I have spent much
of the last twenty years pretending the People’s Choice Awards do not exist.
Not because I don’t respect the people, but because mass consumption and my
field rarely coincide.
But after the
MTV Movie Awards starting giving nominations for TV – and after some of their
nominations and awards began to correlate with the Emmys – I realized it might
be worth giving at least a casual look at it.
As you’d expect it
still doesn’t have much correlation – until this year. Perhaps it is due to the
strike, perhaps it is due to the shifting tides of Hollywood, but there are
actually some nominees among most of the shows make me think either the people
are getting smarter or the critics are getting dumber,
Then again when you consider some of the major
movies nominated include Oppenheimer and Barbie which is expected,
and Killers of the Flower Moon and Asteroid City, which are not –
maybe the latter is true. Hell, the People were willing to give more room for Are
You There God? Its Me Margaret which is actually a choice the Oscars should
have made. They even nominated Natalie Portman and Charles Melton for May December
along with Margot Robbie. When the People’s Choice Awards make the Oscars
look bad…Well, one thing at a time. Let’s concentrate on TV.
THE COMEDY SHOW
OF THE YEAR
Abbott Elementary,
Ted Lasso, The Bear and
Only Murders in the Building. That’s actually not shocking. Saturday
Night Live isn’t either. I have to give them credit for nominated Never
Have I Ever which the Emmys have ignored as well as Young Sheldon. I
guess I can overlook And Just Like That…Asking for the People to nominate
Poker Face might too much.
DRAMA SHOW OF
THE YEAR
The Last of Us,
Grey’s Anatomy I
expected. Succession and The Morning Show? The people have good taste. Law
and Order: SVU and Grey’s Anatomy are still getting nominated by the
ASTRA’s. But give them credit for nominating Ginny & Georgia and Outer
Banks which people love but the Emmys don’t.
SCI-FI FANTASY
SHOW OF THE YEAR
You expect to
see Ahsoka and The Mandalorian here. Loki was nominated by
the Critics Choice Awards. Black Mirror is beloved by everybody and Ghosts
might actually get nominated for Emmys this year. Secret Invasion really
shows the pull of Marvel. Though I will give credit to them that they didn’t
nominated Obi-Wan Kenobi which puts them one better than the Emmys.
BINGEWORTHY SHOW
OF THE YEAR
Skipping the
reality shows, I’ll go with Jury Duty, Beef, The Crown and The Night
Agent. The last three shows I would not expect the People to consider
watching much less binge. Queen Charlotte has her favorites and maybe I
should watch Summer I Turned Pretty.
MALE TV STAR OF
THE YEAR
I imagine Steve
Martin must be thrilled to be getting the people’s love at this point – though again
this puts the People’s Choice one up on the Emmys. Kieran Culkin, Jason
Sudeikis and Jeremy Allan White are all magnificent, but let’s not kid
ourselves Pedro Pascal has this one down cold. Tom Hiddleston makes sense. Samuel
L. Jackson really doesn’t. I’ll let Outer Banks slide
FEMALE TV STAR
OF THE YEAR
And I have even
fewer notes. How can one complain about Selena Gomez (who again the Emmys
ignored) Quinta Brunson, Hannah Waddingham, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston
or Ali Wong? Mariska Hargitay has been an Emmy winner and I’ll let Rosario
Dawson take this because, honestly, I thought she should have gotten an Emmy
nod for at least two previous series.
COMEDY TV STAR
OF THE YEAR
Gomez, Martin,
Brunson, White, Sudeikis, Wong, Waddingham and Bowen Yang. The Emmys should do
this good a job.
DRAMA STAR OF
THE YEAR
Aniston,
Witherspoon, Culkin, Pascal, Hargitay and I figured Bella Ramsey would be hear
out of fairness. Ice-T probably should be getting a lifetime achievement award.
TV PERFORMANCE
OF THE YEAR
What would it
mean if Meryl Streep won this prize? Would she even show up?
This seems to be
more in the supporting wing, though there is a good group. Jon Hamm is here for
The Morning Show, Steven Yeun for Beef, Ayo Edebiri for The Bear, Billie
Eilish for Swarm, Storm Reid for The Last of Us (I guess Nick
Offerman and Murray Bartlet weren’t eligible) and honestly Matt Bomer for Fellow
Travelers is more than I would have dared hope for. I’ll let Queen
Charlotte go.
SHOW OF THE YEAR
Grey’s Anatomy
and SVU for the networks, Only Murders in the Building, Ted Lasso and
The Bear for comedies, The Last of Us for Drama and Saturday
Night Live. I think I can forgive Vanderpump Rules.
Honestly are the
people getting smarter? Saltburn is part of the acting nominees and Color
Purple is here for Drama. I realize that Cocaine Bear and Five
Nights at Freddy are among the nominees too and there are still whole categories
devoted to nominating Phase Five and Transformers. But maybe the people
do know something we mere critics don’t. Or maybe they’ve finally caught on to
how nice it is not to always have your intelligence insulted.
I’ll deal with
some of the awards later on and my predictions for SAG-AFTRA later this month.
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