Ellen has new man in her life, Oscar

Posted Friday, September 8, 2006 at 4:22 PM Central

by John Couture

Daytime TV queen Ellen DeGeneres is going primetime in her latest gig. Ellen has been tapped to host the 79th annual Academy Awards show.

The Oscar host job has long been considered a premium Hollywood post that has seen Bob Hope, Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal hold long-tenured runs as the emcee of Hollywood's biggest night.

In recent years though, the Academy has been looking to bring in a younger audience and their experiments have, for the most part, failed. Neither Jon Stewart or Chris Rock were able to lock down the job. Now, the mantel falls on the shoulders of DeGeneres and it seems that she's ready for the job.

"When Laura Ziskin called, I was thrilled. There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that day's diary entry."