Hugh Jackman and the Oscar telecast

I have always hated those big song-and-dance production numbers that seemed bog down the Oscars television show. Thankfully, however, they seemed to be fading into obscurity. We still have to put up with the presentation of the five nominated songs for reasons I will never understand, but it's better than it was.

Because of the show's steadily declining ratings, this year we are being promised a whole new format for the Oscar telecast. And, as part of this radicalization of the Oscars telecast, the host for the show is not going to be a well-known comedian, but, instead, actor Hugh Jackman, arguably best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men series of films. He might have liked to have become best known for playing opposite Nicole Kidman in "Australia," but that film bombed so badly he might become the butt of jokes because of it.

Putting "Australia" and even the X-Men aside, I have always thought Jackman to be a marvelous entertainer. However, based on this evidence along with this demonstration as well as this segment," I just hope the Oscar producers aren't trying to take us back to the days of big production numbers.