All eyes will be across the Pacific for the 83rd Academy Awards tomorrow morning. Star Movies is set to glam up the occasion locally, with a pre-Oscars breakfast gala (at 8.30am), hosted by VJs Lisa Selesner and Jason Godfrey, followed by the live telecast of the red-carpet event and award show, which will also air on TVB Pearl. This year's Oscars will feature a best-picture showdown between two clear favourites, The King's Speech and The Social Network. The British monarchy saga leads with 12 nominations, including acting honours for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. The buzz around The Social Network has only increased since its record-breaking United States release in October; box-office takes hit more than US$200 million worldwide. Also nominated for best picture are the psychosexual thriller Black Swan; boxing drama The Fighter; sci-fi blockbuster Inception; lesbian-family tale The Kids Are All Right; survival story 127 Hours; animated comedy-adventure Toy Story 3; the western True Grit; and crime thriller Winter's Bone; all-in- all a rounded representation of favourite Hollywood genres. The male-female dual-host format marks a first for the show. Actress Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries) will be only the third female to host the Oscars (Whoopi Goldberg hosted it in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002; Ellen Degeneres in 2007); and, at 28 years old, Hathaway is also the youngest. Her energetic co-host, James Franco, pulls double duty, having also been nominated as best actor for his role in 127 Hours. The last nominee to host the show was Michael Caine, in 1972, the year he won an Oscar nod for Sleuth. US President Barack Obama will likely be watching the show with his family in the White House's private theatre. For a glimpse of that and other rooms in the first family's Washington residence, tune in to Inside: The Obama White House (National Geographic Channel; tonight at 10pm). For this documentary, the media-savvy president granted access to his daily life, via his official photographer, Pete Souza, revealing key political and social situations - from giving speeches and hosting state dinners, to playing with Bo, the family dog. Speaking of Washington, there's never been a former covert agent more determined to get back into the good graces of the powers that be than Michael Westen of Burn Notice (above; Fox, starting Thursday at 9.50pm), an explosive and humorous spy drama that is returning for its fourth season. After last season's double-cross cliff-hanger, Westen is still out in the cold, albeit in sunny Miami. Things get further complicated when his motley crew, made up of explosives expert and on-off girlfriend, Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar; Scent of a Woman), former navy seal and best friend, Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell; The Evil Dead), and chain-smoking mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless; The State Within), is joined by Jesse Porter, a counter-intelligence agent Westen inadvertently burns in his quest to clear his own name. Westen begins to work for an agency called Management, headed by a man known only as Vaughn. Through leads provided by the murky organisation, Westen has a chance to get to the people who framed him, but only if he can outsmart Vaughn and his men in black. As ever, the series gives a good bang for your buck and the tongue- in-cheek spy tutorials built into each episode keep the aspiring operatives among us coming back for more.