DeGeneres brings gentler tone to Oscars as host

LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 (Reuters) After two years of ceremonies emceed by anti-establishment provocateurs, the Oscars on Sunday turn to a kindler, gentler comic and TV talk show host with a flair for putting those around her at ease.

Ellen DeGeneres, who made broadcast history 10 years ago as the first openly gay lead character on US prime-time television, is headed for one of Hollywood's most prestigious assignments as only the second woman to be solo host of the Academy Awards.

She follows in the footsteps of Whoopi Goldberg, who broke the Oscar-hosting gender barrier with emcee turns in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002.

But in terms of style, the easy-going DeGeneres, host of the weekday talk show ''Ellen,'' could not be more different from Goldberg or her two immediate Oscar predecessors, Jon Stewart and Chris Rock, all of whom are known for a more edgy, irreverent brand of humor.

''It's the same thing I do when I do my show,'' DeGeneres, 49, told TV Guide magazine recently. ''It's really just setting that tone, and for me, being funny without being condescending or mean-spirited.'' And in keeping with her trademark preference for slacks and suits over dresses, DeGeneres plans to appear in a variety of tuxedos designed by the leading names in fashion.

DeGeneres already demonstrated a knack for striking that difficult balance between satire and sanctimony as host of the twice-delayed Emmy Awards in November 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

SETTING THE RIGHT TONE She famously opened that show joking that terrorists ''can't take away our creativity, our striving for excellence, our joy. Only network executives can do that.'' She went on to say she was an ideal host because: ''What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?'' This year's Oscar telecast producer, Laura Ziskin, called DeGeneres a ''brilliant host'' who can ''keep the evening moving and play the night and play the room, which is critical.'' Her choice also seemed to mark an end to Oscar producers' preoccupation with picking hosts -- such as Rock and Stewart -- thought to be especially appealing to younger TV viewers who have increasingly shied away from the Oscars.

Rock's performance two years ago struck many as too testy. He irked some academy members with a monologue in which he told the assembled movie elite that ''there's only four real stars'' and the rest were ''just popular people.'' Stewart also drew mixed reviews last year, while the show's US TV audience fell to a three-year low, 38.8 million viewers.

This year, Ziskin is reaching out to the under-50 crowd by featuring a greater number of young presenters, including Jessica Biel, Jack Black, Kirsten Dunst, Anne Hathaway, Tobey Maguire and the new James Bond, Daniel Craig.

She also hopes to make the Oscars more compelling by urging winners to avoid one of the show's great pitfalls -- acceptance speeches that sound like laundry lists of thank-yous.

To that end, Ziskin has asked prospective winners to use their 45 seconds on stage ''to entertain, or to enlighten or move us.'' She encourages them to save their check-lists of gratitude for a new backstage feature, the ''Thank-You-Cam,'' one of many new Oscar tie-ins this year to the Internet.

Another new feature, Ziskin said, will be a four-minute film prepared by documentary maker Errol Morris that pays tribute to this year's Oscar contenders with a montage featuring 140 of the 177 nominees.

''It's all about the nominees and winners, the recipients of the Oscars,'' Ziskin Said. ''They make or break the show.'' Reuters SSC DB0904