Eddie Murphy has quit his Oscars hosting gig. Just a day after Oscars producer Brett Ratner stepped down, the funnyman also announced his departure.

UPDATE: Brian Grazer has accepted the job as Oscar producer, replacing Ratner, which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirms. "It's very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career," said Grazer.

"First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony," Murphy said in a statement. "I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job."

Ratner stepped down after a series of gaffes and blunders. First, 'Tower Heist,' his flick starring Murphy, bombed at the box office over the weekend. Then, while promoting the flick, Ratner used a gay slur, saying "rehearsals are for fags."

Eddie Murphy was talking a little bit about people's expectations of him as the Oscars host on '106 & Park' (Weeknights, 6PM ET on BET). One thing he wanted to make clear is that the show should not be about him coming out in a leather suit and cracking jokes, but rather about the awards themselves.

But the leather suit comment prompted a question of if he still had the one from 'Delirious' or not. It turns out he did, but it got totally destroyed in a prank one night. According to Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans put on the suit one night, which looked hilarious because Wayans is much taller than Murphy.

Don't look for an overblown dance number at the next Oscars ceremony. Host Eddie Murphy told David Letterman on 'Late Show' (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS) that this was the very first thing he addressed when the whole idea was first broached.

"The first thing that came out of my mouth was, 'I'm not doing one of those crazy dance numbers,'" Murphy said.

"That's exactly what you're gonna be doing," Letterman responded, so we'll see who turns out to be right. Will Murphy stand his ground, or be pressured into giving a musical performance. We'll all find out February 26, 2012 when 'The 84th Academy Awards' hits the airwaves.

It's all change for the 2012 Oscars as the producers have gone old-school and tapped veteran stand-up and former 'Saturday Night Live' star Eddie Murphy to host next year's 84th Academy Awards. The decision was announced Tuesday by telecast producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer.

It will be Murphy's first time hosting the awards ceremony. The 'Shrek' star, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for 'Dreamgirls,' said of his selection, "I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others."

'Rush Hour' director Ratner said that "Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever. With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances -- especially on stage -- I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February."

After 2011's Anne Hathaway/James Franco Oscars disaster, producers are looking to go a little more old school in their choice for 2012 ceremony host: Eddie Murphy.

According to Deadline, producer Brett Ratner has just one name on his wish list this year -- Murphy's -- and is expected to present his top host choices to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in a meeting on Tuesday.

Hathaway and Franco were universally panned for their performances as Oscar co-hosts last year -- her for being too peppy, him for being too blase -- so choosing a well-known, experienced comedian for the job could please the critics.

The annual Academy Awards telecast is always going to be something of a slog. No matter what films are nominated, no matter who the hosts are, there are always going to be parts of the ceremony that drag (especially in that middle hour, which feels as though it lasts 90 minutes or more).

Yet Sunday's telecast on ABC was about as painless as these things get, relatively speaking. James Franco and Anne Hathaway didn't necessarily make a brilliant splash as co-hosts -- Hathaway seemed determined to overcome Franco's sodden, wooden presence through sheer perkiness -- but they acquitted themselves respectably.

All in all, the telecast, which saw crowd-pleasing yet thoughtful fare like 'The King's Speech,' 'The Social Network' and 'Inception' winning big, had a classy, low-key vibe. The tributes to film history were gracefully done, there were a few entertaining speeches and it was fun to watch the parade of gowns (including Hathaway's glam costume changes).

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards - Sunday February 27, 8PM ET, CTV/ABC

Are you ready for five hours of watching people try to thank every one they've ever met -- and a few they haven't -- before getting cut off by the sad strings of 'No One Cares'? I know I am. Actually, I've seen more of the nominated films this year than usual, and I admit to a mild curiosity about how hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway will fare. Is it just me or does Franco always seem like he just smoked a huge fatty? Not that there's anything wrong with that -- it's just hard to take him seriously. I'll be rooting for 'Incendies,' 'Black Swan' and Hallie Stanfield, whose achievement in dressing her age is definitely unparalleled.

It seems that Oscar may be given a little bit of a revamping in the future.

According to Moviefone, Deadline.com is reporting that a meeting at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences involved a discussion that could lead to the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony being aired in January, as opposed to its usual date in late February/early March. (This isn't the first date change, the first ceremony was actually held in May.)

Last year's Academy Awards was the highest watched telecast since 2005 with over 40 million viewers, so ratings shouldn't be the problem.

Television fans, look out: Oscar-winning actors are taking over! And not just for a special cameo or a three-episode guest star stint, either. Movie stars are coming to TV in a big way ... as series regulars.

Why? Well, for a few reasons. Portraying a character on a weekly basis can present a new challenge to these veteran silver screen stars, but let's not forget that young Hollywood actors in tween-targeted films are dominating the box office. These Oscar-winning actors aren't giving up films, but their star power and names alone are big enough to attract an audience to a TV show.

Many Oscar-winners and nominees have left their mark on both screens -- just look at Sally Field. She's won an Oscar for 'Norma Rae' and Emmys for 'Sybil,' 'ER' and 'Brothers & Sisters.'

Maybe the Oscars of these latest stars got lonely on the mantle and the next logical thought would be: Why not add an Emmy sister?

Check out the list of actors who are coming to TV -- including Sissy Spacek and Dustin Hoffman -- after the jump.

I took a little break from this column last week because in my other life – the one not spent glued to the tube – I help run a 5-day film festival in the smallish Canadian city where I live. Running a film festival is not unlike running film – there are actors, directors and producers on hand, a general sense of panic, long hours, and really good after-parties, and with luck a critically-praised result.

This was my first year working on the film fest and I expected to be way out of my depth when it came to conversation. After all, I'm a small screen kind of girl. I even slipped up while introducing a panel of filmmakers, talking about how their films had "aired" the night before. Apparently, films screen, only TV shows air.

Still haven't seen 'The Blind Side'? Well, if you can hold out a little bit longer -- two years, in fact -- you can catch it on ABC Family.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has acquired the television rights to the box-office and Best Picture-nominated sensation, which just won Sandra Bullock her first Oscar on Sunday. The film -- which made over $250 million, domestically -- will premiere sometime in 2012.

"The morning after ... we ask the right questions. The morning after ... we make the suggestions."

Those are the lyrics to a song Barbra Streisand once sang and it occurred to me this morning after recovering from the long, long and rather uneventful 2010 Oscar ceremony last night on ABC.

Looking back through the bleary-eyes of my memories, there were quite a few things that could have been better, a few that were just plain lousy, and a few moments that lived up to the hype. Danny shared his view. Check out my ten Oscar observations list:

'Jimmy Kimmel Live' has a post-Oscars live show every year and last night he had a variety of guests, including Christoph Waltz, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Matt Damon, John Krasinksi, Ted Danson, Rob Lowe, Keith Urban, Sting, Matthew McConaughey, and many others. He also showed one award they didn't show on the Oscars, the one for "Best Actor in Real Life." I think the right guy won.

[Watch episodes of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' and other shows at SlashControl.]

Yeah, they screwed it up again. While it's great that they included the biggies in the 'In Memoriam' tribute (Michael Jackson -- not a big movie star but he did 'The Wiz' and it would have been odd if they left him out, David Carradine, Patrick Swayze, Natasha Richardson), and film industry vets (Army Archerd, Horton Foote), they left out some people, too.

What about Farrah Fawcett? Sure, she wasn't a huge movie star, but she was in several movies and a big name. I'm sure that the Academy thought of her but simply left her out because she was "too TV." But she should have been included, just as Bea Arthur, James Whitmore, and Edward Woodward should have been included. (Actually, Whitmore died over a year ago.)

I think fans would appreciate less time given to each person if they included more people in the montage. They also have to stop filming the 'In Memoriam' the way they do, as Danny and others pointed out earlier today. More closeups of the people and the words on the screen (and not a shot of the screen in the theater!), less singer/songwriter singing a sad tune.

Update: the Academy says they "can't include everybody."

In a nick-of-time save that was worthy of a movie unto itself, ABC was restored to Cablevision just in time for the Academy Awards. Apparently both sides hammered out enough of a deal for the awards show to be broadcast.

Cablevision customers -- 3.1 million in the New York City area -- got another treat on the same day. To accommodate those that lost their ABC, the company offered free On Demand movies all day. As a Cablevision customer, I was interested in the veracity of the claim and took advantage of that particular offer. Later this month, it will be determined how legitimate that offer was when I see my bill.

So many people were using this freebie that the first few times a movie download was attempted, the system would return an error. This issue stopped once the Academy Awards started.

It seems more likely that Cablevision acquiesced to the demands of ABC given the timing of the channel restoration rather than the other way around. What do you think?