SWEET!
While many bloggers seem to be poo-pooing the Academy for wooing Billy Crystal out of retirement to host the Oscars for the ninth time, I love the idea!
Like I said in my previous post about Ricky Gervais being tapped, yet again, to host the Golden Globes, it is very important to have a consistent host to help brand an awards show. Sure, Crystal hasn’t hosted the Academy Awards since 2004… and no one has hosted in concurrent years since Crystal in 1997 and 1998… so you can’t really call him consistent, however Billy Crystal is an Oscar icon, second only to Bob Hope for the most number of hosting gigs.
In many ways, Billy Crystal is the face of the modern Oscars and he brings the kind of familiarity the floundering telecast needs… plus he is the perfect choice to pick-up the pieces and bring respect back to the award after the humiliating loss of Eddie Murphy due to the Brett Ratner debacle.
However… my fellow bloggers are right. Billy Crystal, as amazing as he is, at 63 years old, is an outdated choice. And I fear that the Academy (and Brian Grazar) may be overlooking an opportunity to improve the reputation of the Oscars, not just for this year, but for years to come.
What am I driving at?
Well… I think Billy Crystal needs a co-host.
Over the years, the Oscar telecast has had a harder and hard time attracting younger views, not that they haven’t been trying. In the last 10+ years they have taped the likes of Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Hugh Jackman, James Franco, and Ann Hathaway as hosts. And every time they just can’t harness that younger demographic and at times, they have come dangerously close to alienating their loyal (older) demographic.
The choice of Billy Crystal alone almost feels like the Academy has conceded the fight. And that worries me.
If I were producing the Oscars I would do things very different. I would approach a young actor with similar song and dance talents to Billy Crystal and who has experience hosting live awards shows … like Neil Patrick Harris.
I would then offer him a four year hosting contract, with the first year co-hosting with Billy, as a sort of a ‘passing the torch’ year.
I think an actor like Neil Partick Harris would generate a lot of interest with younger demographics and I think having him host alongside an Oscar legend like Billy Crystal for the first year would help the loyal Oscar viewing demographics to not only accept a younger host, but also embrace him, almost like he had been handpicked by Crystal himself.
This is what the Oscars needs: a new face that we can count on year after year. Like we used to count on Billy. It’s time… but a successful transition is going to take some finesse.
Billy Crystal is exactly what the Oscars need this year and he will do a fantastic job.
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