Jimmy Kimmel Might Be Your Next Oscar Host

Amid the fallout from Seth MacFarlane's Oscar hosting performance, everyone speculated as to who the next Oscar host should be. Kimmel seemed almost too easy of a choice, but now it seems like he is already being groomed as the successor.

Earlier this week, amid the fallout from Seth MacFarlane's Oscar hosting performance, everyone speculated as to who the next Oscar host should be. Jimmy Kimmel seemed almost too easy of a choice, but now it seems like he is already being groomed as MacFarlane's successor.

A source told the New York Post that "Jimmy is favored to host the Oscars next year; ABC has been pushing him for the role." Which makes all kinds of sense: The network obviously loves Kimmel, moving up his show to 11:35 recently to compete with Letterman and Leno. Kimmel is also part of the Oscar telecast, in a way, with his now traditional post-Oscar show, a typically star-heavy affair.

Kimmel is a pretty logical, if slightly boring, choice. Unlike MacFarlane, he's very chummy with the Hollywood movie-star scene. He goes on vacations with Jennifer Aniston and her crew, and let us not forget what he got Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to do in one of his post-Oscar videos. There's even a Brad Pitt cameo:

Of course we're just a week out from the last Oscar ceremony and, according to the New York Post, an academy source said it's "way too early to confirm" anything. But as debate still rages about MacFarlane—most recently an anonymous female development executive took up his cause in The Hollywood Reporter—it appears that ABC wants a safe choice. Doesn't hurt to boost their own property while they're at it.