Matt Drudge is reporting that anonymous folks at ABC want Oprah Winfrey to host next year's Oscars and that, among "influential Academy insiders," Jay Leno is the odds-on favorite. This is probably just the musing of two or three people who will have little or nothing to do with the decision…which the network and Academy won't even begin to address for many moons. (Leno, I've been told, was offered the gig a few years ago but turned it down, allegedly because he feels a real movie star should host, but probably because he saw what it did for Mr. Letterman's career.)
In any case, the Powers That Be haven't even decided who'll produce the Oscars next year. They certainly aren't going to expend any serious time thinking about possible hosts until they get much closer to the date and see who's hot and who's available. My guess is the first call will be to Billy Crystal and if he won't do it, the second call will be to Steve Martin and if he won't do it, they'll start debating a list that includes Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams and maybe a dozen others. One of these days, if and when Nathan Lane makes another successful movie, he'll shoot right to the top of that list…or maybe sooner.