Seth MacFarlane's first Academy Awards hosting gig: How did he do?

When we all first heard that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane would host the 2013 Academy Awards, didn't we all stop for just a second and worry? Did the Academy have any idea what it was getting itself into with this decision?

As it turns out, the Academy had nothing to worry about. Seth MacFarlane managed to get through the entirety of the (way, way too long) Oscars show without being bleeped. Sure, there were a lot of corny and/or lame, tired jokes. The opening number, in fact, spent a great deal of time making fun of MacFarlane's own reputation for being distasteful at times. I think maybe he spent a bit too much time with the self-indulgence, poking fun at himself for being just so crude. But for the most part, MacFarlane did what a host does: He kept things rolling along.

And Seth MacFarlane is a smooth dude. He's very charming. That helps when one is a host, of course. It definitely helps when your jokes fall flat (his reference to the Rihanna/Chris Brown abusive relationship was over the top, as was his really overdone reference to Mel Gibson's racist rant).

I enjoyed the opening number once things got rolling, but to be fair, I was pretty hyper-focused on Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron whirling around the stage together in a blur of utter physical perfection. I think Seth MacFarlane was singing, but I was distracted. I thought the closing musical number with Kristin Chenoweth was cute, as they saluted the losers (while the credits rolled).

Was all of this memorable? Will it go down as a groundbreaking Oscar hosting job on Seth MacFarlane's part? Probably not. But I kept watching and I didn't cringe too often. That's a plus. The official reviews on MacFarlane's rookie turn as Oscar host are mixed, as well.

I'm trying to compare Seth MacFarlane's performance to that of Billy Crystal's nine Oscar hosting gigs, but it's kind of tough to do. They're two completely different people, after all. Crystal is the best modern-era host of the Oscars (in my opinion), and MacFarlane's hosting wasn't even in that ballpark. It wasn't as bad as say, the Anne Hathaway/James Franco disaster a few years back, but it wasn't Crystal-worthy.

I'm pretty sure that some of you loved Seth MacFarlane as the Oscars host - and just as many of you hated him as the Oscars host. I'm in the middle with this one. He's not my favorite, but he's not my least favorite, either. Anyone care to weigh in on what they thought?

Photo courtesy of DenverPost.com