Entertainment

How To Watch The VMAs And 'Game Of Thrones' At The Same Time

by Anna Menta
HBO/Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

It's almost here. The television moment you've been waiting for all summer finally airs this Sunday night. Oh, wait, you thought I meant that one? No, I was talking about the other one. See, here's the predicament: Both the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and the Game of Thrones Season 7 finale are on this Sunday night. On the one hand, the VMAs are almost always a good time, full of drunken celebrity drama. But on the other hand, you can't just miss the Game of Thrones season finale. Ugh! Can someone please tell me how to watch the VMAs and Game of Thrones at the same time?

Well, you have a few options. First of all, if you live on the West Coast, there's not actually a problem here. The VMAs will air live this Sunday at 5 p.m. PT on MTV. Assuming the VMAs don't last more than four hours (and I am praying for that), you'll still have plenty of time to catch the unnamed Game of Thrones finale when it airs at 9 p.m. on HBO.

But for those of us living on East Coast time, there's a little problem. Sure we can catch the first hour of the VMAs from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET on MTV, but when has anything exciting ever happened in the first hour of an award show? They always save the good stuff for the end! If Taylor Swift is going to make a surprise appearance, it's definitely not going to be before 8:55.

MTV

So what can you do? Well, if you have access to HBO and MTV as part of your cable package, MTV will be streaming the VMAs via MTV Live (you need to sign in with your cable provider and/or bribe someone who pays for cable to give you their login). So this way you can have HBO on your TV and the VMAs on your computer. Alternatively, if you usually watch Game of Thrones through HBO Go on your computer, just switch — have MTV on your TV and Game of Thrones in your lap. (By the way, if you don't have HBO or MTV, sorry, I can't help you.)

If you're not so keen on dividing your attention between Katy Perry antics and Westeros politics, then I hate to say it, but you're going to have to make a choice. My advice is to watch the VMAs from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., then take a break at 9 p.m. to find out if Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow have sex. The episode clocks in at 82 minutes, so you should still be able to catch the last 40 minutes or so of the VMAs when GoT is over. And yes, you'll probably miss some VMA drama, but those clips will be on YouTube. Wouldn't you rather be a little late on your VMA tweets than have the Game of Thrones season finale totally spoiled? At least this way you can still check your Twitter. Man, this is going to be the most stressful Sunday ever.