Neil Patrick Harris' first and last year as Oscar host — Page 4

He flopped. It happens. I'm over it.

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I think Neil would have been very foolish if he didn't negotiate script control into his contract. Suppose they forced him to tell an anti-gay joke? Do you think he would go along with that?

But I also blame Zadan and Meron. Everybody thinks they are so great because they brought live musicals to tv (despite Peter Pan being very mediocre). But Z&M are very hit or miss. They just didn't hire writers to write to Neil's personality.

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Sean Penn's green card joke did not bother anyone because he is as liberal, and quite vocal about it, as one can get. He also has worked with Inarritu in the past, so Alejandro is more than aware of Penn's sense of humor. Plus, it's Sean p*ucking Penn.

The lesson being don't hire Neil Patrick Harris as host.

MOUSTACHA---I have friends who have written for awards shows for years. Some of the biggies, including the one you watched last night. They are hired for the gig and crank out plenty of material well before and also during the broadcast, but none of them have final say as to what the host delivers. The host decides. Even the director yields to the host. It's not the same thing as an actor hired to play a role, where "the play's the thing" on stage, or "it's a director's medium" on film. This is a hosting gig, akin to a stand-up comic or talk-show host.

And other than the network censoring anything inappropriate with their five-second delay, they approve the host in advance, which includes that host's "brand" (or type) of material. They don't intervene and micromanage creatively after the approval.

EDIT: And actually, the network isn't in charge of this show at all. The Motion Picture Academy is. They're the ones who produce it and sell the broadcast rights to the network.

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Updated On: 2/23/15 at 02:51 PM

Seth McFarlane was the best in that list.

Moustacha, one of Neil's jobs is to protect his brand and "personality". Being a first time host of the Oscar, he should have been very aware of how the jokes would go over or at least have someone to guide him.

Part of what makes a good host is how much of a sense of fun the host has. Ellen's jokes weren't all that memorable, but everyone had fun with the selfie and with the pizza ordering. Remember several years ago and Billy Crystal's running jokes about Jack Palance's exercise regime? Both of those people had a sense of fun.

David Letterman, on the other hand, may be able to write funny material, but he's the Larry King of hosting. "Uma, Oprah" being one of the most desperately unfunny things ever done.

I think Neil lacks that sense of fun personality. He tries to manufacture it, but it's not really there.

I'm sure Neil had enough clout to find someone to shape the material to his personality. For example, Bette Midler had some great zingers coming straight from the brain of Bruce Vilanch. I heard one of her jokes over 20 years ago and I still remember it. She was talking about how Princess Anne loved horses and Bette said, "She loves nature, despite what it did to her." I don't know if Vilanch wrote that, but whoever did should have been paid a million dollars for that one liner because it was hilarious and exactly something you would expect Bette to say.

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Updated On: 2/23/15 at 03:06 PM

"In his defense, hosting the Tonys is a different animal"

Exactly but I think he should have been aware of that and performed accordingly.

"What do all successful oscar hosts have in common? They're all comedians. (degeneres, rock, crystal, martin) Comedians know how to handle that type of room and that caliber of an awards show."

Alice, you should probably see a doctor about that Alzheimers.

People hated Chris Rock. I remember many were offended by him mocking the celebrities, as well as insulting the seriousness of the awards with that clip of him average moviegoers what their favorite movie of the last year was.

Last year, people complained about Ellen's schtick with the pizza and the selfie.

Billy Crystal did blackface in the year 2012.


No one will ever be happy with the Oscars host, and people seem to willfully forget that they complain "Worst. Host. Ever." every single year. When will we finally admit that the problem is the show, not the host?

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And the next question is: Is this representatitve of what his variety show is going to be like?

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I hope my defense didn't seem like I was making Neil the victim. I certainly understand that he has to protect his brand. The large writing, directing, and managing staff is to set the host up for the best success possible. To think the multi-billion media beast of ABC doesn't have a say is a little ridiculous. Do they walk in and make directing decisions? Well, of course not. Do they go to the producers and say, there is no way that'll work - absolutely.

The director and producers are the ones that hold the power. Are they demanding Neil do something this way or that? probably not. But they aren't just putting jokes on a table and saying "now you decide." These sorts of gigs have a large drawn out gameplan, both in pacing and in tone. That plan is set by the producer/directors and executed by the hosts. I've never said Neil didn't have input and he undoubtedly shares the blame.

Most of the complaints here are rather spiteful rebukes of NPH's entire career by casting this as a complete failure. I'm just trying to point out that it's more complicated than that. Many people share the blame - NPH included.

The previous comment hits it on the head - the problem is the show. Most of those people don't want to be there, it's boring and stale. The host can only do so much, even with good material.

"What do you think would improve the show? Or is it a format whose time has passed like the Miss America pagent?"

I don't know. Open bars like the Golden Globes? Everyone takes the Oscars so seriously and there are so many freaking awards shows every year that by the time they finally get to it, everyone is so uptight and no one is having fun, and it comes across that way to the viewers.

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