AJC's Alan Smithee on Oscar Hosts

79TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS: It's DeGeneres' turn to keep us awake | ajc.com: "Fortunately for us, some Oscar hosts are good enough to make the proceedings tolerable. And sometimes quite entertaining.

I have high hopes for Ellen DeGeneres. She's very amicable on her talk show and seems to make her audience comfortable and happy. And she's known to make people laugh even in the touchiest of times. She hosted the Emmys right after 9/11. The show was delayed twice over two months, but when it finally aired she stood her ground and said, 'What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?'

Here's my own countdown of Oscar hosts past, starting with the bad and ending with the very best..."