We started hearing the anecdotal evidence before the first commercial at this year's Academy Awards, but now we've got statistics to back it up: only 19 percent of viewers think James Franco was very good at hosting the Oscars.
According to the Northern California-based Q&A Research, which surveyed 241 Oscar viewers nationwide, the relentlessly perky Anne Hathaway got far better marks than her laid-back co-host Franco – though to be fair, Oscar's Miss Congeniality didn't ace this particular test either.
As opposed to Franco's 19 percent, 36 percent of those surveyed rated Hathaway very good to excellent. Almost twice as many people would like her to return to the show: 51 percent want an encore for Hathaway, 26 percent for Franco.
Also, 34 percent of the viewers thought this year's show was "worse than previous broadcasts."
(According to an Academy member familiar with the AMPAS review process, show producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer are shocked by all the criticism their show has received.)
The press release is at the Q&A Research website.
