Tv, 85th Academy Awards | featured news

The Oscars telecast was seen by 40.3 million people, a slight increase over last year's show....

Partial list of the 85th annual Academy Award winners announced Sunday in Los Angeles: 1. Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained." 2. Animated Short Film: "Paperman." 3. Animated Feature Film: "Brave." 4. Cinematography: "Life of Pi." 5. Visual Effects: "Life of Pi." 6. Costume: "Anna Karenina." 7. Makeup and Hairstyling: "Les Miserables." 8. Live Action Short Film: "Curfew." 9. Documentary (short subject): "Inocente." 10. Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man."

Okay, so here's the summary. Argo has 3 wins (Best Picture, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay); Django Unchained has 2 (Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay); Lincoln has 2 (Best Actor, Production Design); Skyfall has 2 (Original Song, Sound Editing); Les Miserables has 3 (Supporting Actress, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound Mixing); Zero Dark Thirty has 1 (Sound Editing); and Life of Pi leads with 4 (Directing, Cinematography, Original Score, Visual Effects).

You think the Academy Awards are boring? Try the nominations. They only last a few minutes, but it's generally a sleepy academy suit and a sleepy starlet droning a list of names at 5:30 in the morning....

The folks behind Hollywood's glitziest night have imported some help this year - from Broadway....

...Two different firms that study social media sentiment, Taykey and General Sentiment, have issued Oscar predictions based on what people are saying on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms. They arrived at totally different conclusions.

Barbra Streisand will perform at the Oscars next month, the first time she's performed during an Academy Awards broadcast in 36 years. Streisand won the Academy Award for best original song for "Evergreen" in 1977. She also sang the theme from "A Star Is Born" that night.

He's voiced an animated numbskull, a talking dog, a homicidal baby, and a stoned teddy bear -- and now Seth MacFarlane is going to emcee the Academy Awards. The Academy broke the news today on its website, revealing that they're "thrilled" to have him on board to host.

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane says being invited to host the 2013 Academy Awards "was the greatest call that I could have gotten in show business." Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced Monday that MacFarlane will host the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony in February.

The producing team that helped to create such musicals as "Chicago" and "Hairspray" is overseeing the next Academy Awards ceremony. Academy management announced Thursday that Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will produce the 85th annual Oscars that will air live Feb. 24 on ABC.