In honor of tonight’s Oscars, Theatre In The Park is hosting a big Oscar Night Gala. The Master of Ceremonies will be Larry Stogner and the Host will be Ira David Wood III. Tickets are $50, ($100 for VIP)

• Red carpet arrival with paparazzi photo.

• Catered buffet dinner provided by The Angus Barn.

• Open bar provided by Mutual Distributing Company and Carolina Brewing Company.

• Watch the Academy Awards on one of Raleigh’s biggest screens.

• Take home a copy of the official Oscar Night program.

• Participate in a silent auction that includes a number of rarely available autographed Hollywood, Broadway and Sports items.

• Dress for the red carpet or come as your favorite movie star. Black Tie Optional.

• All proceeds benefit the theatre’s community arts and education programs.

Silent Auction Items Include:

Twilight Saga: New Moon Poster autographed by Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner

Celebrities from “The Full Monty” are expected to attend.

Channel 17 ran an informative crawl during last night’s Olympic broadcast. It regarded cable customers who get to their HD on NBC by literally tuning the TV to 17.1. If these viewers cannot get their TV to tune into the HD version of the Olympics, they should try rescanning their channels. Incidentally, this also applies for those periodically having trouble tuning their TV (not their cable box) to 5.1, 11.1, 50.1, etc.

When the TV runs its new channel scan, it will find the hidden channel to which Time Warner has newly assigned WNCN’s HD channel. (Periodically Time Warner will reassign the actual location in the bandwidth where some channels exist in order to get more efficient transmission. The cable boxes and CableCARDs do a fine job of detecting these new addresses, but QAM tuners, which people use when they tune in to 17.1, need to be manually remapped).

Tonight’s NCSU vs. Virginia Tech basketball game was originally scheduled for 7:00pm, as a non-TV event. Recently, though, the game was moved to 9:00pm in order for it to be carried on ESPNU. So don’t rush through dinner so you can show up at the RBC Center at 6:30, because they won’t let you in.

This game time, incidentally, coincides with tonight’s UNC vs. Duke game.

HDNet’s Art Mann, the former host of “Wild On”, will be on hand for this year’s Krispy Kreme Challenge. No word yet about how Mann wants to portray the event.

At 8pm WUNC will air the second installment of the Raleigh episodes of Antiques Road Show.

Tomorrow is the day for a new batch of channels on Time Warner Cable:

• History International HD (227)
• RFD HD (229)
• Showtime Showcase HD (445) 
• Showtime Extreme HD (456) 
• MoreMax HD (435) 
• ThrillerMax HD (437) 
• Blue Highways (134)

A couple of weeks ago, on December 16, TWC added three channels:

• Logo (128)
• NBA-TV HD (335)
• HD Movies on Demand Titles in the Guide (1002-1009)

I am working on a story regarding TV services in the Raleigh area, and need the help of a Dish HD customer. Do any readers have this service or know someone who can help me? (email me privately, if you wish, to scoop at gogoraleigh dot com.)

Time Warner Cable is running a new ad campaign centered around rising cable channel costs. They ask customers to vote for them to “Roll Over” or “Get Tough” with TV networks by going to www.rolloverorgettough.com.

It is an interesting strategy for the company. Of course every vote for “Roll Over” is essentially a ticket to pay higher costs, which will ultimately get passed on to the customer. A vote for “Get Tough” gives the company an excuse should they start removing channels for which they are unable to negotiate.

TWC’s strategy is in all likelihood formulated and they are simply harvesting data to support their negotiation stance. Certainly the company wants to offer as many channels as possible in order to match competitors’ offerings. If there is a significant message of “Roll Over”, TWC will simply pass along the fees. If there is a “Get Tough” mandate, TWC can begin removing channels, but this is most likely not their target result. In fact this option is being framed in the campaign as the TV Networks “taking away“ your shows.

Hence, the biased presentation of the ballot. The “Get Tough” option features a fast-forward icon while the “Roll Over” option displays a rewind icon. We’re Americans, dammit! We want to move forward and be tough! Yeah, and that’s why Time Warner is trying to easily mine data that covers their fannies should they fail in negotiations.

The channel offerings that are set to expire soon are:

WNVN-TV, WHFL-TV, WGHP-TV, WLFL-TV, WRDC-TV, Great American Country, E!, Encore(East), Encore(West), Encore Action, Encore Love, Encore Mystery, Encore Drama, Encore Westerns, Encore Wam!, Food Network, Fox Reality, Fox Soccer, Fox Sports Espanol, Fuel, FX, Lifetime, Speed, Starz!, Style, truTV, TV Azteca.

Wow! We actually get those channels? You mean we get more than Palladia, ESPN-HD, ESPN2-HD, and ESPNU-HD? (outside of free OTA programming, these are the only channels I care about). Unfortunately a la carte cable TV will never be a service offered in the current system (a federal and local government that completely coddles the cable TV industry), so it looks like our choices lie with rolling over, standing up, or just simply switching to U-Verse or satellite (two other options that are coddled by the government).

I busy week, indeed. Let’s start with sports. The long-awaited, first-ever Thursday night football game for Chapel Hill begins at 8pm tomorrow night. Florida State and Erin Andrews (not necessarily in order of importance) are in town for a game that will be featured in ESPN. Plan accordingly, as traffic in Raleigh and RTP should be horrendous.

The other reason for traffic problems is the N.C. State Fair which ends on Sunday night. Today the Wake County Public Schools have an early release day, so there should be many students invading the fairgrounds. Tomorrow is can day, where entry is free for those with 4 cans of food for the needy. The remaining music acts are Julianne Hough, Anoop Desai, Jeremy Camp and Tenth Avenue North, Blake Shelton, and Eric Church.

The State Fair isn’t the only other draw for tens of thousands of people. Raleigh Wide Open begins Friday, and celebrates the grand opening of Raleigh’s new City Plaza. Delbert McClinton headlines the main stage of music, however more interesting, perhaps, is the Cherry Bounce stage, which is the culmination of a week-long local music series downtown. The series aims to get exposure for a mostly unheard of list of bands. Be sure to stop by the WTVD studios on Saturday afternoon for your chance to get on Wheel of Fortune.

The big stand along music event occurring this week is Queensryche at the Lincoln Theatre, tonight. However in the Greensboro Coliseum, rock gods AC/DC will play Sunday night. INto industrial? KMFDM is at the Cradle Monday night.

There is plenty of theater for the people this week, too. The Picasso Ballet performance by the Carolina Ballet continues at the Fletcher Opera Theater while NC Theater’s West Side Story production runs at Memorial Auditorium. Tonight David Copperfield will be at the DPAC, while the Carolina Crown II (wrestling theater) will take place at the RBC Center on Saturday night. NCSU alumnus, John Reep, the “Hemi guy” plays at Charlie Goodnights this weekend.

If all of that excitement isn’t enough, be sure to swing by the Raleigh Convention Center for the Junior League’s Shopping SPREE!, a seriously awesome event when shopping for things women like.

For more info on these events, check out the gogoraleigh Do-It Calendar. That’s a heck of a week! I can’t wait to get out there and DO IT!