It’s being reported that last year’s Academy Awards host, Hugh Jackman, has decided that he doesn’t want to host for a second year in a row. Jackman currently has a Broadway show going on and obviously has other projects making him quite the busy man. He ensured that he might be willing to return sometime in the future, but as for consecutive appearances, he was not interested.

Every year, fans of the Oscar ceremony anxiously wonder who will host the show that year. The decision on who will host sets the entire table and hints at whether you get really excited, or really skeptical of the show and how entertaining it could be.

Last year, Jackman was brought in to host the ceremony. It was one of many new moves that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science have taken to try and refresh the awards and bring new fans in to fortify their dwindling ratings numbers. Traditionally, the Oscars were hosted by comedic entertainers and actors who weren’t usually nominated and could really own the stage — most popular of them being either Johnny Carson or Billy Crystal. Jackman did a great job with the production and, being a well-trained stage actor, had no problem making a flashy show of it, although his effort was met with many mixed reactions overall.

Personally, as you can tell from the title of this post, I’m a-okay with this announcement. Even though Mr. Jackman did a great job with the production, I wasn’t a big fan of the overall show. Being one of the crazies who prints out a ballot, makes picks, and gets excited for the Oscars as if it’s another Super Bowl, I look forward to it with great giddiness and expect a lot of laughs. Obviously that puts Crystal as my personal favorite with others like John Stewart and Steve Martin not far behind. Jackman’s show felt more like Broadway and the laughs were very little. A boring musical number with Beyonce was all but enough to put me off in a savage way. Because of this, I’m all for them either retracting back to my favorites, or finding someone else that’s more fitting to what an Oscar host should be.

With that said, who should be the next to host?

I’m not one to cuddle up to rumors, but WeAreMovieGeeks has a tip that a one Neil Patrick Harris is going to be the one that they choose. If this actually ended up being true, it would be great news for the program — I could absolutely see him giving a memorable and incredibly entertaining performance. Another popular name that I’ve always wanted to see is Conan O’Brien. How he hasn’t hosted yet is beyond me. Some other names that could make for good hosts: Will Ferrell, Nathan Fillion, James Franco, Seth MacFarlane, John C. Reilly.

If you think the Oscars are stupid and boring, that’s fine, you don’t need to worry about any of this, but for those of you who still love it as I do: who do you want to see step onto the stage and host the next awards ceremony?

[Source: Variety]