I find him funny on occasion, i'm just not in love with him.

My favorite moments from the Oscar telecast:

- Ben Affleck's speech. My favorite moment of the night. Loved his speech. Honorable mentions for great speeches include QT and DDL. Also, while Anne Hathaway's speech was more of the same, that was a nice sentiment at the end she added in.

- the best picture montages. I thought they were well done. And I loved grouping them in 3's.

- the musical performances, especially Jennifer Hudson's performance the Les Miz performance, that one in particular: WOW!

Overall, I thought it was, while far from a perfect show, still very enjoyable. And I thought Seth McFarlene did an okay job.

In all honestly, I do think he could do it. His onstage persona is a character, which he's more than capable of stepping out of. If you watch him on Parks & Rec, for example, it scarcely seems like he's the same person.

But I invoke that onstage persona because the idea of that guy hosting the Oscars is just too good.

Frankly, it amazes me how people STILL just go up there and ramble when they know full well they have a 45-second (?) time limit and then get upset when they're cut off. Seriously, work out what you're going to say prior to the ceremony, time it, and edit it as needed.

And, yes, the presenter banter should definitely be cut down as well.

Because there was some serious blowback by Hollywood insiders to MacFarlane's hosting job and because the ratings didn't spike astronomically, I expect the Oscars to go with someone more conservative next year. At this point, it's more a case of who might be available. The "name" I keep hearing whispered is Jimmy Kimmel. It makes some sense since he's ABC, has experience in front of a live audience, and is generally well liked. He would jump at the chance, I think and there wouldn't be a concern he would cross any line of propriety. The concern is that he's not well enough known internationally.

Might be interesting if he could co-host with Matt Damon. The pretend feud between them has been well-handled and the Kimmel episode that Damon hijacked was well done.

Just as well, since Seth mentioned he has no intention of hosting again anyways. Kimmel is OK, but I don't know if he's really host material.

I've never liked anything MacFarlane has done, and the Oscars was no exception. This was my least favorite Oscar telecast in recent memory. The only bit I liked was Shatner showing up, but then MacFarlane had to ruin the moment with that tasteless "Boobs" song and dance number. Just awful.

I kind of liked the "Goldfinger" song tribute to Bond, and I think it fit with the telecast as a whole which was heavy on musical performances this year.

I was rather disappointed with Argo winning Best Picture and with Ang Lee winning Best Director. I just feel Lincoln was more deserving. I was even more disappointed Moonrise Kingdom didn't win Best Original Screenplay. Nothing against Tarantino, of whom I'm a big fan, but Django Unchained isn't QT's best script and Moonrise Kingdom was my favorite movie of the year.

I'm intrigued by the thought of Kimmel and Damon co-hosting the Oscars. That's the best idea I've heard in a long time, James!

A tasteless joke only works if the person telling it telegraphs to the audience that they're fully aware of its tastelessness. That's exactly what MacFarlane did via Shatner. Still, the sock puppet version of "Flight" was much funnier.

Considering the amount of musical numbers MacFarlane does on his shows, I suppose it can't be all that surprising.

My 2 favorite films of 2012 (so far) were(/are) "Moonrise Kingdom" and "The Master," and because they were mostly ignored, my interest in this year's ceremony was minimal at best. Granted, both films are about social outsiders, while Hollywood has always been about being a part of the in-crowd.

I'd personally love to see Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell co-host an awards show and play out their pseudo-public feud all the while. But, of course, Gervais has become awards show poison, so that'll never happen.

For hosts, although they would never do it, I'd love to have Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

I'd like to see Dan Castellaneta/Harry Shearer/Hank Azaria host.

I follow Harry Shearer on Twitter. He's definitely a funny guy, but his sense of humor tends to be dry and political. Considering how Jon Stewart fared, Shearer might not be a great fit.

What about Jimmy Fallon, Conan O Brien or Jay Leno?

I love Conan, but I think his sense of humor might be a little too absurd for the Oscar crowd. Leno actually sounds like a pretty good choice--not very funny at all, but safe as milk and everybody knows who he is.

I loathe Jimmy Fallon and cannot endorse him in anything except for that time he showed up during Christopher Walken's SNL monologue and Walken unexpectedly put his hands around Fallon's throat. Now that's comedy.

The memorial snub of Andy Griffith was odd. He became a star before his eponymous TV show in Elia Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957) and he had a huge influence on Ron Howard's upringing in the entertainment industry. That shouldn't have been overlooked. Perhaps it's because he spent most of his time in North Carolina instead of California.

The omission of Larry Hagman is somewhat understandable. But he came from a family with strong entertainment roots (his mother Mary Martin won 3 Tony Awards). And he had memorable supporting roles in a few high profile films (NIXON, PRIMARY COLORS). And I can't forget his funny moment in SUPERMAN (1978) where he plays an Army commander who elects to perform a "chest massage" and "mouth-to-mouth" on Valerie Perrine, who's pretending to lie unconscious on a highway. And apparently Hagman was tight with Jack Nicholson so I am a bit surprised he wasn't mentioned at all.

But I guess since both of these men each starred in two very successful television series, the Emmy Awards is the more appropriate place for honoring their acting contributions.

No mention of Levon Helm passing away was disappointing. Sure, he'll be remembered best as a musician, but he was also in his fair share of movies, and he had very memorable roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff.

"LMAO. Hey James I was wondering, you never did get around to posting your favorite acting performances from last year. Were you gonna do it like you used to do back in the 90's were you'd compare who won versus whom you think should have won and who should have been nominated that wasn't? Just curious"

This sentiment has been posted in three different threads so far and James hasn't deemed it necessary to respond to any of them. I think it's fair to say he's taking the year off vis a vis the acting column.

I think I responded to one of them at some time. I had originally intended to write the column but didn't get around to it. Stretched thin...