Madeline Gearheart | January 17, 2019
The 2019 Oscars: How to Watch and What to Watch Out For
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood. The red carpet, the jaw-dropping outfits, and the surprise upsets. That’s right, it’s Oscars time! With the Golden Globes behind us, Academy Awards season has kicked into high gear.
How to Tune In
Two of the most asked questions about the big show are “What channel are the Oscars on?” and “When are the Oscars?”. The 91st Oscars will broadcast live on Sunday, February 24 on ABC, available with DISH.
That gives you plenty of time to catch up on the possible contenders, using DISH Network’s On Demand service. And even if you’re not home, you can catch every winner and acceptance speech on a mobile device anytime, anywhere through DISH Anywhere.
It’s also easy to see live updates and catch key highlights of the evening, from the red carpet to the after parties, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Who’s in the Running
Nomination voting started on Monday, January 7 and closed on January 14. Nominees for the 2019 Oscars will be announced on January 22. The hard part—voting for the winners—starts Tuesday, February 12 and wraps up on February 19.
What to Watch Out For
The Golden Globes are usually a good source for Oscar predictions, and early buzz has some solid front-runners for 2019 Best Picture nominees. That said, while BlacKkKlansman scored director Spike Lee the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes along with an AFI Movie of the Year and numerous other awards, it was ignored by the Golden Globes. Lee has never been nominated for Best Director, but maybe this is his year to win an Academy Award.
Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Can You Forgive Me?, The Favourite, First Man, and The Green Book are all strong possibilities for winning Oscars in different categories, like Makeup and Hairstyling and Music (Original Scoring). A Quiet Place, Mary Poppins Returns, and If Beale Street Could Talk could win awards and cause a few upsets along the way.
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is almost a shoo-in for Best Foreign Film. He could also get a Best Director nod, especially after his recent Golden Globe win. A Star is Born has star power and momentum, and it could be nominated in five categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay. It’s almost certainly got Best Original Song locked down as well.
As for Best Actor, here’s the field of possible contenders:
- Willem Dafoe: At Eternity’s Gate
- John David Washington: BlacKkKlansman
- Rami Malek: Bohemian Rhapsody
- Lucas Hedges: Boy Erased
- Ryan Gosling: First Man
- Viggo Mortensen: Green Book
- Christian Bale: Vice
Best Actress favorites are as interesting as they are diverse:
- Lady Gaga: A Star Is Born
- Melissa McCarthy: Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Nicole Kidman: Destroyer
- Elsie Fisher: Eighth Grade
- Olivia Colman: The Favourite
- Toni Collette: Hereditary
- Emily Blunt: Mary Poppins Returns (she could also get a Best Supporting Actress nod for A Quiet Place)
- Saoirse Ronan: Mary Queen of Scots
- Yalitza Aparicio: Roma
- Viola Davis: Widows
Hollywood hasn’t forgotten its royalty either. Best Actor nods could be heading to Clint Eastwood for The Mule and Robert Redford in The Old Man & the Gun. Sissy Spacek could get Best Supporting Oscar for A Private War, and Glenn Close might be tapped for The Wife.
The 2019 Oscar winners could be on this list. Or not. Perhaps there is an upset in the works, because that’s what makes the Oscars so fun and unpredictable. We shall see. We don’t even have a host yet—and there might not even be one this year!—but one thing is for sure: the 91st Oscars will certainly be entertaining to watch.
