A shorter show plus likely song performances from superstars like Lady Gaga will limit the time a host has to do anything
More than a month after choosing and then losing Kevin Hart as the host of the 91st Academy Awards, the Academy and the Oscar show producers are moving ahead with plans for an Oscars without a traditional host.
But their plans are also informed by one glaring fact: Even if this year’s Oscars had a host, there won’t be time on the show for that host to do very much.
That’s why the prospect of a hostless Oscars isn’t as daunting to the Academy, producer Donna Gigliotti and co-producer Glenn Weiss as it might have seemed five or 10 years ago — because what’s the point of booking a marquee host if that person won’t be able to make an impact?
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The Academy declined to comment on the host situation — but according to people close to the show, the expectation at this point is that they will not replace Hart, who dropped out in early December after a furor over some past homophobic tweets. His experience made the prospect of hosting, always a daunting one, even less attractive to potential replacements — and when Ellen DeGeneres publicly (and unsuccessfully) lobbied for Hart’s return, she quickly moved from a possible replacement to an Academy pariah.
At the same time, though, the fact that this year’s show is being revamped to save time makes the absence of a host less pressing than it might have been.
In August, after years of declining ratings and pressure from ABC, AMPAS president John Bailey and CEO Dawn Hudson sent Academy members an email in which they promised a three-hour awards telecast.
Also Read: Here’s How Kevin Hart Says He Was Going to Open the 2019 Oscars (Video)
The last Oscars show that ran for less than three hours was in 1973, when “The Godfather” was named Best Picture in a two hour, 38 minute show.
