Last night, first time host Seth MacFarlane ushered in the 85th annual Academy Awards with a lot of song and dance. While some of his jokes bordered on the offensive, irking critics who panned his hosting abilities as “classless” and “tasteless,” the ratings were the best for Oscar since 2010 and were up a modest 2% over last year’s show hosted by Billy Crystal.
Choosing MacFarlane for host this year came from a concerted effort by the Academy to reel in that coveted 18-49 demographic, long considered the most valuable by advertisers. Preliminary reports show the ploy worked–ratings were up 11% among those very viewers.
While MacFarlane’s comedic sense was being both panned and in some cases, lauded, his timing certainly pushed it to the limit, literally. The show lasted more than 3 1/2 hours, though not the longest Academy Awards on record, it did last until after midnight in the eastern time zone, often seen as a big no-no. The honor for the longest telecast goes to the 2002 show, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, which clocked in at 4 hours and 23 minutes.
MacFarlane wasn’t the only notable name representing Hollywood East. Besides the Kent, Connecticut writer and Ted director, Boston’s own Ben Affleck got to take the stage once again as an Oscar winner, nearly 16 years after he first won, along with buddy Matt Damon, for best screenplay in 1997 for Good Will Hunting. This time, he closed out the show, grabbing a second statuette for best picture for his film, Argo, a movie he both directed and starred in.
