Anytime veteran Oscar producer Gilbert "Gil" Cates booked another superstar for the big show, he banged a giant golden gong outside his office.
Just weeks after Fox dropped "America's Most Wanted" after more than two decades, its creator-host, John Walsh, has a new home for the show on the Lifetime network.
In the tradition of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson, and later Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg, Oscar is going back to its comedic roots with Eddie Murphy as host.
Billy Crystal says he'd consider a return as Oscar host _ if some changes are made to the show.
These were supposed to be the younger, hipper Academy Awards, the ones that shook up the ceremony's conventions with popular, great-looking emcees in actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who were unlike the middle-aged comedians and TV talk-show hosts of years past.
To the movie industry, the Oscars are an awards ceremony. For the rest of us, they're a show. So while we couldn't recall last year's best picture on a bet (Cameron's blue-aliens movie? No, wait, it was "Hurt Locker" from his ex!), we savor the memory of Billy Crystal's great opening bits and Jack Palance's one-armed push-ups and brave Christopher Reeve onstage, alone, in a wheelchair.
James Franco and Anne Hathaway have just what Academy Awards producers want as hosts of Hollywood's biggest night. They'll put on a show, rather than just another awards ceremony, organizers say.
James Franco and Anne Hathaway have just what Academy Awards producers want as hosts of Hollywood's biggest night. They'll put on a show, rather than just another awards ceremony, organizers say.
