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1. ACADEMY MESS, Part I
By now, the world knows that the Oscars will be hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. It’s a three-hour show, so the current assumption is that each actress — all of them funny in their own way — will host an hour or so of the broadcast.
As with all things Oscar, the road to get here was tortured and painful, a typical AMPAS farce with some unexpected players dropping in along the way.
Here’s the tea, as it’s been explained as of this hour.
Originally, there were going to be two hosts per hour. Hall was going to be paired with Tiffany Haddish because they starred in Girls Trip together — a movie that was produced by Will Packer, who is producing the Academy Awards this year. Packer pushed for Hall, and we’ve also heard that at one point, Packer reached out to Issa Rae, who has worked with the producer on films such as Little and The Photograph, though she also passed on a hosting slot.
It has already been reported that Packer and the Academy made an overture to the Only Murders in the Building trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, who are said to have turned down the opportunity due to scheduling issues. But I also heard there was an attempt to lure Gomez away from the show on her own — leaving Martin and Short to shoot their Only Murders scenes while she was away doing Oscars prep — and she would’ve been paired with Schumer.
It was also reported that Jon Hamm was in talks to co-host the Oscars up until the 11th hour, but no one really asked why it didn’t work out. Well, I’ve heard that he did not get along with Packer, and it was ultimately the producer’s way or the highway. Reps for Packer did not respond to requests for comment.
And now for the kicker. I hear that the Academy was deep in conversation about giving one of the hosting slots to Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of ABC’s own talk show The View. For Goldberg it would have been her fifth time in the job. Additionally, I hear, she loves hosting the Oscars. And it makes sense: ABC could promote one of their own, and she is an actual Oscar winner (an EGOT actually).
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Also on The Ankler:
Ted Turner Biographer: ‘John Malone…Speaks for Ted Turner’ Porter Bibb recounts the CNN’s founder’s opposition to ‘what Zucker did with CNN’ and his close bond with the news network’s top critic.
Warner Bros. Discovery and the Worst Case Scenario Our own analyst, Entertainment Strategy Guy, goes under the hood of the assets in the about-to-wed companies, diving into DC, Harry Potter, HBO and more, and how the combined company could go sideways.
RUMBLINGS: 5 Names Whispered for Warners The crown is coming for the right candidate as Discovery and WarnerMedia head to the altar. Richard Rushfield names the executives that have the town talking.
Podcast: Tom Cruise and how the Mission: Impossible franchise was saved over one very awkward dinner. An interview with the legendary Christine Peters, a producer who also was Sumner Redstone’s girlfriend, Jon Peters’ wife and helped oust Les Moonves with her #MeToo story.
On The Optionist:
A highly curated list of current and backlist books, new journalism, and podcasts ready for option. This week: a ‘Knives Out’ opportunity, a present day mystery around a Black TV writer and his 25 maybe-real, maybe-fake Basquiats, a feel-good romance for CODA fans, and, yes, a “STEMinist adventure.”
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