Jon Stewart to host the Oscars this year…
There's no cleverer comedian working today so in that sense, he's a good choice. The problem is that he's probably not a first choice. The crop of movies that will be competing suggest one of those years when few people have seen enough of the nominated films — or have enough emotion about them or their makers — to tune in to the award telecast.
There's always a tendency to credit/blame the host if the Oscar ratings go up or down, which is probably unfair. The host doesn't do that much and the bulk of the show is what it is. Some years, we care a lot about who wins Best Actress and some years we don't. This is looking like a "don't" year which is probably why it won't be Billy Crystal or Steve Martin doing that opening monologue. They don't want it said that the ratings dipped on their watch lest it taint their respective movie stardoms. It wouldn't surprise me if a few others — maybe Robin Williams, maybe Tom Hanks, maybe someone else — turned it down before the call went out to the host of The Daily Show.
Stewart, of course, has little to lose. He's not concerned with being a movie star. If the ratings for the Oscar telecast are strong, he'll get a lot of credit and some industry heat. If they aren't…well, what do you expect from some guy on a cable channel? The funny thing is that he'll probably have very little to do with those ratings, either way.