MediaWeek called Jon Stewart a "lackluster" Oscar host. The underwhelmed Associated Press declared he was "relatively tame." Variety said, "Stewart felt out of his element," noting that the telecast "had its moments, but his delivery was slow, as if every joke was a bit overthought. His exclamations — 'There you go, now you're talking!' — were awkward, as if he was trying too hard to force some excitement on the ceremony." MSNBC said he "did an admirable job" but "the audience didn't seem to like him" and its critic predicted that Stewart will be remembered as a flop like Chris Rock and David Letterman.

The Hollywood Reporter came to Stewart's rescue: "He seemed at times nervous and self-conscious, but on the whole, Stewart delivered with just the right balance of reverence and smugness." A website poll of HollywoodReporter.com users gave him this report card as of mid-morning the next day: excellent (37%), not bad (45%), bad (18%).

The Los Angeles Times gave him a good review. Paul Brownfield wrote, "In the end, I think, he won himself a position as permanent host."

But most reviews were merely passable while the worst came from the Washington Post, which found it "hard to believe that professional entertainers could have put together a show less entertaining than this year's Oscars, hosted with a smug humorlessness by comic Jon Stewart, a sad and pale shadow of great hosts gone by." TV critic Tom Shales told him to "keep your 'Daily' job."

At least the worst TV ratings fears weren't realized. With Nielsen numbers down 10% from last year, it was only the second-lowest rated Oscarcast, edging out the disastrous "Chicago" year.

And, happily, Stewart didn't make any Uma-Oprah or Jude Law gaffes like Letterman and Rock. He's lucky that "Crash" added some theatrical excitement to the finale because otherwise it would be slammed as one of the dullest Academy Awards ever and he might have been, undeservedly, blamed.

To his credit Stewart had some shining moments. The opening clip skit was fun and his joke about Dick Cheney shooting Bjork in that swan outfit was a howler.

My favorite moment came when he pointed to a giant statue of Oscar behind him and asked those 3,000 showbiz lefties in the audience, "Do you think that if we all got together and pulled this down that democracy would flourish in Hollywood?" It revealed that Stewart had a sense of the Oscar as symbol of something truly huge and grand looming high above our culture as the whole world, and history, looked on.

Too bad he didn't do more of that and inspire us with a sense of majesty about the whole night. That's one of two areas where he failed and was always destined to, I suspect. Superb talent that he is, he was hopelessly miscast. Great hosts inspire us with a sense of awe and wonder about the event, giving us a feeling that we are privileged to be tuned in to history happening before our bedazzled eyes. Hosts need to be unabashed Oscar fans eager to share their giddy thrill with us all.

He also failed because he didn't communicate the intimacy and affection great hosts have with the showbiz royals gathered for Hollywood's family reunion. Remember when Steve Martin teased Julia Roberts in the audience about her salary being to blame for high movie ticket prices? TV cameras caught the loving twinkle in his eye and the embarrassed blush on Julia's face. We got to see two showbiz legends mercilessly teasing each other like pals do, we shared their nervous giggle and we got to feel like we were their pals too because they shared the scene with us.

Stewart gave us none of that because he couldn't. He's an outsider doomed to look out of his element like a rented clown brought in to entertain someone else's family party. And because of that, it didn't feel like our party, or family, either.

No doubt Stewart will not be invited back. Right now, though, it looks like he at least escaped with his hide. But let's remember that was the verdict at this time last year too. Early reviews for Chris Rock were actually quite good. Then, as time wore on, a different view took hold — just like what happens to movies. In the future it'll be interesting to see what the final review will be of Mr. Stewart's big night in Hollywood.