Oscar host Seth MacFarlane was all smiles when the nominations were announced last month. Photo credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
But a recurring theme in the reports was that fans would be back for the Daytona 500 today. The coverage is still scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Fox. How will Saturday’s accident affect today’s coverage?
In other highlights Sunday:
The 85th annual Oscars will be handed out in a ceremony starting at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane takes on the thankless task of hosting Hollywood’s biggest night. The monologue should be fascinating for how MacFarlane skewers Tinseltown titans. What’s out of his control, and the control of every Oscar host before him, are those acceptance speeches, many given by people who shouldn’t be on camera and who resort to reading lists. The show’s theme will be music. The performers include Barbra Streisand, Adele, Norah Jones, Jennifer Hudson, Shirley Bassey, Kristin Chenoweth and MacFarlane, who has a fine singing voice.
Most networks will take the night off against the Oscars. But not “The Amazing Race,” which started a new season last week. The next episode of the globe-trotting adventure airs at 8 p.m. on CBS.
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” resumed its season two weeks ago against the Grammys. The zombie thriller won’t take tonight off, either. At 9, the drama offers a chilling episode focused on Andrea (Laurie Holden) and her confusion over her allegiances.
If you want more showbiz glitz, ABC offers “Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Oscars” after the awards and local news. The show will feature Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx and Robin Roberts of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
TCM has decided to throw Dustin Hoffman against the Oscars. (Hoffman will be a presenter at this year’s awards.) TCM will offer two of Hoffman’s greatest films: “Tootsie” at 8 p.m. and “Kramer vs. Kramer” at 10:15. “Kramer” won the best picture of 1979; “Tootsie” lost the 1982 prize to “Gandhi.” And TCM will show “Gandhi” at 4:30 p.m.