Academy Awards 2014: Will Oscars' return to tradition mark a TV win?

Oscar telecast host Ellen DeGeneres is considered a "kinder, gentler" choice. (Brian van der Brug, Los Angeles Times / April 2, 2013)

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By Steven Zeitchik

March 1, 2014, 5:00 a.m.

They've tried edgy and tinkered with experimental. But the producers of the 86th Academy Awards telecast believe that what America really wants is tradition.
This year's Oscar show Sunday will bring back 2007 host Ellen DeGeneres, a likable, benign daytime television presence. Backstage, Broadway-oriented veterans Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are back producing for a second consecutive year.
Not present? Seth MacFarlane, the "Family Guy" creator who polarized audiences last year even though he did manage a ratings jump. Ditto for the podium kibitzing of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who have brought an air of controlled raucousness to the last two Golden Globes ceremonies.
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"It's the kinder, gentler Oscars," said Dave Boone, an Emmy-winning writer who has worked on more than a half-dozen Oscar telecasts. "It would be a surprise and a mistake if Ellen did what Seth did or what Tina and Amy did. That's not what this year's Oscars are about."
By offering a kind of television comfort food, the Oscars are hoping to consolidate their base, particularly women. Those viewers are more drawn to Ellen — they comprise the core of her 25 million-strong Twitter following — and less disposed to the tomfoolery that MacFarlane brought to last year's show, when bits like "We Saw Your Boobs" struck some as crude. The Oscars audience is typically more than 60% female.
But in its return to tradition, the telecast could be missing an opportunity to draw younger audiences. Last year, MacFarlane reversed a median viewer age that had risen steadily from 42 in 1993 to nearly 53 in 2012. His presence pushed the age down to 51.4, but DeGeneres could well pull it back up. If the median tops 2012's 52.8, it would be the oldest Academy Awards audience since they began keeping records.