Oscar

Seth MacFarlane may have sung about Oscar's losers, but he wasn't among them. Sunday's movie awards ceremony produced its best ratings in years, even as critics rapped the "Family Guy" producer for some off-color humor. An average of 40.3 million viewers tuned in to the live Oscar telecast on ABC, according to Nielsen. The ceremony - hosted by MacFarlane, the creator of TV's "Family Guy" and director of the movie comedy "Ted" - drew its best numbers since 2010 and were up a modest 2% over last year's show hosted by Billy Crystal.

I've flown in the Goodyear blimp. I've paddled down the L.A. River. I've spoken at two Hollywood Walk of Fame events. I've driven the wrong way at 90 mph on a new, still-unopened stretch of freeway (with a Caltrans guy beside me). But I'd never done the ultimate L.A. thing: I'd never been to the Oscars. Until Sunday. I came away from the very long day -- dressing up in evening clothes in broad daylight at 1 p.m., home from the Governors Ball at 1 a.m. -- with two impressions I hadn't had as an ordinary Oscar TV viewer: FULL COVERAGE: Oscars 2013 | Winners One was the finely tuned organization of a massive event.

The big winners at this year's Academy Awards: adult moviegoers. For years, the studios have fixated on young men in their teens and 20s, serving up big-budget popcorn movies populated with dazzling visual effects, comic book heroes and high-voltage action sequences. They've also made films geared to win awards, but oftentimes those pictures bring prestige without huge financial returns. At the Oscars on Sunday night, however, six of the nine best picture nominees were hits that earned more than $100 million at the domestic box office.

Despite the nearly universal consensus that Sunday's Oscars telecast was overly long and dull, between Jennifer Lawrence's instantly iconic faceplant to Renee Zellweger's loopy onstage demeanor to all those sound guys with Fabio hair , there was plenty of fodder for late-night comedians Monday night. On “Conan,” it was “Les Miserables” star Russell Crowe who was the butt of the joke. The show has had a good time poking fun at the actor for his, shall we say, less than dazzling vocals, which were fully on display during Sunday's ensemble performance of “One Day More.

The Oscars are like the Super Bowl meets New Year's Eve for Hollywood. And as such there was no end to the parade of parties that swept the city leading up to Sunday night's awards ceremony. Two of the most entertaining pre-parties were Thursday night's Vanity Fair Campaign Hollywood soiree at Cecconi's, and the Grey Goose pre-Oscar party at the Chateau Marmont on Saturday night. The former, called “Una Notte Verde,” was a sleek cocktail party hosted by Hans Zimmer and Ron Howard.

Beleaguered Oscar host Seth MacFarlane made no secret leading up to the show that this year's gig was a one-and-done proposition. So Tuesday's tweet to a follower's inquiry about a return engagement -- "No way. Lotta fun to have done it, though" -- wasn't a surprise. If anything, it could be seen either as MacFarlane's way of washing his hands of the Academy and its deadly serious awards show or reassuring haters that they wouldn't have him to kick around anymore. “Do me a favor and don't read the press tomorrow,” MacFarlane told guests at a West Hollywood after-party following the show.

Can't wait to dish on who wore what to the 85th Academy Awards Sunday night? Listen in as Adam Tschorn talks Oscar fashion here at 2:30 p.m. Tschorn will discuss red carpet wins, flops and some surprises, with Anne Hathaway in Prada and lead actress winner Jennifer Lawrence in her Dior nosedive. Tschorn's also got the scoop on what fashion critic Booth Moore thought of Helen Hunt in H&M and Giorgio Armani ruling the red carpet. Oscars 2013: Winners | Red carpet | Fashion | Show highlights | Nominee list | Timeline See who had the best hairstyles of the night and trends we couldn't ignore.

The Academy Awards 2013 made for a glamour fest, as always, and Los Angeles Times fashion critic Booth Moore noted all the "Giorgio Armani gowns, Harry Winston bling and Veronica Lake waves on the red carpet Sunday. " [Los Angeles Times] PHOTOS: Oscars' best-dressed Michelle Obama was a surprise presenter, and she looked the part wearing a silver Naeem Khan gown and Sutra earrings. [The Cut] Jennifer Lawrence tripped on the hem of her Christian Dior couture gown but kept her composure, though she said later that an expletive was going through her head.

Over at the Governors Ball last night, the most famous Austrian in the cooking world, Wolfgang Puck, and his kitchen staff of 350 cooked a multi-course meal for a crowd of 1,600 following the Oscars. Meanwhile, across town at the Austrian consulate in Brentwood, another Austrian chef, young Bernhard Mairinger, chef-owner of BierBeisl in Beverly Hills, set up a buffet for 200 or so guests of the Austrian consulate's Oscar viewing party. I was there, and thoroughly enjoyed the event.

How could veteran musical producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose credits include "Hairspray" and "Footloose," among others, create an Oscars telecast without a tribute to their favored genre?  With an introduction by John Travolta, the star of two of the 1970s' biggest musicals, "Saturday Night Fever" and Grease," the 10-minute musical montage featured film clips and live performances from three of the last decades' most popular musicals: "Chicago," "Dreamgirls" and "Les Miserables.