Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lots of big events kick off the year
Events will dominate prime time the first 10 weeks of 2018.
First up: The Golden Globes provide suspense at 8 p.m. Sunday on NBC. How will host Seth Meyers address sexual harassment in Hollywood? What will Oprah Winfrey say in accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award? Could Meryl Streep top her speech last year if she wins for her superb performance as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in “The Post”?
Alabama and Georgia meet Monday in the College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN. President Donald Trump plans to attend.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards will champion women in the Jan. 21 telecast on TBS and TNT. Kristen Bell serves as the awards’ first host, and all presenters will be women. (Oscar nominations will be revealed Jan. 23.)
The 60th Annual Grammy Awards will unfold Jan. 28 on CBS. Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars lead the nominees, and the splashy event will be staged at Madison Square Garden in New York.
NBC has the year’s two biggest sports events. The Super Bowl, the most-seen telecast each year, airs from Minneapolis on Feb. 4. Justin Timberlake performs in the halftime show.
NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang, South Korea, starts Feb. 8, and the Opening Ceremony follows the next evening. Mike Tirico debuts as NBC’s prime-time host. NBCUniversal will offer more than 2,400 hours of coverage across its channels.
The broadcast competition will stay out of the way of the Olympics, a ratings dynamo running through Feb. 25. But on Feb. 11, Showtime debuts the animated “Our Cartoon President,” about the Trump administration, from executive producer Stephen Colbert. The “Homeland” season premiere follows. AMC’s “The Walking Dead” resumes its eighth season Feb. 25.
Jimmy Kimmel hosts the Oscars, Hollywood’s biggest night, March 4 on ABC. How will he address sexual harassment in Hollywood? Can the academy avoid blunders like last year’s best-picture meltdown?
ABC will use the Oscars to promote “American Idol,” which returns March 11. Will ABC’s huge gamble in bringing back the singing contest pay off?