Corona | Coming Attractions

After the gamble two years ago to inject new blood into the Academy Awards show failed to materialize in critical or commercial success, the producers of the event have decided to place their bet on someone edgier. It turns out that individual is Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Fox's Family Guy cartoon series as well as American Dad and The Cleveland Show. Let's also not forget that MacFarlane's first foray into motion pictures, Universal's Ted movie, made over $200 million dollars at the box office this past summer.

On several levels the hiring of MacFarlane to emcee the 85th annual awards ceremony makes a lot of smart sense. The demographic that most gets MacFarlane's crude, potty-mouthed pop culture zingers is precisely the same group of individuals that the Academy producers want to attract. Let's face it, Anne Hathaway and James Franco's turn at hosting the awards didn't do much to excite the home viewing audience.

There's also the benefit that MacFarlane is a quick thinker on his feet, a trait that all Oscar hosts should possess so that they can take advantage of the moment. In addition to being a comedian and talented voice actor, MacFarlane is also an accomplished singer of show tunes (he just released his first album last month.) All of these skills add up to a pretty decent shot at giving this year's Academy Awards enough of a reason to tune in.

As the Academy sent out their press release announcing Seth MacFarlane as the host for the 85th Academy Awards show, they also released a video where Seth breaks the news to his father.