Tina Fey says MacFarlane was fine as Oscars host

Tina Fey cuts Seth MacFarlane some major slack for disappointing many viewers of Sunday's Oscars show, telling Anne Thompson of IndieWire that "It's the hardest job there is. It's a tough room. Seth did great." Fey and Thompson talk about the fishbowl that is the Oscars, the hit that Fey and Amy Poehler were as hosts of the Golden Globes — "it's a different, more relaxed room" — and more. Excerpt:

Fey doesn't know if she and Poehler will do the Globes again. And while she enjoyed presenting on the Oscars with Steve Martin, it doesn't sound like she wants to host the Oscars anytime soon. Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meon knew she wasn't available this year, but as MacFarlane said on the Oscar show, the Academy is sure to ask again. Finally, Fey and Poehler do know how to play that inside/outside game, because they are bonafide showbiz insiders with defined personalities, they know how far they can go. And they're better writers. We're all still figuring out just who MacFarlane is. (Fey did tell HuffPo "No way," that there's not a one in a million chance she'd host the Oscars.)

Zadan and Meron said they picked MacFarlane as host because he was able to do all the things they needed him to do on their musical Oscars: sing, dance, write, and host. Well, he did the first two things better--winningly--than the latter two.

You'd never guess it was 2013 by the tone MacFarlane set Sunday night, or that women have more to offer than being "lovely" or providing fodder for fat jokes. Juvenile white male humor dominated the night, and in fact delivered the Academy's most-wanted audience: young, straight men who don't care about the Oscars.

But MacFarlane did draw in his core audience of young testosterone slingers — the ratings were good. Of course, whether they would come back now that they have seen the Oscars run on for 3-plus hours — or whether the academy poobahs should care — have to be questions.