The 81st Annual Academy Awards

TIME's Kate Betts, Richard Corliss and James Poniewozik were here live, bringing you up-to-the-minute commentary on the telecast. If you missed the action, you can still view TIME's Oscar Guide and TIME's Photo Essay on the Best Oscar Dresses.

All times listed below are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

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James Poniewozik - 11:57 PM: So the Oscars end with previews of the coming year's movies. Trailers after the main feature? Now that's an Academy Awards innovation I can embrace. Thank you, Richard! Thank you, Kate! Thank you Mrs. Tuned In and Tuned In Jrs. and everyone at time.com--and you, the readers, you're really the ones who make this all possible--and Rick Stengel, for believing in me and giving me a job--and above all, thank you, God!

Good night, all. I'm off to catch a Slumdog Million winks.

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Richard Corliss - 11:56 PM: The upside of a low-rated Oscar show is that more people go to the movies on Oscar weekend. The new Tyler Perry movie grossed $41 million over the last three days — more than THE READER and FROST/NIXON in their whole runs.

But SLUMDOG is a popular, populist movie, and deserves its honors.

So do you, Kate and Jim, and our readers for sticking with us. Hey, it's still Sunday night. The show ended up being shorter than CHE.

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Kate Betts - 11:56 PM: Three cheers for Slumdog. It's been an unexpectedly glamorous night. Thanks Jim and Richard and Hugh Jackman (where have you been for the last hour, by the way?)

Good night all.

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Richard Corliss - 11:54 PM: Tomorrow's ads: "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE — eight Oscars, including Best Picture."

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James Poniewozik - 11:53 PM: And Slumdog Millionaire officially picks up its Slumdog Millionth award.

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Richard Corliss - 11:50 PM: Surprise! Sean Penn for Best Actor, as Harvey Milk. "You Commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns," he told the voters. "I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me." He then boldly spoke out for equal civil rights for gays, and paid tribute to the expected winner, Mickey Rourke.

For those wanting to know what a Mickey Rourke acceptance speech looks and sounds like, go here.

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James Poniewozik - 11:49 PM: Also, California, Sean Penn is disappointed in you for voting for the gay-marriage ban. (Not inappropriately for the star of Milk.) But America, Sean Penn is proud of you for electing an--did he actually say "elegant"?--man. So, mixed review there, voters.

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James Poniewozik - 11:44 PM: "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns." Aren't we all wishing a little for Mickey Rourke, who would not have stopped at guns?

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James Poniewozik - 11:38 PM: So the panorama of Best Actress presentresses includes the likes of Shirley Maclaine and Sophia Loren, older stars we remember from their work way back when; and Best Actor shows us older, regularly working actors like Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley and Robert DeNiro. Welcome to Hollywood.

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Kate Betts - 11:39 PM: She did say she'd been practicing this speech since she was eight.

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James Poniewozik - 11:34 PM: The whistle moment: brilliant. Winslet manages to be breathless enough to seem authentic and off-guard, while distracting us from the fact that she's actually delivering a flawless speech.

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Richard Corliss - 11:33 PM: Never doubt a TIME magazine cover line: Kate Winslet IS Best Actress. Interesting how a star who projects such steely intelligence on screen can go all dewy in her many acceptance speeches. Her advice to Meryl Streep, "You just have to suck that up," was about being admired by her peers, not being the loser, now, of 11 nominations in a row.

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James Poniewozik - 11:32 PM: Winslet wins; editors of TIME breathe sigh of relief.

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Richard Corliss - 11:31 PM: An extreme-rendition interrogation light couldn't ruin Angelina Jolie.

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James Poniewozik - 11:31 PM: I think Angelina Jolie is wearing a block of Kryptonite on her ring finger.

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Kate Betts - 11:29 PM: The lighting on these female nominees in the front row is terrible!

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Richard Corliss - 11:28 PM: Five more tributes from five veteran actresses. The wedding rehearsal dinner toasts in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED were shorter.

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James Poniewozik - 11:27 PM: I just cannot get over the whole Jedi Council introduction of the nominees.

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Kate Betts - 11:27 PM: Is this the first standing ovation of the evening?

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Richard Corliss - 11:21 PM: The SLUMDOG wagon rolls on, with Danny Boyle winning for Director.

Boyle on the show: "I don't know what it looks like on television but in the room it's bloody wonderful." That's the magic of live theater: it can't be reproduced anywhere else. What they need to work harder on is making it bloody wonderful live Television.

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James Poniewozik - 11:19 PM: I actually like these dorky, didactic bits where someone like Reese Witherspoon tells us what a director (or cinematographer, editor, etc.) really does on a movie.

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James Poniewozik - 11:13 PM: I don't remember--is it typical to have a live performance of the death-reel song? Seems weird... makes it more about the singer than the departed. Also, how about having Latifah rap it?

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Kate Betts - 11:12 PM: Can we get those Slumdog dancers back up there?

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Kate Betts - 11:10 PM: Penelope Cruz has been very successful.

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Richard Corliss - 11:07 PM: Is Foreign Language Film a major category? Then here's the first major-category upset of the evening. DEPARTURES from Japan takes the Oscar over THE CLASS and WALTZ WITH BASHIR. It's about a man whon takes a job dresing corpses for funerals. Heartwarming!

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James Poniewozik - 11:07 PM: Random thought: do any of the Slumdog cast have a shot at future success in the American film market? We have a history of falling briefly in love with international actors and then forgetting them—remember Benigni? Binoche? Hint: neither is an item on a restaurant menu.

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Kate Betts - 11:03 PM: I think Alicia Keys should have joined in. Her dress is even the right color!

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Richard Corliss - 11:02 PM: It happens that A.R. Rahman, the guy whose acceptance speeches we just slept through, is the best-selling recording artist in world history. In India they're not sleeping, they're cheering. Mind you, it's morning there, so they're not as drowsy as we are.

But this medley really is nuts: Rahman's two songs from SLUMDOG don't have much in common, musically or any other way, with Peter Gabriel's theme from WALL-E.

And to Alicia and Zac: it's pronounced Rah-man, not Rock-mahn.

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Kate Betts - 11:00 PM: Good point!

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James Poniewozik - 10:58 PM: ...on the other hand, having the Bollywood dancers stay on to accompany John Legend singing Peter Gabriel's excellent song from Wall*e is peculiar. Why not have dancing robots in the Slumdog number?

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James Poniewozik - 10:56 PM: On the other hand, the Slumdog Original Song number is awesome, whether you have any intention of seeing the movie or not.

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James Poniewozik - 10:55 PM: @KB: Au contraire! A sleeping viewer can't change the channel!

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Kate Betts - 10:55 PM: No wonder the ratings are tanking!

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James Poniewozik - 10:53 PM: @RC: OK, but can you justify the orchestral lullaby they just played for the still-awake members of the audience?

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Richard Corliss - 10:49 PM: @JP: I know you're speaking for Mr. and Mrs. America, and all their antsy kids; but if the Grammmys can showcase I'm-still-alive Robert Plant, and the Super Bowl hand its halftime to musicians from the 60s and 70s, I figure the Oscars can pay a very belated tribute to Jerry Lewis.

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Kate Betts - 10:47 PM: What if: Jerry Lewis showed up in Phillip Seymour Hoffman's cap?

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James Poniewozik - 10:45 PM: By the way, no disrespect to Jerry Lewis, or Hollywood's various film and sound editors, etc., but we are currently into, in sports parlance, garbage time. It's built in to the show, and everyone knows when it's coming. I wonder why you don't see networks more aggressively counterprogramming the 10:00 hour... or at least 10:02 to 10:55 or so?

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Richard Corliss - 10:43 PM: Here comes what should be the night's big drama: Jerry, banished from the Oscars after the infamous 1959 telecast (see my TIME.com story today) finally getting a life achievement award — not for his movie work, but for the MD telethon. Let's see if he chastises the Academy

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James Poniewozik - 10:44 PM: Sorry, humanitarian award. But you get le point.

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James Poniewozik - 10:42 PM: And now Jerry Lewis gets his lifetime achievement award. Joe the Plumber was right: we elected Obama, and America turned into France.

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Richard Corliss - 10:37 PM: Nobody's watching now, but the guys in these categories (especially FX) are the industry's unsung geniuses: they bring exscitement and artistry to the movies you, the mass audience, pay to see. Resul Pookutty, winner in Sound Mixing for SLUMDOG, cues the evening's second real moment as he's overcome with humility and pride.

The Editing Oscar often goes to the movie that moves the fastest: vigorous pace, rapid cuts. SLUMDOG was a cinch here. (Did I vote for it on the magazine's Oscar ballot? I forget.)

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James Poniewozik - 10:32 PM: Is the set they're using to give out the technical awards supposed to look like a soundstage or something? Because where I'm sitting, I'm seeing: barn with plasma screens.

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James Poniewozik - 10:27 PM: Will Smith, an actual big movie star, introduces Visual Effects, the category for films that are still making the case to people that they should see movies in movie theaters. Maybe they should do this category last and do Best Actress and Best Picture in the slow part before Jerry Lewis' award.

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James Poniewozik - 10:26 PM: @RC: Or just go all in and have Nathan Lane and Idina Menzel co-host.

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Richard Corliss - 10:25 PM: The Special Effects montage: it's like a movie broke out at a temperence meeting. Even a SPEED RACER clip! (I don't care what you thought of the movie, it's a crime that it wasn't nominated in this category.) BEN BUTT earned the Oscar, though — a bookend to the film's Makeup award.

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Kate Betts - 10:24 PM: And Phillip Petit!

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Richard Corliss - 10:22 PM: OK, so among People Who Should Host the Oscars we now have Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Beyonce, Bill Maher and the Judd Apatow gang. Pretty much anyone but Hugh Jackman?

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Richard Corliss - 10:21 PM: Best Documentary to MAN ON WIRE, completing the film's clean sweep of critics and industry awards — maybe two dozen. Balancing the statuette on his chin, Philippe Petit joins Jack Palance as a winner of the Physical Shtick prize. The kick for me, though, was seeing Werner Herzog, for 40 years one of the world's great and obstinate filmmakers, with an Oscar nomination and a tuxedo.

SMILE PINKI no surprise for Doc Short: a young Indian girl born with a cleft palate gets an operatiion that makes her prettier and restores her sense of self. Well deserved.

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Richard Corliss - 10:21 PM: Heath Ledger gets his posthumous award, America and Hollywood get their closure. It seems bizarre to be reviewing someone's eulogy to a loved one, but the acceptances were simple and appropriate—a nice corrective to some of the overexcited coverage after Ledger's death.

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James Poniewozik - 10:17 PM: More acceptance speech magic tricks!

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Kate Betts - 10:16 PM: Love this guy! He should be hosting the Oscars!

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Kate Betts - 10:16 PM: I thought Man On Wire was the best movie of the year. Good for them!

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James Poniewozik - 10:14 PM: Am I allowed to say that Bill Maher's joke about following Heath Ledger's family was funny? And that it's a kick to see him--after getting booted off ABC post-9/11--onstage at the network's biggest show putting down God? If there were a God, that would be divine irony.

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Richard Corliss - 10:13 PM: With eloquent simplicity, Heath Ledger's family accepts his award for Best Supporting Actor as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT. Shots of the stars in the audience show they can be moved by something other than career-sibling rivalry. Lovely all-round.

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James Poniewozik - 10:11 PM: Heath Ledger gets his posthumous award, America and Hollywood get their closure. It seems bizarre to be reviewing someone's eulogy to a loved one, but the acceptances were simple and appropriate—a nice corrective to some of the overexcited coverage after Ledger's death.

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Kate Betts - 10:05 PM: Phillip Seymour Hoffman's look: mad cap.

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James Poniewozik - 10:03 PM: @RC: I did once hear the alter-kocker appeal of American Idol described as: "The music of yesteryear... performed by today's young people!" I guess that would apply to this Oscar show too. The difference being that Idol was until recently growing in the ratings and has a recent history of selling CDs, whereas the Academy Awards...

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James Poniewozik - 10:00 PM: Somewhere in America, there's a 90-year-old gay Beyonce fan who loved that show-tunes medley.

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Richard Corliss - 9:59 PM: Look, if you hire the producer and director of DREAMGIRLS to put on the Oscar show, they're gonna put on a freakin' Oscar musical show. Also note that the musical tribute was staged by Baz Luhrmann. Wasn't his STRICTLY BALLROOM the Aussie forebear to DANCING WITH THE AMERICAN IDOL?

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Kate Betts - 9:59 PM: I really don't want Baz Luhrman to make a remake of The Great Gatsby, especially after that number.

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Kate Betts - 9:58 PM: Agreed. Oh of course, blame it on Baz Luhrman.

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James Poniewozik - 9:58 PM: The musical is back! Next up, vaudeville! This was a seriously bizarre musical bit.

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James Poniewozik - 9:57 PM: I had always wondered what Mamma Mia would sound like performed by the Notre Dame Marching Band.

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Kate Betts - 9:57 PM: My kids are going to freak out that they missed the Highschool Musical moment.

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Kate Betts - 9:56 PM: It happens thast I LOVE musical theater. (Homophile liberal New Yorker.) But one Tony ceremony a year is plenty.

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Kate Betts - 9:56 PM: Richard do not take the easy way out.

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Kate Betts - 9:55 PM: Beyonce is mad cap! Zany! Crazy!

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Richard Corliss - 9:54 PM: @ Kate: that's easy. Any 10 tuxedos worn by Cary Grant.

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Kate Betts - 9:53 PM: Top ten this, top ten that. Quick, which are the top ten tuxedos, Richard?

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Richard Corliss - 9:52 PM: The Short Film award went to "Spielzeugland", the annual Holocaust film; or maybe just the first, if Kate Winslet in THE READER fulfills our magazine's cover line that she's alreadcy won Best Actress. The prize is presented by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whom Seth Rogen refers to as "the first DP ever to present on the show." "No!" the home audience says in astonishment. The show is getting more and more like a private industry roast.

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James Poniewozik - 9:48 PM: Speaking of the Rogen/Franco bit... Given that the Oscars are supposedly a marketing platform for movies (or movies on DVD), this is an interesting test: will America most want to see the movie with the gay kissing, the Holocaust movie or the movie where the dude gets money stapled to his face?

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James Poniewozik - 9:46 PM: Loved the Pineapple Express skit. I will never look at The Reader the same way again. If I ever end up watching The Reader.

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Richard Corliss - 9:43 PM: Kate, you're a world-class sprinter and this is a marathon. No, you're a marathoner and this is the Bataan death march, in tuxedos.

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James Poniewozik - 9:40 PM: Good to see Jessica Biel having drawn getting-ogled-by-nerds-at-the-tech-awards duty this year. I was wondering why she was getting movie-star treatment on the red carpet.

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Richard Corliss - 9:40 PM: Reader correction: SLUMDOG has already won two Oscars, for Cinematography AND adapted screenplay.

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Richard Corliss - 9:37 PM: Last night's Indie Spirit show had a Joaquin Phoenix AND a Christian Bale present Best Documentary. For those who don't watch, the Spirits are like the Oscars if they were done on HBO: looser and R-rated. Penelope Cruz sais she was "told it was was important to say what you want and to swear a lot." And then Mickey Rourke did a five-minute acceptance speech, unreproduceable here, that was Lenny Bruce channeling Jake LaMotta.

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Richard Corliss - 9:35 PM: Anthony Dod Mantle takes Cinematoggraphy for SLUMDOG's first Oscar — of, I'd surmise, six.

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Kate Betts - 9:35 PM: This is getting very long.

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James Poniewozik - 9:33 PM: Nice Joaquin Phoenix bit--are we still waiting for the Christian Bale gag or did I miss it?

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Richard Corliss - 9:32 PM: Re BIG LOVE, I keep saying: I LOVE blogging with Kate and Jim, I love watching the Oscar show, movies are my life. It keeps the schaden down, the freude up.

Second awards show in two nights (after the Independent Spirit thing last night) with a Joaquin Phoenix impersonator.

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James Poniewozik - 9:29 PM: Whoops. Was just notified that I referred to Daniel Craig below as Clive Owen. I believe he was playing Clive Owen, however.

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Richard Corliss - 9:29 PM: A montage of kissing, hugging and dancing — three things you don't see much of in movies, but lots of on TV. Maybe the producers are onto something: trying to appeal to the home audience — if they're still watching.

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James Poniewozik - 9:25 PM: Amanda Seyfried! Oscar just keeps giving me excuses to make Big Love references. Tonight's is an excellent episode, by the way, if anyone's wondering.

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Richard Corliss - 9:23 PM: Best Makeup: BENJAMIN BUTTON, which was part terrific makeup for Brad Pitt, and big part the FX magic of pasting Brad's face on the skulls of six anonymous actors.

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Kate Betts - 9:21 PM: The Duchess deserves best costume. Keira Knightly should get a special award for her posture. She carried those costumes beautifully.

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Kate Betts - 9:19 PM: Dior designer John Galliano. He can really build a dress.

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Richard Corliss - 9:17 PM: Art Direction, the first who-gives-a-poop award, goes to BENJAMIN BUTTON. The movie was nominated for 13 awards — will it win more than three teeny ones?

Costume Design to THE DUCHESS, the only real costume drama in the bunch. In fact, the costumes WERE the drama: Would they stay on Keira Knightley's slim frame?

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James Poniewozik - 9:17 PM: Clive Owen notes that Revolutionary Road recreated a suburbs that "looked nothing like the prison that they really were." Speaking as a committed city-dweller, you gotta love Hollywood group-think. Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Home Viewer? Your kids are fat, too!

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James Poniewozik - 9:17 PM: @Kate: And the Oscar for Best Structural Engineering goes to...

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Kate Betts - 9:16 PM: She will not fall out of that dress, sorry.

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Richard Corliss - 9:11 PM: WALL-E for Best Animated Feature. I'll bet Tuned In Jr. is four for four.

First real test of the evening: Animated Short goes to LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES, which despite the title is Japanese — and the most morose of a lively lot. Check out OKTAPODI on iTunes, folks: funny, gorgeous and 2-1/2 mins. long.

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James Poniewozik - 9:10 PM: Short animation: Best acceptance ever.

New rule: all winners must accept in a language they do not speak.

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Richard Corliss - 9:07 PM: @JP: Yes, but I get to blog with you and Kate. My schadenfreude is heavy on the freude - thanks to DVR.

Oscar animation montage: peppy, facetious, reductive. Do you think including a clip from WALTZ WITH BASHIR would have broken the mood?

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Kate Betts - 9:09 PM: Aniston looks angry.

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James Poniewozik - 9:07 PM: Also--if you get the Dreamworks/Pixar joke--nice to see Jack Black cheering the defeat of his own movie.

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James Poniewozik - 9:05 PM: Funny Dreamworks/Pixar joke. I'd love to know how many of the home audience know which movies Dreamworks made and which ones Pixar has.

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James Poniewozik - 9:04 PM: @RC: What about the sentimental liberal Mormonphile in you? You're missing Big Love!

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Richard Corliss - 9:03 PM: It's the old showbiz mistake of playing to the room — the overage, Broadway-loving, inside-joke-telling Academy membership — instead of to the vast audience the Oscars once had.

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Richard Corliss - 8:59 PM: MILK writer Dustin Lance Black's acceptance speech, about being a gay Mormon kid, did get to the liberal sentimental homophile in me. Oops, sorry — america's not supposed to know that everyone in the news media is like that.

Simon Beaufoy for Adapted Screenplay, SLUMDOG: I think every Oscar ballot in America is 3 for 3.

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James Poniewozik - 8:58 PM: I'm going to steal a thought just emailed by our editor, Josh Tyrangiel: why aren't Steve and Tina hosting? Or for that matter, Ricky Gervais? The point being: yeah, they're movie awards, but once you allow the awards to be broadcast, it is a TV show. TV people are best at doing TV shows—not movie people, not theater people.

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James Poniewozik - 8:54 PM: Thank you, Tina Fey and Steve Martin. The screenwriter intro pays honor to the nominees while, you know, actually giving a thought to entertaining the home audience that sees the movies and brings in the ad dollars. What a concept!

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Richard Corliss - 8:50 PM: I actually liked the idea of individual tributes to the Supporting Actresses. Though the trope may drag on when we get to Besty Achievement in Sound. "And you, David Parker (III); Michael Semanick; Ren Klyce; Mark Weingarten, you taught us that a BUTTON doesn't have to sound like a button."

Penelope Cruz very touching, especially in Spanish, as she accepts her 47th award for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA.

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Kate Betts - 8:53 PM: And Tina Fey is wearing Armani Prive...

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Kate Betts - 8:51 PM: Penelope Cruz looks beautiful. I take back my snarky earlier comment about her "wedding" dress.

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James Poniewozik - 8:48 PM: This show structure is really a strange concept for a mass-medium broadcast. It's actors talking about acting to actors—everything is focused within the room, without much sense of an outside audience.

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James Poniewozik - 8:45 PM: Is this a nomination announcement, or a filibuster?

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Kate Betts - 8:43 PM: Just say no to animal prints, Whoopi.

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James Poniewozik - 8:42 PM: Deep thought of the night. Like a dwindling communications medium, or the Republican Party, the Oscars is at an inflection point. Do you try to draw in new people, or cater to your existing true believers who already like you? This Oscars seems to have thrown in its lot with the later philosophy--aiming itself as people who love the idea of the Oscars and old-school Hollywood glamor.

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Kate Betts - 8:41 PM: Snafu: curtain flub.

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Richard Corliss - 8:40 PM: Schmoozing-ribbing the stars in the audience. After playing Peter Allen on Broadway, he's doing Don Rickles here.

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Kate Betts - 8:41 PM: It's very loungey, very intimate.

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Kate Betts - 8:40 PM: Mickey Rourke had his teeth redone for the event.

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Richard Corliss - 8:39 PM: At least Hathaway hit a high note, which the rest of the number didn't. The Oscars as a lounge act?

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Kate Betts - 8:39 PM: Actually, I am loving Hugh Jackman. Musicals always flourish in recession.

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James Poniewozik - 8:36 PM: Frost/Nixon Anne Hathaway bit: If you had seen this movie this song would be / slightly amusing / Instead of overlong / and simply confusing!

At least The Reader's song acknowledges that you probably haven't seen it--and gets around the thorny how-to-be-funny-about-The-Holocaust problem.

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Richard Corliss - 8:35 PM: Speaking for the movie-watching community, I'm already officially embarrassed. (As are the stars in the front row.) Joke songs about the top nominated films? That didn't work on last night's Independent Spirit awards, where they tributed the dognap drama WENDY & LUCY with a rendition of "The Bitch Is Gone."

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Kate Betts - 8:36 PM: Anne Hathaway changed. This set is weird.

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James Poniewozik - 8:34 PM: Props to Jackman's songwriters for including a line about how the Oscars don't nominate movies a lot of people see. Though I'm not sure the world was aching to see Jackman doing his Billy Crystal impersonation.

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James Poniewozik - 8:32 PM: Aussie host Hugh Jackman gets in his first New Zealand joke. Murray was right about these people! And just like they said on FOTC, their accent really is like the New Zealand one, except more evil.

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Richard Corliss - 8:32 PM: Hugh Jackman opener: Wolverine has an Australian accent! What character is HE playing?

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Kate Betts - 8:29 PM: I'm just glad that these ladies are wearing big gowns and big baubles. Angelina is a downer in black. Although her earrings are brilliant.

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James Poniewozik - 8:26 PM: The music director of the Oscars is holding forth about how his and David Rockwell's goal was to make the awards show like something out of the '30s. "What if Louis Prima were doing the Oscars?" Um, he might think: "Why isn't anyone younger than me watching this show?"

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Richard Corliss - 8:28 PM: Ryan Seacrest introduced Meryl Streep as having a record-shattering number of Oscar nominations. Also a record-shattering number of Oscar losses. The bride's mother in MAMMA MIA! and the Bride of Christ in DOUBT has been an Oscar bridesmaid for 26 years.

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Kate Betts - 8:23 PM: Meryl and her daughter Louisa looking very matching chic in...Armani? OMG Penelope Cruz dress, vintage Balmain, looks like a wedding dress. It probably is a wedding dress.

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James Poniewozik - 8:19 PM: @RC: And, of course, Slumdog's plot promotes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a Disney property in the U.S. Disney really does use every part of the buffalo.

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James Poniewozik - 8:19 PM: Everyone adores everyone - it's Hollywood, where there are more sucking noises than from a sump-hole vacuum.

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James Poniewozik - 8:18 PM: @KB: Amy Adams is a walking economic stimulus.

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James Poniewozik - 8:16 PM: The Patel-Pinto-Cyrus-Jonas connection IS getting much play. I hear hints of a SLUMDOG attraction at Disney World.

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Kate Betts - 8:18 PM: Those Slumdog kids are adorable. Chartm is back on the red carpet.

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James Poniewozik - 8:16 PM: "We're going to be seeing a lot more of you on this red carpet." Is Jess Cagle straight-facedly telling Miley Cyrus he expects to see her nominated for Oscars someday? Or is she taking over as ABC's preshow host after she's too old for Hannah Montana?

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Kate Betts - 8:17 PM: Amy Admas' necklace has 630 carats worth of emeralds, sapphires and rubies. in case you were wondering.

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James Poniewozik - 8:15 PM: @RC: I couldn't quite decipher Valentino's answer to Gunn, but I'm told the translation was: "Yes, many actresses have worn my dresses, and I am currently attending the Oscars."

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James Poniewozik - 8:13 PM: One of the Slumdog kids confessed a burning desire to meet Miley Cyrus tonight; Zac Efron said his most exciting star encounter was meeting Dev Patel. It is indeed a small world.

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Richard Corliss - 8:12 PM: Just learned that Valentino has designed dresses for 17 Best Actress winners. Mind you, his first was for Mary Pickford.

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Richard Corliss - 8:10 PM: Just learned that Valentino has designed dresses for 17 Best Actress winners. Mind you, his first was for Mary Pickford.

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James Poniewozik - 8:06 PM: Tim Gunn tells Brangelina they are "the most glorious couple on the red carpet." Moments ago, he told Amy Adams, "no one could be look fabulous than you." Which is it, Mr. Gunn? Which is it!

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Richard Corliss - 8:06 PM: Look at Matthew Broderick — alas, eternally young no more. He could be in FX makeup for a bio-pic on Sen. Chuck Grassley. How does one go so quickly from cherub to coroner?

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James Poniewozik - 8:05 PM: Taraji P. Henson is positively bubbly. It's always fun to see someone who seems genuinely delighted to be doing the red carpet rather than doing the Stations of the Cross.

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James Poniewozik - 8:01 PM: My Lord—Robin Roberts has the biceps of a prizefighter. Kudos to ABC for getting Tim Gunn to do fashion commentary. After Jay Manuel on E!, it's like going from correspondence school to a graduate seminar.

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Richard Corliss - 8:00 PM: Robert Downey Jr. confirms he wants Mickey Rourke to be in the IRON MAN sequel: STAPLE MAN.

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James Poniewozik - 7:57 PM: Babs caps off the evening by commanding Hugh Jackman to do a lap dance for her. It's going to be an interesting evening. I've never liveblogged a show while suffering the effects of trauma-induced blindness before.

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Richard Corliss - 7:57 PM: Winslet is wearing her Hanna Schmitz hair from THE READER. If Hanna had been invited to the annual Reichstag Fire ball, you might have looked as good as this.

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Richard Corliss - 7:55 PM: Rourke now a cinch to win: he's a brute, he's done Barbara Walters and he has someone to dedicate the Oscar to - his dog Loki, who died last week.

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Kate Betts - 7:52 PM: Kate Winslet looks Grace Kelly gorgeous.

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James Poniewozik - 7:48 PM: Code Red: cameras are in full-on track-Brangelina mode. So far, she has yet to heal the lame with her touch, but the evening is young.

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James Poniewozik - 7:41 PM: Subjects avoided explaining to the Tuned In Jrs. so far this evening: my Seth Rogen weed joke, Anne Hathaway's reference to her parents' sex life, and now, on Barbara Walters, every aspect of Mickey Rourke's life. The Mickster on the possibility of winning an Oscar: "You can't eat it, you can't f___ it, and it won't get me into Heaven." And... time for bed, children!

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James Poniewozik - 7:37 PM: Best line so far of the night. Evan Rachel Wood on Seacrest's weirdly long tangent about her perfume: "You shouldn't know that much about it, Ryan."

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James Poniewozik - 7:35 PM: Ron Howard issues another we're-almost-probably-I-think-going-to-maake-an-Arrested-Development-movie declaration. Somebody find Michael Cera in the crowd and force him to sign, already.

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Richard Corliss - 7:31 PM: The Mick said that, if Sean Penn won, "I'll clap my ass off." An image out of SOUTH PARK: a clapping ass.

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Richard Corliss - 7:30 PM: If Harry Dean stanton is the Dorian Gray picture of Sean Penn, is Mickey Rourke the Dorian Gray pic of Harry Dean Stanton?

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James Poniewozik - 7:29 PM: @RC: Shorter Seacrest to Rourke--if you win, how insane will your speech be, and how much will you swear?

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Richard Corliss - 7:28 PM: @JP: If Harry Dean Stanton is the Dorian Gray picture of Sean Penn, then is Mickey Rourke the Dorian Gray picture of Dean Stanton?

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Kate Betts - 7:27 PM: I'm surprised so many actresses are thanking their stylists. Just shows you how powerful those stylists have become.

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Richard Corliss - 7:24 PM: If Harry Dean Stanton is the Dorian Gray picture of Sean Penn, then is Mickey Rourke the Dorian Gray picture of Dean Stanton?

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James Poniewozik - 7:22 PM: Seacrest compliments a svelte looking Seth Rogen on his weight loss, apparently for a role. Which is even more of an achievement when you consider the extent of the munchies he much have to resist.

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James Poniewozik - 7:18 PM: @Richard: Since I know you'd rather be watching Big Love tonight, I should point out--put a bolo tie on Sean Penn tonight, and he would be Roman Grant.

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James Poniewozik - 7:15 PM: Tuned In Jr.s' review of Melissa George's gown: "She looks like she's wearing a tutu on the bottom."

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Richard Corliss - 7:10 PM: Re The Jonas Bros.: the Oscars now appeal to two demographic groups: eight and 80. Just no one in between.

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James Poniewozik - 7:10 PM: Barbara Walters is talking to the Jonases about dealing with sexual temptation. LA LA LA I AM NOT LISTENING I AM NOT LISTENING

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James Poniewozik - 7:06 PM: Meanwhile, on ABC, Barbara Walters kicks off her Oscar special with... fellow Disney properties the Jonas Brothers! It's official: the Oscars are now the Kids' Choice Awards.

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Richard Corliss - 7:07 PM: @JP: Maybe Dev Patel and Freida Pinto have been assigned to the p-re-pre-show, but doesn't she have a glamour that is either ready-for-Hollywoof or already beyond it? And hasn't Patel made such a nifty talk-show impression as the funny, eager, unspoiled young guy that, if the Academy members had got to know him earlier, they might have voted him a Best Actor nomination?

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James Poniewozik - 7:00 PM: Jay Manuel is having trouble getting the video playback to sync up with the Glamastrator as he tries to annotate Heidi Klum's dress and jewelry. Tuned In Jr. is absorbed by the drama "Pause it!" he yells at the screen.

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James Poniewozik - 6:56 PM: Interesting that, despite having 10 Oscar nominations, Slumdog Millionaire's cast and crew are being hustled down the carpet as fast as possible before primetime.

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James Poniewozik - 6:55 PM: Best-dressed person of the night so far, according to the Tuned In Jrs.: the Oscar statue. "He looks like C-3PO!"

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James Poniewozik - 6:46 PM: Adorable, and challenging, interview with Ryan Seacrest and the kids of Slumdog Millionaire, some of whom do not speak English. Fortunately, talking to Paula Abdul every week is excellent practice.

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Kate Betts - 6:45 PM: Isn't that Mickey Rourke's official duty?

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James Poniewozik - 6:45 PM: Love the E! promo for a Very Special Episode of The Girls Next Door.

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James Poniewozik - 6:45 PM: @Kate: It's gorge. And practically doubles as body armor.

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Kate Betts - 6:43 PM: @Jim: that is MAJOR vintage jewelry from Fred Leighton from the 1950s.

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James Poniewozik - 6:41 PM: Mrs. Tuned In asks when we're going to get our annual early Sally Kirkland appearance. We need someone to bring the crazy. Gary Busey can't do it all by himself!

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James Poniewozik - 6:39 PM: @Kate: speaking of neck bling, what's that on Amy Adams? Don't know how expensive it is, but she looks like something from an Inca carving.

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Kate Betts - 6:39 PM: Major, major vintage Fred Leighton necklace on Taraji Henson. 1950s kind of bib. Wow. This is not low-key, folks.

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James Poniewozik - 6:37 PM: Kevin Kline is as charming and funny as ever. And apparently is now Mark Twain. Why didn't he go for the string tie?

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James Poniewozik - 6:31 PM: First Miley Cyrus, now Zac Efrom and Vanessa Hudgens. Oscar understands who the real stars are. Forget Hugh Jackman--next year have the Jonas Brothers host!

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James Poniewozik - 6:30 PM: E! unveils the Startracker, technology that allows them to aerially pinpoint any celeb on the red carpet. Will later use it to destroy Marisa Tomei from space.

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James Poniewozik - 6:28 PM: I think the E! crawl actually assumes a higher level of viewer literacy than the cable news channels'. There are complete sentences!

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James Poniewozik - 6:21 PM: E! hostess tells Jackman, "If anyone can do it [host the Oscars], you can do it." By the symmetric property of equality, doesn't that mean, "if you can do it, anyone can do it"? In any case, it will do American TV audiences good to see an Australian actually speaking with an Australian accent.

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Kate Betts - 6:21 PM: Kevin Klein and Phoebe Cates arriving. Love her hair jewelry, very chic.

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James Poniewozik - 6:18 PM: Commercial break. Very sweet that someone thinks the Hugh Jackman stint actually means there's a chance someone will buy the DVD of Australia.

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Kate Betts - 6:13 PM: She looks like she's having trouble moving it around. Like a big prom dress.

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James Poniewozik - 6:10 PM: Tuned In Jr. spotted Hannah Montana (a show he doesn't watch--wrong chromosome) and says I should mention how much her dress weighs. I didn't catch that factoid, but he says it was "about 120, 112 pounds." Which it certainly looks like--it's half gown, half chainmail.

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Kate Betts - 6:07 PM: Kate Betts here live blogging from CNN's Oscar lounge in Los Angeles. Miley Cyrus in very grown up beaded giwn and Virgina Madsen arriving in bold red strapless, very geometric. Miley looks like she is wearing Chanel Couture. Very grown up and romantic, read: not trashy.

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James Poniewozik - 6:03 PM: Hi, all. It's James Poniewozik, Time.com's TV critic and Tuned In blogger, and because I don't spend enough of my year blogging about Ryan Seacrest broadcasts, I'm kicking off my liveblogging with E!'s red-carpet show. I'm joined by Mrs. Tuned In and, until their bedtimes, the Tuned In Jrs., who have already seen a great deal of age-inappropriate material on the E! pre-show.

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Kate Betts - 5:34 PM: Nancy O'Dell arriving very early in a big drama gown complete with train and the very trendy one-shoulder look. Will this be a harbinger of more drama to come on the red carpet? I hope so. Personally I don't want a low-key Oscar red carpet.