What do the worst Oscars telecast ratings of the decade and the biggest screw-up in awards show history get you?
Another chance! And an extraordinarily early vote of confidence, at that.
Jimmy Kimmel and the 89th Oscars producing team of Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd have been asked back for the 90th Academy Awards, set for March 4, 2018, the Academy announced on Twitter Tuesday -- about six months earlier than usual.
The 89th Academy Awards -- which will forever be known as Envelopegate -- drew 32.9 million viewers with a 9.1 rating among adults 18-49, both down from the previous year and representing a nine-year viewership low.
Now, to be fair, De Luca and Todd were not directly responsible for the Best Picture envelope switcheroo that caused La La Land to mistakenly be called, when the winner was in fact Moonlight. That bit of infamy belongs to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountant who was tweeting from backstage rather than paying attention to his one job (and has since been fired from it).
But it did happen on their watch, which ... doesn't count for much, apparently.
"Jimmy, Mike and Jennifer are truly an Oscar Dream Team," said outgoing Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs in the Tuesday announcement. "Mike and Jennifer produced a beautiful show that was visually stunning. And Jimmy proved, from his opening monologue all the way through a finale we could never have imagined, that he is one our finest hosts in Oscar history."
As for Kimmel, his turn at hosting got decent notices for jabs at Donald Trump and punchy, off-the-cuff one-liners. And it's not like he doesn't have a sense of humor about getting another shot at this:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
But there is something mystifying about inviting the same juju back to Hollywood's biggest night, especially after the significant ratings drop. And why announce this so early? The Academy had several months to weigh its options.
What's the thinking here? That last year's failures generated renewed interest that will only carry over if you reboot its cast of characters? That the 89th show was just one screw-up away from perfection?
Or maybe -- just maybe -- Hollywood can't resist the urge to scratch that sequel itch.
"Hosting the Oscars was a highlight of my career and I am grateful to Cheryl, Dawn [Hudson] and the Academy for asking me to return to work with two of my favorite people, Mike De Luca and Jennifer Todd," said Kimmel. "If you think we screwed up the ending this year, wait until you see what we have planned for the 90th anniversary show!"
Topics Jimmy Kimmel Live Oscars
