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TV Media Weekly | February 21 - 27, 2015 to write him a song for this year's show we said, 'Yes!' be- fore he could finish the sen- tence," said the pair in a news release. There's obviously a lot to look forward to at this year's Oscars, and there's bound to be some surprises as well. Don't forget to tune in beforehand to the Os- cars Red Carpet Live to get a glimpse of the night's A-listers arriving in all their haute-cou- tured glory. The 87th Annual Academy Awards airs live Sun- day, Feb. 22, on ABC. didn't pan out either. (It should be noted that Rock denied he was ever offered the gig, and Meron and Zadan said in a statement to Deadline.com that the only person they ever sent a formal offer to host was Harris.) The producers finally landed on Harris, and though he alleg- edly may not have been their first choice, the pair has high hopes for the actor. "We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars," they said in a news release. "We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and stage. To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resourc- es and talent coming together on a global stage." As for Harris, he'll be able to cross another item off his bucket list. "Host the Oscars" is right up there with "meet the presi- dent," "perform with the Mup- pets" and "juggle flaming torches" as a must for the actor, so the night will truly be a per- sonal accomplishment. Not to worry, though — he's not a rookie when it comes to emceeing. Harris has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards twice and the Tony Awards four times, which netted him several spe- cial class Emmys, but the Oscars gig should top them all. Since the nominees were an- nounced last month, there's been no shortage of speculation as to who will bring home the big prizes. Of the films that have received multiple nominations, "Birdman" and "The Grand Bu- dapest Hotel" lead the charge with nine each, followed closely by "The Imitation Game," hold- ing strong with eight. All three are up for the award for Best Pic- ture and Best Director and were major players at the 72nd Gold- en Globe Awards last month. It was "Boyhood" that came out on top at the Golden Globes, however, taking home three awards of its five nominations. The coming-of-age drama, which has been declared a landmark film by many critics, is up for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and acting nominations for Ethan Hawke ("Gattaca," 1997) and Patricia Arquette ("Medium"). To break up the barrage of speeches and awards, the Os- cars always delivers some mem- orable musical performances as well. This year, John Legend and Common will perform their song "Glory" from the movie "Sel- ma," for which they've nabbed a nomination for Best Original Song. British artist Rita Ora will be making her Oscars debut, and country superstar Tim McGraw and "The Voice" coach Adam Levine will take the stage as well. Even our talented host will display his musical chops. Harris, who's had Broadway roles both in singing and acting, will per- form an original musical se- quence written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the team behind "Frozen's" (2013) Oscar-winning song "Let It Go." "We love the Oscars and have always been huge Neil Patrick Harris fans, so when he asked us By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media T he red carpet and design- er duds are ready for cameras to start rolling when the glitterati de- scend on Los Angeles once again for Hollywood's biggest night. Another glamorous awards season comes to an end with the granddaddy of them all when the last golden Oscar stat- ue is handed out at L.A.'s Dolby Theatre this month. Hosted for the first time by award-winning stage and screen star Neil Pat- rick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother"), The 87th Annual Academy Awards airs live Sun- day, Feb. 22, on ABC. If you only tune in to one awards show this season, the Oscars is the one to catch. This year's ceremony honors some of the best films of 2014 and shines a light on many of the biggest names in the business. This is the third consecutive year that Neil Meron and Craig Zadan are producing the event, and despite some mixed reviews, particularly where the hosts were concerned, the previous two Os- car telecasts received a notable spike in ratings from previous years. The 86th Academy Awards, hosted by much-loved comedian Ellen DeGeneres ("Finding Nemo," 2003), drew in more than 45 million viewers, making it television's most-watched en- tertainment event in a decade and netting an eight per cent in- crease over the previous year. The host's celebrity-filled selfie, now famous for being the picture that broke Twitter, was the most retweeted photo of all time with nearly 33 million views. Though some critics de- nounced the ceremony as dull and far too long, citing DeGe- neres' unremarkable and, at times, cringe-worthy emceeing, Meron and Zadan wanted her back this year — after all, the ratings speak for themselves. The talk show darling was against hosting the awards for the third time, however, and the next two on the list, Chris Rock ("The Chris Rock Show") and Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Seinfeld"), Neil Meron, Neil Patrick Harris and Craig Zadan team up for the 87th Annual Academy Awards Roll out the red carpet The cream of the crop descends on Hollywood for the 87th Annual Academy Awards 2 | Cover story CHANNEL GUIDE Comcast Walton Cable- Vision Sammo ns of Indiana Tipton Cable TV Oak Hill Cable Swayzee AT&T U-Verse

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