If you've watched the Academy Awards for the past several years and forgot to change the channel after they were done, then you've almost definitely experienced the prestige-flipping tonal shift when Jimmy Kimmel Live! kicks off Kimmel's annual post-Oscars telecast. But now that the late night star has finally been tapped to host the Oscars himself, ABC was forced to come up with a solution to fill the timeslot. To do so, producers have brought in another big network star, Black-ish's Anthony Anderson, to front an official post-Oscar special, which will be chock-full of celebs and fashion.
Dubbed Live From Hollywood: The After Party, this inaugural special will lett Anthony Anderson and more reflect on the night's winners (and non-winners, we'll call them) in all of their post-telecast glory. The one-hour special will tackle interviews on the red carpet outside The Governor's Ball afterparty and, of course, there will also be lots of talks with entertainers backstage at the Dolby Theatre. The booze will likely be flowing, too.
For the special, Anthony Anderson won't have to worry about handling it all himself. He'll be joined by Good Morning America's co-anchor Lara Spencer, and they'll both be complemented by appearances from contributors such as ABC News' Chris Connelly and Yahoo Style's editor-in-chief Joe Zee. Not exactly on the level of "Matt Damon hidden inside Ben Affleck's coat," but I guess it works.
Anthony Anderson is a prime pick to host this initial post-Oscars event, since he's got more than enough charisma and mental dexterity to tackle in-the-moment interviews where anything can happen. He's also at the point in his career where he's showing up on TV as Anthony Anderson as much as he is as Black-ish's Dre Johnson and other fictional characters. Animal Planet only recently debuted Animal Nation with Anthony Anderson, he hosts the modern reboot for the game show To Tell the Truth, he's a morning and late show staple, and if there's a reality or game show with a celebrity edition, he's been on it. Anderson has done both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Masterchef just this year, for the briefest of examples.
The 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony will air on ABC on Sunday, February 26, at 7:00 p.m. ET. For those looking to get in on the fun away from a TV, head to Oscar.com to check out red carpet footage and backstage shenanigans, and that also starts up at 7:00 p.m. ET. While waiting for it, check out this year's biggest Oscar snubs and then head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what's coming to your televisions soon.
