See Your Favorite Stars at the 87th Academy Awards Ceremony

As you finish off the last of your hot wings and settle up because your team lost, the next biggest televised event of the year moves in. Though, admittedly, this year’s Super Bowl garnered the highest television ratings since, well, forever, the biggest night of the year for those of us who only watched for the commercials is finally here. The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place the Dolby Theatre and be broadcast live on ABC Feb. 22 at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT.

Triple-threat Neil Patrick Harris is slated to host the highly anticipated and televised event. The man is no stranger to hosting duties. He hosted the Tony Awards for four years. Harris is best known for his work on “How I Met Your Mother,” so the transition to Emmy Award host for a subsequent two years seemed only natural. Harris appears in last year’s mystery thriller, “Gone Girl,” which earned an Oscar nod for its leading lady, Rosamund Pike. Despite the dark nature of his breakout movie success this year, he promises the Academy Awards show will be extremely funny. Harris crashed the nominee luncheon on Feb. 2 at the Beverly Hilton to deliver the news.

The luncheon is a closed event for nominees and their guests, and traditionally stirs up as much speculation as the event itself. However, the buzz didn’t start there. Controversy surrounds the event every year, ranging from small-time snubs to big-time blowouts. Before the red carpet is rolled out and the stars arrive, smaller awards ceremonies such as The Golden Globes help viewers and Hollywood elite predict the outcome of the event. What everyone is talking about this year? “Selma.” The Martin Luther King Jr. period piece had many people rallying-pun intended-for a recount after its stars were allegedly snubbed by voters. People can’t stop talking about the other nominated films, either, which include, “American Sniper,” “Birdman,” “Boyhood,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Imitation Game,” “Selma,” “The Theory of Everything,” and “Whiplash.”

The Academy Awards, affectionately nicknamed “The Oscars” by industry folk and star struck average Joes, alike, is a time-honored Hollywood tradition. Since 1953, the ceremony that honors excellence and achievement in film has been televised live from Los Angeles across the globe. The first ceremony was held in 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood and lasted a mere 15 minutes, which is a stark contrast to the year 2000 ceremony, which was held at the Dolby (then Kodak) Theatre and lasted nearly four and a half hours. The actual history of the nomenclature of the little statue called “Oscar,” is disputed, but there is no doubt that the gold-plated figure is the most coveted award in entertainment.

The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre and be broadcast live on ABC Feb. 22 at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT.