Chinese Character - Jon Stewart will host Academy Awards

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ENTERTAINMENT / Movies






Jon Stewart will host Academy Awards


(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-13 09:43





The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday,
Sept. 12, 2007, that Jon Stewart, seen here as the host in the 78th
Academy Awards telecast in Los Angeles March 5, 2006, will host the 2008
Oscar Awards ceremony airing in February.[AP]

Jon Stewart is getting a do-over as Oscar host.

America's favorite faux newscaster, who drew mixed reviews for his first
stint in 2006, has been picked for a return engagement in February, the
film academy announced Wednesday.

"I'm thrilled to be asked to host the Academy Awards for the second time
because, as they say, the third time's a charm," Stewart said Wednesday
in a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

"He did a great job two years ago," Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates
told The Associated Press Wednesday. "You need a host who is not afraid
of the unexpected, who can stand out and really work a room and deal with
a live show. Jon, of course, does that on his show every night."

Stewart, 44, is also "a very, very nice guy and very easy to work with,"
Cates said.

The 2007 show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, drew 40.1 million viewers,
compared to the 38.9 million who watched when Stewart hosted the previous
year. But bringing back Stewart is "not a bad choice," said longtime TV
critic David Bianculli of the New York Daily News.

"Stewart has such good will, and the worst mistake people have made —
in the Oscars especially — is trying to be a little bit too cold to the
room rather than cool enough for the room," he said.

Besides, people don't tune into the Oscars for the host, Bianculli said:
"It's up to the films in contention more than anything else."

AP television critic Frazier Moore called Stewart a "TV veteran" who "did
a good job last time and will be even more comfortable this time in the
role."

"He always brings some needed irreverence and smarts to pretty much
anything he does," Moore said. "The Oscars are an often very pretentious,
self-important institution, and somebody like Jon Stewart is very useful
to help deflate a little of that pomposity."

In his first Oscar gig, the star of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart" made jokes about the Iraq war and ribbed Hollywood's elite
about their ties to the Democratic Party.

"His usually impeccable blend of puckishness and self-effacement fell
flat," an AP review said, adding he was "too deferential, too nice and
too obvious in his targets."

Stewart, who also hosted the Grammys in 2001 and 2002, noted the split
decision on his own cable TV show the night after the Oscars, saying he
had a great time but didn't know how he fared until he saw the reviews.

"I sucked and was great!" he joked.

The 2008 Oscars will take place Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre in Los
Angeles.























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