Although host extraordinaire Neil Patrick Harris is no stranger to the awards show circuit, having successfully hosted four Tony Awards ceremonies and two Emmy Awards, his stint at the 87th Academy Awards did not help boost the ratings of the show, nor did it get him as many positive reviews as his other past hosting gigs.
The fact that prep work for the Oscars, the stress of the night itself, and the online criticisms that went on for weeks afterwards began taking a toll on NPH's personal and family life may be the reason why the TV, movie, and Broadway actor may not be returning to host the show again.
NPH himself said in an interview that he was warned before the show started to be prepared for the energy level in the room to go down as more awards were handed out. After all, not everyone who got dressed to the nines that evening would be going home with the gold statuette.
Still, he said he was happy with the response in the room.
"I was glad we got through it, and I thought that those in the audience at the Dolby [Theatre] seemed to be enjoying themselves more as the show went on, when I was told that the opposite would be true," he said.
Online critics of his hosting skills were not as kind. Many were quick to point out that this year's Academy Awards experienced a 16% decline in viewership, with only an average of 36.6 million viewers. That's the event's lowest ratings in six years, according to reports.
NPH has been keeping a positive attitude despite the criticism. He said that he didn't keep up with all on the social media chatter about his hosting performance but, wanting to get feedback on his work, he did follow it a little bit.
"It's so difficult for one who's simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing ... My job was to try and keep things as light and specific to this year's set of films as possible. And if people are critical of that, it's a big giant platform, so I would assume that they would be," he said.
Although NPH himself was happy about the show, and we would love to see another musical montage of the year's best films, he said it's a gig he will not likely do again for the sake of his family.
"I don't know that my family nor my soul could take it. It's a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don't know that it's a delightful balance to do every year or even again," he shared in an interview.
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