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Longest Oscars In Hollywood History? Yawnfest Instead Of Usual Snorefest?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday February 24, 2013 @ 9:48am PSTTags: ABC, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

Join Nikki Finke at 5:30 PM PT for her annual Oscar Live-Snarking!

EXCLUSIVE: What is maybe the most anticipated Academy Awards in recent memory is also mutating into what could be one of the longest Oscars in Hollywood history. I can feel a yawnfest coming on already. Sources tells me that last week the show clocked in at 3 hours and 40 minutes. Then it was shortened. But now the telecast doesn’t even commence presenting the Best Picture Oscar until after 3 hours and 23 minutes. And that’s only if everything goes according to schedule – which it never does. The telecast’s opening number lasts a full 15 minutes in what is the prelude to the most music-filled Academy Awards ever. So this could easily become an Oscar ceremony lasting 4-plus hours. (The longest on record is 4 hours, 23 minutes in 2002.) That’s not good news for longtime Academy Awards broadcaster ABC whose research demonstrates that, after 11 PM East Coast Time, the network loses 100,000 people per minute. That could hurt ratings for Sunday’s show which contains more suspense than in recent years. At around $1.7 million to $1.8 million for a 30-second spot, the Disney-owned ABC has sold out its ad inventory at prices higher than the network has charged since 2008 when the economy started to tank.

I’m usually in the habit of proclaiming doom and gloom every time these marquee Hollywood awards celebrate the movie season. But not this time around. Because I don’t anticipate a snorefest. Rarely have so many of the 24 categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplays, and more been up for grabs. Is it Jennifer Lawrence or Jessica Chastain or the 85-year-old French star Emmanuelle Riva of Amour? Is it Steven Spielberg or Ang Lee or dark horse David O Russell? Is it Argo or Lincoln or shocker Silver Linings Playbook? Nobody knows for sure. READ MORE »

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OSCARS: Kristin Chenoweth, Seth Macfarlane Set For Post-Best-Pic-Award Musical Finale

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday February 20, 2013 @ 6:13pm PSTTags: Kristen Chenowith, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Oscar show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today that Kristin Chenoweth and Seth MacFarlane will participate in a special show closing musical performance.

“After the Best Picture award has been given, Seth and Kristin will perform a special number and we think it will be a ‘can’t miss’ moment,” said producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

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Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane Has The Hot Movie Package; Auction On Western Takes Place In March With Universal In Hot Pursuit

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday February 19, 2013 @ 5:35pm PSTTags: A Million Ways To Die In The West, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane, Ted
Mike Fleming

Seth MacFarlaneEXCLUSIVE: When he completes Sunday’s Oscar hosting stint, Seth MacFarlane will get down to business about where to place his next film, one that is shaping up to be the hot movie project in town. I’m hearing that Universal Pictures has the inside track to acquire A Million Ways To Die In The West, the live action comedy he’ll begin shooting this spring that is a kindred spirit to Blazing Saddles. Several studios are chasing the project, which so far stars MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried and Charlize Theron.

MacFarlane is once again teamed in this venture with Media Rights Capital, which finally rode in a big winner when it backed MacFarlane’s last film, Ted, the foul mouthed stuffed bear comedy that has now grossed over $536 million worldwide and is out-grossing Skyfall in Japan. MacFarlane wrote the script with Ted and Family Guy cohorts Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and Scott Stuber and Jason Clark are producing. They were producers on Ted with MacFarlane and John Jacobs. You can see he is a loyal guy, and so why wouldn’t he go back to Universal when the result was so good last time around. Read More »

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OSCARS: Show’s Producers Want To Uphold Tradition But Also Modernize

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday February 15, 2013 @ 8:00pm PSTTags: Awardsline, Craig Zadan, Hawk Koch, Neil Meron, Seth MacFarlane
Pete Hammond

Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron know their stuff when it comes to putting on a show. With huge musical successes in movies (Chicago, Hairspray, Footloose), TV (The Music Man, Cinderella), and Broadway (Promises Promises, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying), they have the chops to pull off the film industry’s biggest night of the year, though it has sometimes proved a pitfall for other producers. It can be challenging when the Academy mandates that valuable airtime goes to all 24 categories, including sound mixers, makeup and hairstylists, and producers of documentary short subjects, to name a few. But that doesn’t faze this veteran producing pair who say they started assembling the show’s elements from the day they got the job in late August.

Related: OSCARS: New James Bond Promo Ad

“We certainly are going to be celebrating the nominees and winners like a regular Oscar show, but they are fitting into the design of the show that we’ve created, so there’s going to be an enormous amount of entertainment”, Zadan says, pointing to the 50 years of James Bond tribute they have announced, which won’t be a reunion Read More »

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OSCARS: Host Seth MacFarlane On Video

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday February 15, 2013 @ 4:11am PSTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released portions of an interview with 85th annual Oscars host Seth MacFarlane on his biggest challenge as host, on his involvement in the show’s production, on keeping things unpredictable, on how Saturday Night Live helped him prepare, on interacting … Read More »

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Tommy Dewey To Star In Seth MacFarlane-Produced Fox Comedy Series ‘Dads’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday February 12, 2013 @ 5:46pm PSTTags: Dads, Seth MacFarlane, Tommy Dewey
Nellie Andreeva

Tommy Dewey has landed a lead role in Dads, Fox‘s six-episode multi-camera comedy series from Ted co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and co-writer/director/star Seth MacFarlane. Written by Sulkin and Wild, Dads centers on two successful guys in their 30s, Eli and Warner (Dewey), who have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them. Read More »

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OSCARS: New James Bond Promo Ad

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 10:43am PSTTags: James Bond, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane has been riffing promo ads for his Oscar-hosting gig since nominations were announced. Here’s the latest one to tout the ceremony’s planned James Bond tribute.

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Brenda Song Cast In Fox’s Wellesley Wild/ Alec Sulkin/Seth MacFarlane Comedy Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday January 31, 2013 @ 4:03pm PSTTags: Fox, Seth MacFarlane
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Brenda Song (The Suite Life On Deck) is the first actor cast in the Fox multi-camera comedy series from Ted co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and co-writer/director/star Seth MacFarlane. Written by … Read More »

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Comedy From ‘Ted’s Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild Gets Fox Series Order

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 22, 2013 @ 5:12pm PSTTags: Seth MacFarlane
Nellie Andreeva

The trio behind Ted, the biggest comedy hit of last summer, are headed to Fox’s 2013-14 schedule. In an unusual move, I hear Fox has opted to go straight to series on the multi-camera live-action comedy written/executive produced by Ted co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and executive produced by Ted co-writer/director/star Seth MacFarlane. The decision was made based on the pilot script, which I hear the network brass loved. This is the second scripted series set for next season, along with NBC’s comedy starring Michael J. Fox, which has 22-epsiode straight-to-series order. Read More »

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Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane Praises Golden Globe Counterparts Tina Fey & Amy Poehler

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday January 14, 2013 @ 12:42am PSTTags: Amy Poehler, Golden Globes, Seth MacFarlane, Tina Fey
Nellie Andreeva

It is a big year for TV talent as TV writers/performers are hosting the top movie awards shows this year: the Oscars, Seth MacFarlane, and the Golden Globes, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. (Additionally, Kelsey Grammer is hosting the DGA Awards and Nathan Fillion the WGA Awards.) With their NBC show Smash nominated for best comedy/musical series, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, producers of the upcoming Academy Awards, had a front-row seat at tonight’s Golden Globes ceremony, and Meron, who attended, watched the proceedings up close. MacFarlane didn’t attend but he too watched the Globes, tweeting occasional comments. He later joined the Golden Globes crowd at the HBO party, accompanying his girlfriend, Emilia Clarke, who co-stars on the network’s hit drama Game Of Thrones. MacFarlane was effusive in his praise for Fey and Poehler’s performance as hosts. “Please give Tina and Amy high marks because they did great,” MacFarlane said. Does the duo’s strong showing increase the pressure on him? MacFarlane seemed unfazed. “It doesn’t matter how I do, Oscar hosts always get thrashed,” he deadpanned. Read More »

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OSCARS: Seth MacFarlane’s ABC Promos – Video

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday January 10, 2013 @ 3:05pm PSTTags: ABC, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

This first wave of promos for the Oscars on February 24 is set to hit ABC’s airwaves today and feature host Seth MacFarlane (“ask your kids”) seeing what sticks. Check them out:

Related: Meanest Oscar Noms Announcement Ever? – Video Read More »

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OSCARS: Academy President Defends Controversial Online Voting, Says More Members Voted Than Ever Before

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday January 10, 2013 @ 1:51pm PSTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Craig Zadan, Emma Stone, Hawk Koch, James Bond, Neil Meron, Online Voting, Seth MacFarlane
Pete Hammond

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Hawk Koch vigorously defended the Academy’s controversial new system of online voting when we spoke right after the nominations announcement this morning. He said despite the kinks and some complaints from members about difficulty in voting electronically that it actually brought out the biggest voter participation the organization has had. “It’s the first time, yes. But the first time you do anything of course there’s problems. Remember the first time you walked?  Of course there’s problems.  But the truth is we’ve had more people voting for nominations than we’ve ever had. And we had more people in each branch, every single branch had more people voting. So that portends two things. One, the online voting worked and two, everyone was excited about the films this year. They wanted to make sure and vote. And three, the questions about ’oh has everybody had a chance to see all the films?’ Our members saw all the films,” he said breaking with the long held tradition of keeping Academy voter turnout totals secret and not commenting at all on the subject. There had been speculation the Academy’s sometimes-rocky transition into online voting might actually depress voter participation but Koch said that definitely turned out not to be the case according to their internal figures.

Of course the Academy has been under strong scrutiny for the way it has conducted its first foray into the perilous waters of online voting, something every guild and most voting organizations have been doing for the past few years. Because the Academy (which could be a prized target for hackers) has to be overly concerned about security and the threat of having their system infiltrated they devised a “foolproof” system involving the use of codes and passwords and special phone numbers for member verification which confused some members and angered others. Others I spoke with over the course of voting seemed fine with it, so it was a mixed bag. The Academy tried to accommodate everyone and extended the registration period by two weeks after the first Deadline article appeared on November 28, and later changed its rules to automatically send a paper ballot for those who didn’t register online. As more members expressed frustration about being “locked out” of the system the Academy took another unprecedented step and even extended voting by one day to January 4th instead of the original announced date of January 3rd. Read More »

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Meanest Oscar Noms Announcement Ever? – Video

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday January 10, 2013 @ 10:55am PSTTags: Emma Stone, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

Oscar host Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone gave everyone an extra reason to stay awake this morning for the Oscar nominations. After introducing co-host Stone by saying that otherwise it would be weird … Read More »

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Seth MacFarlane, Emma Stone To Announce Oscar Nominations Thursday

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday January 7, 2013 @ 6:07am PSTTags: Emma Stone, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Oscarcast host and Ted director Seth MacFarlane will be joined by Emma Stone to announce the Oscar nominations on Thursday. This marks the fist time since … Read More »

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20th TV Bosses Gary Newman And Dana Walden’s ‘Family Guy’-Themed Holiday Card

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday December 12, 2012 @ 6:00pm PSTTags: 20th Century Fox TV, Dana Walden, Gary Newman, Seth MacFarlane
Nellie Andreeva

After hanging out with the casts of Modern Family, Glee and Sons Of Anarchy in their holiday cards the last three years (click on the titles to watch them again), 20th Century Fox TV chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman are getting animated this year for a … Read More »

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Ted Bears All On ‘Jimmy Kimmel’: Video

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 12, 2012 @ 10:40am PSTTags: Jimmy Kimmel Live, Seth MacFarlane, Ted

The stuffed star of Seth MacFarlane‘s Ted — the Universal pic that became the top-grossing R-rated comedy of all time after its June premiere, grossing more than $500 million worldwide to date — was a “guest” on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night (MacFarlane might have been … Read More »

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Seth MacFarlane On His Oscar Approach: It’s Part Stewie, Part Gene Kelly

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday December 11, 2012 @ 4:40pm PSTTags: Family Guy, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

There has been plenty of arm-waving concern since Academy Awards producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan tapped Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane to host the Oscars that his poop jokes would stink up the Dolby Theatre stage. Of course, … Read More »

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Seth MacFarlane A Guest Of ‘The Simpsons’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 30, 2012 @ 7:51pm PSTTags: Oscars, Seth MacFarlane, The Simpsons

Seth MacFarlane can add another credit to his resume. He’s set to guest star in the season premiere of The Simpsons that will air on Fox in fall 2013. MacFarlane will voice the character of a married man who pursues Marge … Read More »

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Academy Pitches Oscarcast Roles For Film Students With Contest

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 30, 2012 @ 11:11am PSTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been trying to draw younger eyeballs to its Oscar telecast for years. Here’s the latest way to entice them to tune in: make them part of the show. The … Read More »

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