Seth MacFarlane to host 2013 Academy Awards
Seth MacFarlane onstage during the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (Sept. 23, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
"Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane has been named as the host of the 85th Oscars, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced in a news release.
“It's truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars,” MacFarlane stated in the release. “My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don't find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen Roast.”
The 2013 Academy Awards are scheduled to air Feb. 24 on ABC.
After Billy Crystal's sometimes bland, sometimes uncomfortable hosting of the 84th ceremony -- that fat joke directed toward poor Jonah Hill showed the frequent Oscar host's inability to make crass work -- MacFarlane could be the unsafe choice the Academy needs to get the younger viewers its advertisers want. The release points out just how unproven MacFarlane is, noting that this is his first time on the Oscars' stage.
The 2012 telecast, while up 4 percent in viewership from 2011's Anne Hathaway-James Franco fiasco, still trailed February's Grammys (39.3 versus 39.9 million viewers, according to the Nielsen Co.).
