The Host This Year Is...

[Damien]

From today's New York Times:

MISS CONGENIALITY WANTS THE OSCARS TO BE FUN
By Jacques Steinberg

BURBANK, Calif., Sept. 29 — With her famously straight hair ensnared in a curling iron just before a taping of her talk show on a recent afternoon, Ellen DeGeneres was peering into the future and describing how she plans to approach her gig as host of the 79th annual Academy Awards early next year.

Hollywood, she suggested, could already breathe easy, safe in the assurance that she did not intend to follow the templates laid out by the most combative of her predecessors. These include Chris Rock, who insulted the Oscar audience from the get-go two years ago by suggesting that only four actors could consider themselves legitimate stars, and even Jon Stewart, who, while shelving his most politically sharp material at this year’s ceremony, still drew an onstage rebuke from George Clooney by daring to suggest that show business might be “out of touch” with America.

“I want to be respectful,” Ms. DeGeneres said from her dressing room here on a studio lot that includes the sets of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “Access Hollywood.” “I know what the job is. It’s to honor movies and to honor people who worked hard. Those people take it seriously. I’m there to make them feel good and take their minds off it a little bit and make it a fun night.”

She might have been describing her syndicated talk show, called “Ellen” by most, which, as it embarks on its fourth season, has won the allegiance of a critical mass of viewers, to say nothing of A-list stars and television critics, by offering itself up as a safe harbor in a craggy television landscape.

In the process Ms. DeGeneres may not have reinvented herself — as a sitcom star in the 1990’s, and as a stand-up comedian before that, she was generally regarded as quick-witted and nice — but she has managed to play down the most explosive entry on her résumé (her decision in 1997 to out herself and her television character as gay) while playing up a talk-show persona that is positive, exuberant and encouraging.

The feel-good environment she has created on her show — when combined with her soothing turns as host of the Emmy Awards ceremonies after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina — made her an ideal candidate to host the Oscars. She could prove the perfect tonic for an entertainment industry generally despondent over the year’s box-office returns, as well as the state of affairs in Washington and abroad. “She’s got the best laugh in show business,” Robin Williams, a periodic guest on Ms. DeGeneres’s show and an Academy Award-winner himself (for “Good Will Hunting”), said in a telephone interview. “I think she’s genuinely having a good time. If it felt fake, or put on, I think people would pick up on it.”

“She picks stuff that’s silly and fun,” he added, citing appearances on her show in which she had him ride a bike onstage. “You feel like you’re with a really brilliant 12-year-old.”

In that vein, on this season of “Ellen” (officially “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”), Ms. DeGeneres, 48, has been goading celebrity guests and audience members alike to write “life lists,” compilations of all those things they have always wanted to accomplish, but never have. In a running bit, she has been crossing off the entries on her own ledger, like learning Spanish, which she did — on camera and to comedic effect of course — at a nearby middle school.

“I have a certain philosophy,” she said in an interview, this time sitting cross-legged on a comfy, olive couch in a bright office down the hall from her studio, “that if it feels good, that if I feel good doing it, then it will just feel good to watch.”

At the least she has demonstrated that her show’s stock-in-trade routines — whether it’s dancing through the audience with the abandon of someone in her kitchen with the blinds drawn or showing slow-motion replays of her inadvertent falls — have fueled a mini cottage industry.

During the last year or so, her representatives said, she has sold more than 10,000 pairs of boxer briefs with the name Ellen emblazoned on the waistband ($24.95) mostly through the show’s Web site, ellen.warnerbros.com. And, since being released in early September, the DVD of highlights from her first three seasons (titled “DVD-licious” and priced at $24.98) has been a top-seller at Target, where it is available exclusively through November.

So far this season “Ellen” has drawn an average daily audience of about 2.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. During the last 12 months the show ranked among the top 15 daytime talk and game shows, below “The View,” but above “Martha.” While up by an average of nearly 350,000 viewers a day when compared with her first season, Ms. DeGeneres’s audience has fallen a bit since last season, at least partly because NBC stations in New York and Los Angeles are pitting her, for the first time, against the top-ranked “Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Since NBC announced in 2004 that Conan O’Brien would succeed Jay Leno as host of “The Tonight Show” in 2009, Ms. DeGeneres’s name has occasionally been floated by industry executives as someone ABC might hire to develop her own late-night show.

When asked about that possibility, Ms. DeGeneres, whose contract with Warner Brothers and Telepictures, which produces her daytime show, does not expire until 2010, did not rule out relocating to nighttime.

“I’ll see what I feel like in three years and what the show is doing in three years,” she said.

A moment later, though, she said: “There’s no reason for me to move to late night. It’s not like I would do anything differently than during the day. Most people think you could do more at night, get away with more, but I don’t really do that.”

Perhaps the most obvious contrast to how Ms. DeGeneres conducts her daytime talk show can be found on ABC, where Rosie O’Donnell — a fellow stand-up comic whose Warner Brothers show preceded Ms. DeGeneres’s — has taken up residence this season on “The View.” On that show Ms. O’Donnell has been overtly political (her views are decidedly liberal), provocative and open about her relationship with her longtime partner, Kelli Carpenter O’Donnell.

By contrast Ms. DeGeneres almost never discusses politics. “It’s not because I have these strong opinions that I hold back talking about,” she said. “I’m just not a political person.” She added, “I really am aware that no matter how strongly I feel about something, there’s someone else who feels just as strongly about the exact opposite.”

Unlike Ms. O’Donnell, Ms. DeGeneres makes only rare references to her romantic life on her show — she shares a home with the actress Portia de Rossi — mindful that the way she came out as a lesbian (with a Time magazine cover featuring the headline “Yep, I’m Gay”) drew much criticism in some circles and concerned some station managers who now carry her show..

“Maybe because I was penalized in a way when I came out, there are certain areas that I am aware would get me in trouble,” she said. “I talk about my life and I talk about Portia and it’s not a big deal if it comes up. But it really doesn’t come up.”

In recent weeks, for example, Ms. DeGeneres omitted any reference to Ms. de Rossi from two stories she told during her monologue, one about a car accident (she was driving and Ms. de Rossi was a passenger) and another in which their French bulldog, Pig, who is prone to flatulence, devoured a bowl of Parmesan cheese. (Ms. de Rossi had been cooking pasta and inadvertently left the bowl within Pig’s reach.) That Ms. DeGeneres may be holding back a few details from her daily life does not seem to bother her show’s core audience, particularly those who began lining up as early as 5:30 a.m. with hopes of getting a good seat (and perhaps the chance to dance on camera with the host) on a recent day.

“She’s like us, real people,” said Esther Perez, 47, a school cafeteria worker from San Diego whose husband left home at 3:45 a.m. to hold a spot in line for her. “And she’s very clean with her jokes.”

“It’s that positivity,” said Nan Einarson, a life coach who had traveled to the show from Toronto as a 58th birthday present from her daughter. “Ellen’s always upbeat.”

[Eric]

This is a pathetic attempt to try and curry favor with the gay community. And what do they do to try and win back gay guys -- get a lesbian to host? WTF?

Hey now. I love my lesbian friends as much if not more than some of my gay male friends.

[flipp525]

Apology to the gay community? No, an apology would be a best picture win for another gay themed film.

I agree. This is a pathetic attempt to try and curry favor with the gay community. And what do they do to try and win back gay guys -- get a lesbian to host? WTF? Ellen is hardly going to make up for the bad taste left in my mouth from the Brokeback loss.

Are there any gay characters this year? I’d say there’d be a push to nominate at least one of them. Possibles: Annette Bening for Running with Scissors (bisexual), Kate Winslet for Little Children (bi), Samuel Barnett for The History Boys (gay).

[criddic3]

No, only gay conservatives.

[Sonic Youth]

Uh, that's what I've read. I get my opinion from industry pundits who've always struck me as very informed.

Why? Who do you read to get your ideas from?

This strikes me as a very interesting (and confrontational) quote.

Why should someone get their opinions from someone else? Maybe you don't mean this the way I read it, and although the statement was directed to someone else, I felt it was a very odd choice of words.

Did your parents have any human children?

[Damien]

Well, according the guys over at Datalounge--a gay gossip forum--Ellen's selection had everything to do with trying to make peace with the gay community after the Brokeback/Crash debacle. After all, the Academy Award telecast IS known as "The Gay Superbowl."

Ellen has to be the dullest gay person this side of a blind date a friend of mine had who spent the eveining talking about home heating systems.

[Penelope]

Well, according the guys over at Datalounge--a gay gossip forum--Ellen's selection had everything to do with trying to make peace with the gay community after the Brokeback/Crash debacle. After all, the Academy Award telecast IS known as "The Gay Superbowl."

[Big Magilla]

Apology to the gay community? No, an apology would be a best picture win for another gay themed film. If anything, it's either a cynical attempt to win back the support of gays who said they'd never watch the Oscars again or a snub at the homophobes who check-mated BBM's best picture run. More likely, though, Ellen's sexual orientation had nothing to do with her selection. It's mroe likely they just wanted a calming presence like she was at the 2001 Emmys after the contentious shows of the past few years.

[anonymous1980]

And i just don't understand why Jay Leno has not been asked to do it yet. He's not my first choice for it, but he would probably be good.

Umm...have you seen his show?

The truth of the matter is: He isn't highly respected in the industry. Sure, he may get the highest ratings among late night hosts and can be counted on for celebs to plug their latest projects, nobody really takes him seriously anymore. There is a reason that David Letterman, not Jay Leno, was the one who was selected to pay tribute to Johnny Carson at the Emmys after his death.

Yes, I also do think that Ellen's selection is a sort of apology to the gay community for the Brokeback Mountain Oscar loss.

[OscarGuy]

It's also possible that Ziskin wanted to rebuke the Academy OR it was an attempt to reach out to the Gay community after the Brokeback loss.

[Hustler]

I wouldn't doubt that they decide for the 80th they invite back all of the hosts that are still living.

Great idea! sounds interesting. I would add to that all of the winning actors that are still alive.

It's an underhanded rebuke of the Academy for ignoring Brokeback to a minor extent.

It has nothing to do with that. Her choice was a one or two person´s decision related to a host who has some experience in that kind of shows. I don´t think that her gay identity was even considered in that case. On the other hand, the loss of Brokeback was determined by thousands.

[Hustler]

I like Ellen a lot! As for her warm presence, I find her sincere, spontaneous and fresh. Doesn´t that sound better at Oscar time?

[OscarGuy]

The reason Jay Leno has never hosted is because no one would want him. The last Late Night type host was Letterman and that didn't impress them.

I think Jon Stewart was amazing and I think that the reason you, Criddic, didn't like him as host was because of his politics. Let's face facts he did a lot to mar your favorite political party and opinions on the show, so it isn't surprising you didn't like him.

I think Stewart was, with Whoopi, one of the best hosts since I started watching in 1989.

And don't knock the "stand up comedian" hosts. I've seen snippets of the all-time-hosting-record holder Bob Hope's performances and that's EXACTLY what his modus was. So, your use of that as a defense of why Rock and Stewart didn't work is laughable. Though, I'll agree that Rock was a terrible host, not as bad as Letterman, but not very good at all.

[criddic3]

Uh, that's what I've read. I get my opinion from industry pundits who've always struck me as very informed.

Why? Who do you read to get your ideas from?

This strikes me as a very interesting (and confrontational) quote.

Why should someone get their opinions from someone else? Maybe you don't mean this the way I read it, and although the statement was directed to someone else, I felt it was a very odd choice of words.

As far as my own opinion, I have to say that when Ellen hosted the Emmy show after the attacks, she did a good job. I don't think she was overly spectacular, but she did have a likable presence for a host of such a show. She doesn't have the same wit as Steve Martin, or the crazy, silly moments that enlivened some of Billy Crystal's efforts; but judging from the Emmy show I saw, and from some of her own show (which I've occassionally watched), she is a better choice than Jon Stewart or Chris Rock. Both of those guys, who each have the ability to be funny, just didn't seem to fit the show. It reminds me of David Letterman's stint. He had some funny moments, some awful moments, and just didn't match up with the event. He was out of place. DeGeneres could be a breezy choice, although she could be too lightweight in a way. Crystal was popular as host because he was larger-than-life on the show, and Martin was good for it because he had the right balance for an emcee. The others played the show as stand up, and didn't really know how to handle the format of the Oscars. Each had their moments, I think, but not enough to be memorable.

So my verdict is that Ellen is an Okay pick. They shouldn't wait too much longer to ask Crystal or Martin back, though. It would be a shame never to see either one of them back. And i just don't understand why Jay Leno has not been asked to do it yet. He's not my first choice for it, but he would probably be good.

[VanHelsing]

I've seen her hosted the Emmys (should be her 2nd attempt) and I wasn't impressed. Still, I don't exactly care who's the Oscar host. I think you all know what I'm looking forward to in next year's Oscar show.