Less Than Zero Chance? NY Post Writer Wants James Woods To Host Oscars
So, Kevin Hart won’t be hosting the Oscars, despite the urging of Ellen Degeneres during a trip to her show.
Apparently, according to Deadline, Hart doesn’t want to be a distraction.
He also apparently realizes that, at this point, given the amount of preparation the night would require and the loaded atmosphere the Twittersphere would engender, there would be no way it wouldn’t be a minefield almost nobody could navigate.
That leaves one question: Who will end up hosting?
The lead candidate seems to be absolutely nobody; the Academy will simply rely on a bevy of stars to do small parts and carry the evening. The last time this was done was 1989, one of the worst-received shows in the history of awards, with a scandalous opening musical number featuring Snow White that has to be seen to be believed (although I’d recommend against it).
But what about James Woods?
You may think I jest. And, quite frankly, it would be a difficult sell — not to mention four of the most contentious hours in TV history.
But in a commentary piece for the New York Post, one media writer thinks it would be just the boost the awards need.
“With the 2019 Golden Globe Awards now upon us, only one thing is for sure: Not a lot of people are going to watch,” Jon Levine, media editor for entertainment news website The Wrap, wrote in a piece published Saturday.
“Ratings for the event last year fell 5 percent from their 2017 numbers and have fallen three out of the last four years. Oscars and Emmys? Even worse, with the 2018 shows declining 20 percent and 10 percent respectively from their 2017 ratings numbers.
“Reversing this moribund picture calls for more than just tinkering along the edges. How can the creative class convince millions of Americans who have tuned out to give them a second chance? To answer that, I have two words.
“James Woods.”
Yes, Woods is a Trump supporter who called the president’s election a “once-in-a-century miracle.” He’s also starred in some amazing films. That, according to Levine, is a catalyst for some great TV.
“He regularly inveighs against liberal sacred cows to his nearly 2 million Twitter followers. When Congresswoman Frederica Wilson criticized Trump, for example, Woods called her a ‘#ParasiteRodeoClown’ — a nod to her distinctive cowboy hat,” he wrote.
“He has developed a passionate cult following among the same audience that briefly powered Roseanne Barr to the No. 1 show on television. That audience is still out there, still looking for someone who can be their ambassador to the cultural elite.”
Is Woods the guy to do it? Levine notes the outrage would be stiff.
“Hollywood’s Jacobins of propriety would express their horror. Screenshots of trollish old tweets (and there have been many) would make the rounds. Words like ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ would fly a mile a minute. But those costs would be a pittance compared to the millions of new viewers he’d bring in (along with the old viewers who’d be excited to see something different for a change).”
It would be as bold of a step in the opposite direction as the Academy could possibly make — which is why its members almost certainly wouldn’t do it. The Oscars host they look for is almost always someone who desperately wants to be liked, even when they want to be “edgy.”
When Seth MacFarlane hosted, you could tell — even through the jokes that had stars demanding their personal assistants go fetch them sets of pearls so they could clutch at them — how desperately he wanted the approval of Hollywood.
James Woods would be there to burn whatever final bridges exist between him and Hollywood proper.
But the Academy also has to look at the ratings and how awards shows — which now ought to be preceded by, “We’re from the Democrat Party, and we approve this message” — simply don’t resonate with America the way they used to.
“The current crop of awards shows are not working,” Levine writes. “They have become celebrations of rich and beautiful people basking in their own glory. From the stage, righteous political sermons are delivered, alienating huge swaths of a potential audience. This year’s Golden Globe hosts, Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, seem like nice, perfectly wholesome people — and that’s precisely the point.”
Woods wouldn’t be that.
He’s got a wit sharp enough to keep an audience entertained.
He has the kind of worth ethic anyone would need to be able and willing to do it on short notice.
And finally, unlike Kevin Hart, he’d be more than willing to be a distraction from the normal festivities.
In fact, for James Woods, that would be the whole point.
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