Conan O'Brien to Host Oscars for First Time; Celebs for Season 3 of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test

Monday, November 18, 2024

Conan O'Brien to Host Oscars for First Time; Celebs for Season 3 of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test

Emmy® Award-winning television host, writer, producer and comedian Conan O'Brien will host the 97th Oscars. It will be O'Brien's first time hosting the broadcast. The Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. PST. O'Brien is best known for hosting the late-night talk shows Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Conan. Before his more than two-decade-long hosting career, he served as a writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. O'Brien currently hosts the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and recently starred in the 2024 travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go. He has won five Primetime Emmys and earned 31 nominations for his work.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test

The third season of Fox's ultimate celebrity social experiment, Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, returns for a special five-week event starting Wednesday, January 8 (8:00-10:00PM ET/PT). Each week, the two-hour super charged episodes will feature household names enduring some of the harshest, most grueling challenges from the playbook of the actual Special Forces selection process. This time around, the recruits will be training in Wales, the home of British Special Forces Selection, and will endure the harsh reality of ocean warfare. The recruits must learn the art of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable as they are faced with training challenges across the country's vast terrain of both land and sea, including a high pressure hostage rescue, a treacherous ladder crossing between steep cliffs nearly 100 ft above the sea, a boat dunk drill where they will be submerged into the frigid ocean and tasked with performing essential survival duties, a surf immersion where they will have to control their panic in an exercise that takes them to the brink of drowning, and much more. In this experiment, there are no votes and no eliminations - just survival. These celebrities, who are so used to being in the spotlight, will quickly learn the meaning of "no guts, no glory" - and no glam.

Selection for the Special Forces is a test unlike any other. Sixteen celebrities from all genres and walks of life, will take on, and try to survive, demanding training exercises led by Directing Staff (DS) agents Rudy Reyes, Mark "Billy" Billingham, Jason "Foxy" Fox and Jovon "Q" Quarles, an elite team of ex-special forces operatives. In this unique series, the only way for these recruits to leave is to give up on their own accord, through failure or potential injury, or by force from the DS. Special Forces: World's Toughest Test is the ultimate test of physical, mental and emotional resilience - revealing these celebrities' deepest and truest character. Who will survive, who will fail?

Meet the 16 celebrity recruits joining Special Forces:
Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist Nathan Adrian
Actor Stephen Baldwin
Pro-Surfer and Model Alana Blanchard
Pro Soccer Player Landon Donovan
Motocross Champion Carey Hart
TV Personality and DJ Brody Jenner
Olympic Track and Field Athlete Marion Jones
Influencer and Former Bachelorette Ali Manno (Fedotowsky)
NFL Pro-Bowler Cam Newton
Influencer and Model Kayla Nicole
Actress Kyla Pratt
Actress Denise Richards
Actress and Podcast Host Christy Carlson Romano
Original Bachelorette Trista Sutter
Superbowl Champion Golden Tate
Olympic Gymnastics Gold Medalist Jordyn Wieber

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Wednesday, July 9

Shifting Gears - "Gummies" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Riley is horrified when she finds weed gummies in Carter’s pocket, prompting surprising advice from Matt. Meanwhile, Eve inadvertently lands Gabriel and Stitch in hot water after asking them to donate to a charity auction.

Shifting Gears - "Kiss" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Jimmy returns with a new job and a proposition for Riley and the kids to move into his house, Riley is torn between her past and her future. Meanwhile, Matt's feud with Eve flares up once again after she damages his car.

Abbott Elementary - "Volunteers" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ava announces the school district is sending a group of volunteers to help out at Abbott; however, when they arrive, things don’t go as planned.

Abbott Elementary - "100th Day of School" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
During Abbott’s 100th day of school celebrations, Barbara receives a surprise from her daughter. Melissa, Jacob and Mr. Johnson join forces to conduct a search party.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary" (FXX and FX, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Months after the Gang visited, Abbott's Principal Ava walks viewers through some of the unseen footage of the Gang's volunteerism and reveals their true intentions.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Frank Is in a Coma" (FXX and FX, 9:33PM ET/PT)
The five stages of grief set in for Dee as Frank lies on his deathbed; the Guys plot their new path forward by pitching their business ventures to Philadelphia's elite.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)

Wednesday, July 9

Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Salma Hayek Pinault (The Sinbad Show) - Watch Salma on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Jean Smart (Hacks/Samantha Who?/Center of the Universe/In-Laws/Style & Substance/Designing Women) - Jean is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Cole Escola (Human Resources/Search Party/Mozart in the Jungle/Difficult People) - Cole appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Richie Moriarty (Ghosts), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts/Duncanville/Disjointed/Animal Practice) and Punam Patel (Ghosts/Return of the Mac/Kevin from Work) - Richie, Betsy and Punam are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/Final Space/The Game) - Tika sits down with the Tam Fam to talk about her new children's book I Got It From My Mama a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Isabela Merced (100 Things to Do Before High School/Growing Up Fisher) - Isabela chats about her film Superman on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Anna Camp (Perfect Harmony/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt/The Mindy Project) and Justin Bartha (The New Normal/Teachers) - Anna and Justin discuss their film Nuked on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) - Simon talks about Peacock's Poker Face on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.