BREAKING NEWS: James Franco wasn't high

Apparently this still matters.  If you don't know, just hours after hosting this year's Academy Awards, the internet was flooded with speculation regarding Franco.  Rumor had it, the 127 Hours star was high as a kite during the ceremony, thus explaining his apathetic line delivery and generally unenthusiastic nature.  I never really bought it then, and I still don't know.  Whether or not the host was high doesn't absolve the writers of randomly dressing him up as Marilyn Monroe or shoving low-brow Charlie Sheen humor into his mouth.  The writing was just bad.  At least Franco can commiserate with an unpopular past Oscar host, David Letterman.  It goes without saying that laying an egg on Oscar night didn't do too much damage to Letterman's career.

That being said, Franco wasn't the world's best host.  But as he put it on Letterman the other night, that doesn't really matter.  No matter who hosts the Oscars, they're going to be reamed the next morning and then forgiven eventually when everyone forgets just what the host did that was so awful to begin with.  Thankfully, Franco doesn't sound like he'll accept an unlikely return invite anyway.  People forget the "Oh we want him back" man of the moment, Hugh Jackman, got tepid reviews of his Oscar telecast.

But above all, even with all this slandering of Franco's character, we have to stop caring so much about the telecast itself.  It's designed and meant for people who don't care about the Oscars. Those who root for whatever nominee's name they recognize and whatever blockbuster film they saw.  The average viewer doesn't care about Art Direction, or who's favored to win Best Cinematography.  The telecast is a money-making machine, and still foolishly attempting to pander to a younger demographic (see: Anne Hathaway and Franco).  It's unfortunate they were roped into this, but at the end of the day, few people will even remember they hosted the ceremony.  Can you even name half of the hosts this last decade?

Great, he wasn't high.  Who'da thunk?  Moving on.



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