Oscars vs. 'The Last of Us': What are you watching Sunday?

Will Joel And Ellie Finally Make It To The Doctors In “The Last Of Us”? Will Michelle Yeoh Win The Best Actress Oscar?

Both the questions will be answered this Sunday, but viewers may have to choose which answer they want in real time. The season finale of the HBO hit is up against the live telecast of the Oscars on ABC.

Of course, there is an opportunity to see both. The Oscars begin at 8 p.m. Eastern; “The Last of Us” airs at 9 p.m. Viewers can start their night watching the Oscars, click through to “The Last of Us” and return for the final hour of the ceremony. This is usually when the biggest categories are assigned, but this plan comes with the risk of losing any busy, unwritten moments. And if you choose to stick with Oscar? You run the risk of spoiling the fate of the characters of Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal.

Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson, specializing in media and director of the Blair Center for Television and Popular Culture, says the debate essentially boils down to the zeitgeist.

“Watching television isn’t just about watching a show. … It’s about talking about it and putting in your two cents,” Thompson said. And all things like that.

Thompson says Oscar has “more to lose” in the match against the apocalyptic, mushroom-infested zombie video game adaptation.

Last year’s telecast reached an estimated 15.36 million viewers, an improvement from the record low 9.85 million viewers who tuned in to watch in 2021. “The Last of Us” attracted a series high 8.1 million viewers for its penultimate episode).

“The Oscars are a truly live event that you really need to see live for the broadcast to register ratings. That’s the audience they’re counting on,” Thompson said. “If people choose to watch ‘The Last of Us,’ it’s going to eat into the ratings for the Oscars. If people choose to watch the Oscars, they have many, many more chances to watch ‘The Last of Us.’

Interestingly, HBO acknowledged the ratings behemoth that is the Super Bowl, dropping the fifth episode of “The Last of Us” earlier last month on HBO Max and HBO On Demand on the Friday before the big game. The channel aired the episode as the Philadelphia Eagles played against the Kansas City Chiefs (for the record: the Chiefs were victorious and the Super Bowl was the third most watched TV show in history, with an average of 113.1 million people watching, per Nielsen).

The network has no official explanation for that programming move and a publicist for the network said they have “nothing to contribute” on its decision to keep the schedule during the Oscars.

Pascal, however, gets the best of both worlds on Sunday. The star of ‘The Last of Us’ will also perform at the Academy Awards. It is not clear when he will appear in the three-hour broadcast.

So which channel will you be watching the internet’s favorite dad? ABC or HBO?

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