Without all the formalities of timed speeches, overzealous attire constraints, awkward teleprompter reads, and a presentation finely shimmied down to a neat and tidy two hours, this year’s People’s Choice Awards provided a refreshing and gratifying inception to the entertainment awards season.
32nd Annual People's Choice Awards
Host Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show recovered from a shaky start full of stutters to please the crowd and the audience at home with his swift and impersonal emcee talent. Although not nearly as funny as some of the presenters and past hosts, Ferguson, still a relatively new face on CBS, seemed to get better as the telecast wore on.
Trading in elaborate musical performances for a simple opening from Jessica Simpson with her Dukes of Hazzard anthem “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,” (for which she won the award for Favorite Movie Song), the show went off with a good start and remained that way thanks to short commercial breaks and the exclusion of lesser and repeat awards. We could have done without the best hair and teeth awards handed out by Entertainment Tonight’s Laura Spencer and VH1’s Joel McKale’s unfunny wannabe satire in between segments, but they were thankfully short.
The ceremony presented 20-odd awards for television and film—most of which tend to go toward audience pleasers of the previous summer. This year was no exception with accolades for Wedding Crashers and Star Wars Episode III.
Fan favorite Jennifer Garner picked up two awards via satellite for Favorite Female TV star and for Alias. Johnny Depp also beamed in from the Caribbean to receive an award for Favorite Male Move Star. The fans seemed to love him even after he threatened to “weep or break into song.”
Sahara star and People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive Matthew McConaughey picked up an award for Favorite Action Star to which he proclaimed his now famous “just keep livin’” mantra to the tune of screaming fans up above.
Two new shows, My Name is Earl and Prison Break, were awarded affably for commendable first seasons while Everybody Loves Raymond continued to take undue awards after months of retirement. Winner for Favorite Actor in a TV Comedy, Ray Romano even acknowledged the inconvenience he puts on fellow nominees saying “We’ve been off the year for eight months. I just took pictures for a ‘Where are they now?’ special.” That and a fight with his two teenage sons to come up on stage with him made his speech surprisingly funny. Assuring a lifelong rift with both sons, Romano explained their refusal to enter the stage saying, “They’re thirteen now with girlfriends and body hair…they’re just too cool.”
There to shake things up a bit was comedian George Lopez who seems to have left his trademark lame Hispanic jokes behind in favor of edgy but undeniably funny rifts on audience members and himself. After announcing his newly found feminine mystique—since receiving a kidney from his wife last year—Lopez attacked winner Jessica Simpson quipping, “the producers wanted to apologize to Nick Lachey for not inviting him…but they already had enough seat fillers.” A close-up of Simpson, sandwiched firmly between her beloved mom and dad, compounded the shock as she nervously glanced around. “Is she laughing?” Lopez wondered and the crowd roared with a mix of boos and laughs. “Well, that makes up for Dukes of Hazzard.” He hadn’t really gone too far until he announced the winner for Favorite Female Actress in a Movie Drama, saying “this category honors three great actresses—Jennifer Aniston isn’t in this one is she?” The faux pas earned him nothing but jeers but his comedy routine certainly deserves some positive reception.
American fans vote via the Internet on pcavote.com and the winners are notified in advance. So anyone proclaiming surprise as they sashay up to the stage is lying. The process takes the surprise out of the telecast a bit as well because it’s painfully obvious who will win the award when he or she is the only celebrity present.
The People's Choice Awards
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