ABC's Whit Johnson shares latest Oscars buzz from 'champagne carpet'

Hi there. Thank you so much for being with us. Listen, exciting weekend ahead. You are standing where I would typically say well on the red carpet, but that's not the case anymore, right? right, Katherine, it's good to be with you. Yes, the carpet is *** different color this year. It is not red, it is *** champagne carpet. They're calling it one of the several visual changes that you will notice. And as you can see the action is happening right now, I mean, you hear the trucks beeping up. We got the cherry pickers, they're adjusting the lights, they're adjusting the red curtains, they're literally rolling paint on the columns. So it is the behind the scenes action as. We speak right now, but we're very excited about our coverage coming up over the next few days. We've got *** big GMA three preview show tomorrow, some behind the scenes, some great interviews. Then over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be joined by my colleague Lindsey Davis and we'll be field anchoring Gma both days. And then on Sunday, of course, we have our big countdown to the Oscars multi hour broadcast, getting you ready for the big night. And then on Monday, Gma, Three, with the Post Oscars broadcast, we're going to break down the big winners and the special magic moments of the night. So it's *** lot to look forward to. And I'm really excited to bring you those stories so much going on and love *** good sneak peek behind the scenes there on the red carpet or champagne carpet. But listen, we know there are always controversies, there's the snubs, you know, the upsets. But what's the talk of the town heading into the big night? you know, I think this year, the question is going to be how do the Oscars rebound from, you know, the infamous Oscars slap from last year? And Jimmy Kimmel was very honest talking about it this morning saying, look, they're not going to ignore it, they're going to address it, but it's not going to be the focus of the show this year. So the question is, how do they make this come back? How do they present and entertain the audience? There are *** couple of other changes. on just the champagne carpet, but also about how they keep the audience engaged, they're going to bring back all of the categories into the live broadcast. That's something *** little bit different this year and it remains *** question to be seen. Can they keep the show to time? Does it go long? And Jimmy Kimmel was very open and honest joking about how they were going to manage that. So there are going to be some changes, but look, their folks, on the entertainment value of the Oscars this year trying to keep that viewing audience of millions of people watching at home engaged throughout the broadcast. Yeah, it'll certainly be fun to see Jimmy back on the stage. And so the entire best actor lineup is all first time Oscar nominees if I have that correct. That's really cool. Kind of *** breath of fresh air. Is that how folks are feeling Absolute. In fact, there are several story lines, not only all the best actor nominations, but really this is the Oscars of the first timers. All around 16 of the 20 acting nominations are all first timers, right? But then as you go down the line, there are some other great storylines here too. It's the comeback story people like Brandon Frazier, Hui Kan, people we haven't seen in *** while in the movie is making *** big splash in *** big way on the big screen. And then also Asian actors this year making up the most nominations in *** single year ever. So those are some of the storylines that we're following behind the scenes and some new faces and the great thing too. You talked about some of the some of the best picture nominations. It's *** good variety this year of big Blockbusters like Top Gun Avatar Elvis and then other more artistic films that perhaps you haven't seen, but maybe you will want to, as you learn more about it, So it's *** great variety. It's going to be *** fun event and we are excited about all the broadcasts that we have in the coming days. We hope you'll join us. Yes, my last question. I know you've done *** lot of preparation for this. So who are you pulling for? What film? So, I'm *** little bit torn. I got to be honest, in the best picture category, everything everywhere all at once is certainly *** favorite. That's one of my favorites in terms of creativity and creativity and things that I've never seen before. But, you know, I'm like an average Joe who likes to go to the movies with his family and I love Top Gun. I loved avatar. So I'm going to have to say for me, it's three way tie in that category? But as far as the acting nominations, Kui Kwan is somebody I'm following very closely and I'm really rooting for. I grew up on the goonies. He played Data. I loved Indiana Jones and I loved watching his acceptance speeches so far at the Golden Globes Sag Awards and others just talking about how he's. persevered. Here's *** guy who never gave up and felt like he constantly was fighting for the opportunity to come back into the movies. So he's somebody I'm definitely cheering for and he's *** favorite to win. So we'll have to wait and see on Sunday. Yes, I love that storyline. Whitt. Thank you so much for being with us. Have fun out there. We'll be watching on Sunday Great. Thanks so much. We'll see you then.