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This Year's 'People's Choice Awards' Won't Be Choice Viewing Live Like Before

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By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2008

Updated: 01/07/2008 07:22 pm

No red carpet. No fawning hosts. No celebrities. No gowns. No hairdos. No fashion faux pas. What kind of awards show is this?

"The 34th Annual People's Choice Awards" arrives at 9 tonight on CBS crippled by the writers strike, now in its ninth week.

The red carpet has been yanked, and host Queen Latifah will be doing her thing on tape.

The ceremony, which usually airs live, reportedly will featured prerecorded acceptance speeches as well as video profiles of the winners.

Actors and others involved in the entertainment industry were not expected to attend if the awards were live because they support the Writers Guild of America's strike.

The writers, who are seeking more compensation for DVD and online sales of their material, also are sitting out the Golden Globe Awards, which are scheduled for NBC on Sunday (and could be starless as well).

"The People's Choice Awards" are based on votes from the public and cover music, television and movies. As awards go, this one is not based on "art" as much as it is rooted in fan worship.

And some of the nominations are just goofy. For example, ABC's dreadful "Caveman" is among the nominees for favorite new TV comedy along with the equally stupid "Carpoolers."

Latifah is in the running for favorite leading lady along with Jessica Alba and Drew Barrymore. This is not to be confused with favorite female movie star, for which Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon are nominated.

Quick. Name a movie that Bullock starred in last year. I had to look it up, too.

Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis are nominated for favorite male movie star while Jamie Foxx, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Joaquin Phoenix are vying for favorite leading man.

There are also the favorite male and female action star categories.

In the running for favorite movie are "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Transformers." This category says volumes about the tastes of the people.

A new category this year is favorite threequel, and the nominees are "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Spider-Man 3." There also are nominees for favorite movie drama and favorite movie comedy.

Just about every new TV drama was nominated for favorite new TV drama. There are 13 nominees in this category.

The nominees for favorite TV comedy are slim: "Two and a Half Men," "The King of Queens" and "My Name Is Earl."

Up for favorite TV drama are "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "House" and "Law & Order: SVU."

"American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" are the picks for favorite competition/reality show.

"The People's Choice Awards," produced by Procter & Gamble, has been held annually since 1975, when "The Sting" won for best movie and lead actor awards went to Barbra Streisand and John Wayne. Winners were selected by Gallup poll until 2005, when online voters chose from among nominees selected by a panel.

For a complete list of nominees, see my blog (Walt TV on TBO.com).

CHANNEL FLIPPING: "One Tree Hill" returns to The CW tonight with episodes at 8 and 9. Amazingly, the story has jumped four years into the future. The young cast has finished college and is ready to go out into the real world.

•"Street Patrol," debuting at 8 tonight on WTTA, Channel 38, looks a lot like "Cops." It follows beat cops in various cities including Jacksonville. A second episode at 8:30 includes cops in Palm Beach County.

•CBS promises a new episode of "NCIS" at 8 tonight. And there are a new "According to Jim" at 9 on ABC and a new "Law & Order: SVU" at 10 on NBC. We have to savor this stuff while it lasts.

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