Seth MacFarlane First Oscar Host Since ’72 to Announce Nominees

In another smart move, the Motion Picture Academy has decided that this year’s show host Seth MacFarlane will announce the nominees. MacFarlane will be joined at 8:30am Eastern, 5:30am Pacific this Thursday morning by Emma Stone, who was so good in “The Help” and “Amazing Spider Man,” among others. MacFarlane is the first host since 1972 to be awakened this early in the morning to perform these duties. That year their were four hosts– Helen Hayes, Sammy Davis, Jr., Alan King, and Jack Lemmon. (Talk about eclectic.) What’s cool is that that show, 40 years ago, was produced by Howard W. Koch, the late father of current Academy chief Hawk Koch. Nice symmetry. With any luck, MacFarlane will have stayed up all night and be ready for some fun.