Will Oscar host Seth MacFarlane be asked back? Probably not.
| Los Angeles
As Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is surely learning Monday, helming the annual awards ceremony dwarfs all other challenges. Rescue hostages from under the nose of armed revolutionaries? Piece of cake! Free American slaves amidst a young nation鈥檚 bloody civil war? In my sleep!
But host a three-hour industry telecast to the satisfaction of a global audience of a billion and counting? The faint-hearted need not apply.
Mr. MacFarlane, the creator of Fox鈥檚 鈥�Family Guy,鈥� has been criticized for making sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic jokes (does this miss any groups?) as well as general bad taste and lousy clock control (the show ran until midnight EST, a half hour over schedule).
But pop culture audiences seem to be as divided as political ones. According to Fizziology, a social media research firm, 13 percent of Facebook and Twitter users discussing the show ranked MacFarlane as 鈥渢he best host ever.鈥� And early Nielsen ratings show the broadcast up nearly 20 percent over the 2012 show with some 37 million US viewers.
But there is one question that all Oscar viewers are asking: Will he be back?
Not if the Academy is a tad more careful next time, suggests Thelma Adams, Yahoo! Movies contributing editor. The 鈥渃entral conundrum鈥� is having a show that remains true to its film industry audience.
鈥淲atch an episode of 鈥楩amily Guy鈥� and you鈥檒l know it鈥檚 not a good match for Hollywood honchos sitting in stiff chairs in tuxes and tiaras,鈥� she says. The first thing to acknowledge is that the audience inside the Dolby Theater, where the show is held in Hollywood, 鈥渋s a tough and tense crowd.鈥�
There are several groups on whom MacFarlane鈥檚 humor was wasted.
Gwendolyn Foster, a film professor at University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says her female students were 鈥渁ppalled鈥� at what they consider MacFarlane鈥檚 outdated and sexist routines.
鈥淓veryone agrees it was like watching an old sexist 'Dating Game' episode,鈥� she says via e-mail. 鈥淪eth McFarlane was as smarmy as the host of the 'Dating Game,' which is perfect because the Dating Game, if memory serves me, was on during the Vietnam War, when many Americans preferred to bury their heads in the sand and pretend the war was not happening, or pretend the war was a good thing.鈥�
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued its own rebuke of MacFarlane鈥檚 bit in the guise of his animated Teddy Bear persona, the main character in his 2012 film, 鈥�Ted.鈥澛燗 computer-animated Ted, presenting with actor Mark Wahlberg, made the joke that Jews controlled Hollywood, and that being Jewish was required to work in the industry. "I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever," he said.
"While we have come to expect inappropriate 'Jews control Hollywood' jokes from Seth MacFarlane, what he did at the Oscars was offensive and not remotely funny,鈥� said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, in a statement. 鈥淚t only reinforces stereotypes which legitimize anti-Semitism. It is sad and disheartening that the Oscars awards show sought to use anti-Jewish stereotypes for laughs.
Others argue that the flap around MacFarlane鈥檚 performance is exaggerated.
鈥淪eth MacFarlane is getting a bad rap from critics who can't take a joke,鈥� says Carole Lieberman, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist who specializes in the media.
鈥淗e was risky, risqu茅 and riotous,鈥� she says via e-mail. And while he stepped a bit over the line, 鈥渉e was a breath of fresh air to an otherwise safe awards show. The audience needed to sit back and relax and laugh at themselves and their colleagues a bit, instead of hiding behind their own press releases touting their perfection.鈥�
Dr. Lieberman says MacFarlane won鈥檛 be asked back, because the Academy will 鈥渒eep looking for an impossible combination of someone new who's funny enough, but doesn't offend anyone.鈥�
Unless the Academy finds a younger audience, the telecast will become increasingly insignificant, says Susan Mackey-Kallis, a communications professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
鈥淲hether or not Seth MacFarlane is the answer to the Academy's dilemma about maintaining their older more traditional audience while capturing the hearts and minds of the younger generation remains to be seen,鈥� she says via e-mail. What is certain, she adds, is that the days of the show being hosted by Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg, 鈥渙r fill in your favorite over-50 star 鈥� are long gone.鈥澛� 聽
The Golden Globes鈥� hosting duo this year may be a better guide for the Academy, says Paul Levinson, media professor at Fordham University in New York.
鈥淭he Academy can appeal to younger audiences, with edgier content, while maintaining its broad demographic appeal as a family show,鈥� he notes in an e-mail, adding that it鈥檚 a question, as always, of finding the right hosts.
鈥淐别谤迟补颈苍濒测, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler accomplished that at the Golden Globes," he says.
