Another Oscar tradition is the Barbara Walters special which precedes the Oscar telecast at 6 PM Central Time (on the west coast, it will air after the Oscars) ... this year, Barbara interviews Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Oscar Weekend is filled with additional shows which you may be interested in. The E! Entertainment Network will of course continue their tradition of providing the most coverage all weekend long. E! will broadcast a special called "Who Will Win? Road to the Red Carpet" throughout the weekend, first showing tonight (Friday) at 6:30 PM CST. That show will re-run at 6 PM CST on Saturday.
For those of you on the West Coast, KABC will continue their very good coverage (if you ask me, some of the best) with a Saturday night pre-show, An Evening at the Academy Awards ... Saturday at 6:30 PM PST.
Then on Oscar Day, E! will begin its all day coverage at 6 AM CST (!), counting down to the big show. At 5 PM CST, Joan and Melissa Rivers will take over with their two hour arrivals show on E!.
KABC on the West Coast will begin their Evening at the Academy Awards coverage at 3:30 PM PST.
Following the Oscars, E! will continue their coverage with a live post-show, hosted by Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner, and this will run till about 1 in the morning CST.
KABC on the West Coast will continue their coverage throughout the night, re-running their arrivals coverage and recap coverage through to the early morning hours.
And finally, ABC is replacing their usual Politically Incorrect After Party special with a live post party show hosted by the cast of THE VIEW. Peter Fonda will join THE VIEW hosts Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Joy Behar live after the local news from a New York studio. Lisa Ling will be reporting live from Los Angeles with reports from the parties. Comedian Mario Cantone and fashion designer Randolph Duke will also be joining them.
So that's it ... did I cover it all? After all the predicting, after all the arguments, after this bizarre film awards season, it's finally time to honor film year 2001 with the 74th Annual Academy Awards. Happy Oscar Day To All.
