2. He Plays Towards A Younger CrowdThat Doesnt Watch The Oscars
Seth's second greatest asset to his hosting gig is one that Oscar has been puzzling over for years: the kids LOVE him. Sure, Billy Crystal's a hysterical singer. Of course, Steve Martin is dry and witty, sometimes bringing the audience in on the gag. Naturally, Whoopi Goldberg will divide the audience, but in the end bring it on home for the cheap seats as well as the Mezzanine and the Orchestra. But they aren't popular with the kids. You can practically hear it in the boardroom when they pitch the next year's show. "It's the kids, Marty! Something's gotta be done about the kids!" Hugh Jackman didn't work, Jon Stewart and Chris Rock worked to a limited extent, and the Hathaway/Franco pairing is STILL ingrained in our minds as half of a train wreck and half of a good time. (I'll let you decide which is which.) The MacFarlane Machine has the kids all sewn up, simply because that's his target audience and he speaks their language. But the cold hard fact still remains, as Reel Big Fish once put it, "The kids don't like it". It's not "cool" to watch an awards show by time you get to the key Oscar demographic. Kids are bombarded with Teen Choice and People's Choice and MTV's Choice awards that frankly, they're over it. The kids that like the popular stuff won't watch because it's not nominated, and the kids that like quirky things won't watch because they're jaded due to the kids awards show favoring dreck like Twilight. This limits your audience to cinephiles, awards show junkies, and older people who still care about the Oscars. THIS is the audience you should be playing to. MacFarlane can bring the kids, but the real trick is can he make them stay?