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Neil Patrick Harris may not have been the Academy’s first choice to host the show (Chris Rock and Julia Louis-Dreyfus seemed like a better idea at the time), but what did viewers think?
Penn Schoen Berland interviewed 360 Oscar viewers from ages 13 to 59 and found that 32 percent would give the host an A for his performance, while 43 percent would give him a B.
A total of 71 percent of viewers voted that they would like to see Harris return as host in the future, and a minority pool of 29 percent — consisting mainly of males under the age of 25 — said they wouldn’t want the former Tony Awards and Emmys host to come back to the Oscars stage.
Harris’ performance was predominantly described as “entertaining” and “funny.” Only a few viewers found themselves “bored” or thought his hosting gig was just “OK.”
Among the Oscars hosts of the past five years — Harris, Ellen DeGeneres, Seth MacFarlane, Billy Crystal and James Franco and Anne Hathaway — 30 percent of viewers, largely female, still voted DeGeneres as their favorite, while Harris followed close behind with 20 percent.
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