Technology Slice Blog

Anne Hathaway Oscars Host - Well, that was unexpected: The Academy made a surprisingly bold gamble with its announcement today that James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be co-hosting this year’s Oscars — particularly for a group not often known for being especially surprising, bold, or gamble-y about much of anything. In the latest effort in its perennial campaign to goose up ratings for the Oscar telecast, the Academy is clearly banking on Franco and Hathaway (should we start calling them Francaway for short?) to draw in the kind of younger viewers who have largely spurned the Oscars in recent years. Not to be ageist about this, but last year’s hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, are 64 and 51, respectively, while Franco is 32 and Hathaway is 28 — a good deal younger than even Jon Stewart or Chris Rock were when they hosted the Oscars in recent years. Some are already grumbling that the Academy’s pick smacks a bit of generational pandering and sets the stage for a show that’s more...