Guy, like Seth as a performer, admire him as a person.

[number8]

Hate Family Guy, like Seth as a performer, admire him as a person.

This more or less. He has great comic timing, but no good jokes. I wish to see him perform other people's material more. When he hosted SNL, his monologue was awful but he was funny in sketches. His Ryan Lochte (http://www.hulu.com/watch/401526) killed me.

[DavidSeven]

Well, I guess it can't be worse than letting The Artist Formerly Known as Billy Crystal do it again.

[Ezee E]

Well, I guess it can't be worse than letting The Artist Formerly Known as Billy Crystal do it again.
Seemed like a great idea. He's done though. I completely forgot he was there.

[Boner M]

Love MacFarlane almost as much I love the Oscars. Can wait!

[D_Davis]

They should have asked Clint Eastwood and Obama to host.

[Ivan Drago]

He's funny, charming and can sing. It's not at awful choice at all. Quite fitting actually.

This. I love what he's done as a voice actor, and I really like his big band album.

However, it is time for Family Guy to end.

[Henry Gale]

My first reaction to the news was "ah, reeeally?", but then he released this and somehow ended up on my good side again:

qgqRnlOEhoE

I tend to like MacFarlane most when he's put in more heightened, host-like roles anyway. I thought he was really solid as the Comedy Central Roastmaster a few times, but I find him hit and miss in interviews (the less funny, the more smarmy and self-congratulatory he comes off to me), I kinda hated Ted, but then there's the half of Family Guy and majority of American Dad that I really enjoy.

So overall, cautious optimism for this.

[Dukefrukem]

Nope.

Well even if he's only charming and can sing that's still better than Franco.

[MadMan]

BTW, American Dad is actually funny and the best show out of the ones he has on the air right now.

[Henry Gale]

BTW, American Dad is actually funny and the best show out of the ones he has on the air right now.

Oh, definitely. I've been liking Family Guy a little more in the last couple of years than I did around, say, Seasons 5 to 7 (why I've stayed with it throughout, I'm not entirely sure), but in that same time American Dad quietly improved and became a consistently funny and all around reliably solid show. AD's highs and lows aren't as extreme as FG's, especially since it's dabbled in far less lows, and it tends to create episodes with actual, discernible, good stories. Which is a sad distinction to have to make against the other, but it's true.

[baby doll]

I don't particularly care who hosts the Oscars, since I haven't watched them in about a decade for the same reason that some people don't read the newspapers: It's horribly depressing and I can't do anything to change it, so why make myself miserable when I could be playing with myself? I suppose one could watch the Oscars and play with themselves at the same time, and certainly the image of Helen Mirren in an evening gown is pretty much guaranteed to inspire an erection, but I can get the same result and eliminate the pain of having to actually sit through the Oscars completely by Googling images of Mirren whilst I google myself.

As for the whole Is-He-or-Isn't-He-Funny debate, McFarland's shows are essentially conveyor belts for random non sequiturs (some funny, a good many simply disgusting), which is ideal if your attention is span is only thirty seconds since you're not likely to care whether or not the other characters can hear the baby talking. That's not to say I personally give a shit if the other characters can or can't hear the baby talking (and it's pretty obvious that we're not supposed to), only that his characters are whatever he and his writers need them to be at any given moment (now the baby's gay; now he's straight; now he's a transvestite; now he wants to kill his mother; now he and the dog are a Hope-and-Crosby-esque duo) so that each episode ultimately amounts to something less than the sum of its parts. McFarland's shows are amusing while they're in front of you but are instantly disposable.

Incidentally, I don't think the fact that McFarland isn't homophobic ass-hole shouldn't be cited as something to his credit. That's like congratulating some one for not being a child molester.

[NickGlass]

I sort of wish Mark Wahlberg would co-host.

Also, did anyone else read the MacFarlane profile in The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/18/120618fa_fact_hoffman)? He's like the most excited little prolific kid in Hollywood.

[MadMan]

I sort of wish Mark Wahlberg would co-host.

Also, did anyone else read the MacFarlane profile in The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/18/120618fa_fact_hoffman)? He's like the most excited little prolific kid in Hollywood.That would actually be great.

Really though they should just unleash Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly together. The problem with the Oscars is that everyone takes the damn thing way too seriously, and of course nowadays you have to hurry the show up due to people wanting a tighter run time, so less time for good jokes and shtick.