Here’s the most practical advice you’ll get all year: mute the commercials. The Oscars have famously long ad breaks, filled with luxury car ads and the same three movie trailers. Use that time to refresh snacks, check your phone, or debate whether the host’s monologue landed (spoiler: it never fully lands).
Also, don’t read Twitter during the show. The jokes hit better when they’re not being pre-demolished by a thousand hot takes in real time. Let yourself be surprised by a weird acceptance speech or a chemistry-free red carpet interview.
But Also… Be Kind to Yourself
Here’s a little truth: the Oscars will always start at 8:00 p.m., but your life won’t wait. If you miss the first hour because you were putting the kids to bed or wrapping up a work email, that’s okay. The best stories are the ones you hear the next morning over coffee, anyway.
And there’s a lesson there, isn’t there? We spend so much time trying to be on time for the big moments—the premiere, the promotion, the perfect evening—that we forget to enjoy the slow buildup. The red carpet is a metaphor: you can show up right on time for the main event, or you can arrive a little early, catch the small talk, and feel the buzz in the air.
So set your alarm for 7:55 p.m. Eastern. Or don’t. The Oscars will still be there, a little glamorous, a little ridiculous, and entirely predictable in their unpredictability. And when the final award is handed out, you’ll realize the real prize wasn’t the statue—it was the shared chaos of watching it all happen, right on time.
