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Alec Baldwin: The Oscars will always be ‘a flabby, tired show’

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Though Alec Baldwin’s name has been floated of late as a possible late-night television host, you can probably cross him off the list of likely hosts for the 2014 Oscars.

Baldwin, who hosted the 2010 telecast with Steve Martin, had some pointed things to say about the Motion Picture Academy and the Oscars in a free-wheeling interview in the Hollywood Reporter tied to his current run on Broadway in the play “Orphans.”

Baldwin told the magazine he would “never, never, never” do it again and that “the Oscars is a completely thankless job.”

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This year’s show, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, ran more than 3 1/2 hours but drew the best ratings since the Martin-Baldwin broadcast, video of which is below. Ideally, however, Baldwin thinks the Academy Awards telecast would “last about two hours, and it would be a very tight show with a lot of serious, cineastic appreciation.”

Baldwin noted that that the broadcast raises much of the academy’s annual budget. (The 2012 show netted the group more than $51 million, according to the group’s annual report.)

“When the Oscars is three hours – when they … you and say the Oscars is running long, and that’s a problem – that’s not a problem. They’re making more money. So ABC and the academy, they have no interest in doing a tight, better-produced show. They are forced, because of economic constraints, to have a flabby, tired show.”

Putting forward the idea of Ellen DeGeneres as host, Baldwin added: “I’m dying to see who they get to do it next year. They’re going to have to go dig someone up from the cemetery. They’re going to have to go dig up Bob Hope.”

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Follow Mark Olsen on Twitter: @IndieFocus

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