Neil Patrick Harris and the Academy Awards scare off Sunday TV

By Caroline Framke | February 22, 2015 | 6:00am

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Neil Patrick Harris and the Academy Awards scare off Sunday TV

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Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, February 22. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

E! Live From The Red Carpet: 2015 Academy Awards (E!, 5:30 p.m.) / ABC Special: Oscars Opening Ceremony: Live From The Red Carpet, Pts. 1 & 2 (ABC, 7 p.m.): Here’s the thing about the Academy Awards: They’re going to be boring. Yes, Neil Patrick Harris is a good host, and sure, there will be some moments in which celebrities act like regular human people and give us material for reaction GIFs. But we’ve seen the Neil Patrick Harris Hosts Things show before, and the Oscars are bloated and staged and predictable so, you know, yawn. Instead, we suggest checking out some of the extensive pre-show business going on, which always yields the weirdest moments out of this or any other award show night. We will, however, understand if you reject this option for its potential to make your night too Giuliana Rancic-heavy. That is always a valid concern.

Also noted

The 87th Annual Academy Awards (ABC, 8 p.m.): If you are committed to watching the Oscars, here they are in all their whatever glory! But who will take home the most glory? Boyhood? Birdman? The umpteen grumpy old white men who make up the Academy? Only time will tell! (Though come on, the answer is always and forever and infuriatingly c).)

Downton Abbey (PBS, 9 p.m.): The fifth season finale invites us to “observe Mrs. Patmore’s surprise, Anna’s predicament, and Robert’s revelation.” This is unhelpful as far as plot summaries go, but Emily L. Stephens will still be observing, for that is her job.

Girls (HBO, 9 p.m.): Adam and Hannah have revelations, Shoshanna maybe sort of bombs an interview, Ray goes to his neighborhood council, and Marnie and Desi argue over their “sound,” which we hope for Joshua Alston’s sake isn’t along the same lines as Ross Gellar’s sound:

(Yes, we got stuck in the Friends Netflix hole, what of it?! At least you’re not What’s On Tonight’s roommate, who’s probably hearing The Rembrandts in his goddamn sleep. If any of you have roommates in similar boats, do let us know so we can maybe start a support group. Or we can just talk about how Chandler and Monica’s secret relationship is an ideal situation, either/or.)

Togetherness (HBO, 9:30 p.m.): Nicole Holofcener directed tonight’s episode, which also features Mary Steenburgen. Gwen Ihnat is just so lucky, you guys.

Looking (HBO, 10 p.m.): Patrick tries to be a “fun gay” for Halloween. We’ll leave it to Brandon Nowalk to let us know if this costume is at all convincing.

Regular coverage

The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.)

Tomorrow in TV Club

This week is The End Of Parks And Recreation week, so we’re getting it started with Erik Adams’ TV Club 10 on the series. Also, TV Club is officially crashing our Film colleagues’ Watch This feature, and we’re kicking things off with a week of tributes to television’s best series finales. Tomorrow, Erik Adams eulogizes Home Movies.

Also noted

Grantchester (PBS, 9 p.m.): The most British show in all the world airs its first season finale tonight on PBS, which follows the good (and very beautiful) vicar Sidney Chambers as he tries to stop a killing spree, wot wot.

The Great British Baking Show (PBS, 8 p.m.): It’s pretty stunning that something called The Great British Baking Show is by far the least British show in PBS’ Sunday block, but if it really wanted to put up a fight, it would have made its semi-finalists do treacle tart or toffee pudding instead of “patisserie.” In fact, that sounds… dare we say it… French?! Ugh. Come back when you’ve learned the value of a good spotted dick, Great British Baking Show.

Cutthroat Kitchen (Food Network, 10 p.m.): We don’t have a whole lot to say about this except that the episode is called “No-cchi To Victory” and we just want to go on record as saying that we know a lot of food puns have been done before, but we cannot approve of this.

Wreck-It Ralph (ABC Family, 7 p.m.): This movie about a gentle giant and his quest to break out of the villain business is just so, so charming. It also features Sarah Silverman as a feisty little girl who just wants to drag race her candy car, which is maybe her best role, not to mention one of the best roles to ever exist just in general.

NHL Hockey: Stars at Wild (NBC Sports, 5 p.m.): Sure, there’s a whole mess of college basketball on, but if you care about that you surely know about it, so we’re going to shine a light on the Dallas versus Minnesota ice hockey game. Also, we really just like the phrase “stars at wild”—which would incidentally make a great Oscars theme.

In case you missed it

Bagboy: John C. Reilly stars in the latest surreal offering from the Tim & Eric studio, which Dan Caffrey found to be a hilarious “intentional failure.”