A couple of you have written to me, aghast at my remark that "…the Oscars oughta be hosted by a movie star." They are horrified that I seem not to be aware that Johnny Carson, who was not a movie star, was one of the most successful of all Oscar hosts.
Yes, I know. In fact, I thought he did a very good job when he hosted. I still think the Academy Awards ought to be emceed by someone in the motion picture community.
To the seeming contradiction, I would point out a couple of things. One was that Johnny was a TV star in a way that no one else is or perhaps ever will be. He was such a big TV star that it transcended the fact that he was not a movie person. No one around today is on that level. He was also Johnny Carson, a position in show business that remains sadly unfilled since his retirement, despite hollow claims that Dave or Jay or someone else was The New Johnny Carson.
To put it another way: I thought Johnny was wrong for the position but he did it so well that it didn't matter. He did a lot of things that you can't honestly expect anyone else in show business to be able to do these days.
And this is not one of those issues that I feel so strongly about that I'm prepared to defend it to the death. It's just a feeling and no big deal.