I love John Stewart, but a lot of the jokes last time were pretty weak (the strike, Iknowdude). One of his best jokes was already made by Conan ("third time's the charm" after hosting twice) at the Emmys.
I thought the hosts wrote their jokes… I don't see Jackman writing many funnies. And the nominees this year kinda suck fat ones.
Whatever, I like slideshows of dead people.

I love him so much that I can't spell his name. He gets me excited, yo.

Just like your assessment of Anderson Cooper, your analysis of the Oscars' ratings is off, drew.

The biggest factor in Oscar ratings is the popularity of the Best Picture nominees. When the nominees are small-box-office flicks, the ratings are low.

Also, Oscar ratings can be expected to trend a little downward regardless of nominees (or host or jokes) as a huge variety of programming brings down the ratings for individual shows. A MASH-finale-sized rating is extremely unlikely to occur for any show in today's 200-channel universe.

You have my sympathies if you feel threatened by "sly George Bush jokes".

I agree with Run, it's not the host, it's the nominees. This year's ceremony had the lowest ratings in Oscar history. You know why? Because nobody in America knew any of the nominees!!! People like to watch the stars arrive but they have to be STARS!!! And people like to see who wins Best Actor/Actress and Best Movie. Quick, name me this year's winners of those three? UMMMM . . . let me see: I don't remember the actor but the actress was some French chick (who quicky dissed America and Americans) and the best movie was something nobody saw!!! I really hope they do better next year. Really. But, I doubt it.

P.S.: Hugh is the hotness but I can't see him carrying a show. Hope he fools me.

Saying the drop "had something to do with the fact that part of America still doesn't like Jon Stewart" is different that saying that Jon Stewart is the sole reason there were lower ratings last time.
And don't you know David doesn't hire Republicans? David doesn't hire Republicans or ugly people.

I'd have to say that's a pretty solid hiring plan.

Just for the record: I'm not threatened by "sly George Bush jokes".

I am however, bored almost comatose by them.

drew: nice to know you're not a Repub and you can name Oscar winners. Neither fact is relevant to my point that Oscar ratings are correlated to the popularity of Best Picture nominees. On that, I guess you have no response because you know I'm right.

The Academy Awards show has been terrible, overall, for literally about 20 years. It's missing a real host, who is Johnny Carson. Just because someone's a comedian doesn't necessarily mean they're a good television awards show host, and that goes for, yes, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg (terrible), Ellen DeGeneres (terrible, and not funny), Chevy Chase (too snotty–hey, if you don't want to be there, don't be there), Conan (completely wrong for that), Letterman (completely wrong for that), Jon Stewart (what? completely wrong for that). Sadly, no one can match Johnny Carson or Bob Hope–true, quality, all-around entertainers who understood what it meant to be a host, an interviewer, an entertainer, a comedian and a true wit, all at the same time. These are the two men who were and are forever the best hosts of the Academy Awards show–and the closest that anyone has gotten to Carson and Hope is Steve Martin. Now there's a good entertainer, wit and host–Steve Martin. The closest the show has come to Martin? Hugh Jackman. Really, Jackman is a true entertainer–he is an actor, a singer, a dancer, and a person who has experience on stage and on screen. Women love him, and men respect him. He's the closest to Carson, Hope and Martin that the show has had in 20 years.