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1998
People's Choice Awards
Written
By Rick Ellis, January 11th, 1999
Are
you people insane?
I'm not one of these media elite types, who has nothing but scorn
for the average American, but I swear I'd be hard-pressed to support
your opinions now.
The People's Choice Awards have always been a bit flaky. Winners
know they've won before the show, which is the only reason the
thing gets any stars at all. Celebrities will turn down accepting
an award just about as frequently as Madonna will turn down a
tanned and single Latin poolboy.
But explain some of these winners to me...."Female Performer in
A New Series"...Christina Applegate? Nathan Lane wins for "Male
Performer in a New Series"? Jesse ties with Will And
Grace for "Best New Comedy Series"? Are you people insane!?!?
As for the show itself, it was usual mix of odd and unsettling.
Host Ray Romano did a great job of keeping the show moving, and
wisely didn't do a monologue. He did do several little bits, and
the one with Brad Garrett (who costars with him in Everybody
Loves Raymond) was hilarious. And anytime you're using Kenny
Rogers to deliver your punchline, you're in one peculiarly warped
bit.
But there were a lot of little nagging things. The CBS cameras
seemed obsessed with CBS stars such as Faith Ford, and whatever
small amount of suspense there was ended up being destroyed after
a couple of minutes. It wasn't hard to pick up on the fact that
the only people performing were the ones who were destined to
win their categories.
Otherwise, there were only two interesting moments in the show.
When E.R. won, Anthony Edwards brought on stage with him all of
the "lesser" cast members who appear every week on the show, but
don't get billing or much press. And Tom Hanks used his awards
speech to press for donations for the the planned Washington D.C.
Memorial devoted to veterans of WWII.
Winners for most categories were chosen by a special Gallup Poll
representing 212 million Americans, ages 12 and older, rather
than by industry peer groups as with other entertainment awards.
All-time favorites were selected by a combination of polling and
Internet voting.
ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOTION PICTURE PERFORMER: Harrison Ford
ALL-TIME FAVORITE TV PERFORMER: Bill Cosby
ALL-TIME FAVORITE MUSICAL PERFORMER: Elton John
FEMALE PERFORMER IN TELEVISION: Helen Hunt
MALE PERFORMER IN TELEVISION: Tim Allen
FEMALE PERFORMER IN A NEW TV SERIES: Christina Applegate, of
Jesse
MALE PERFORMER IN A NEW TV SERIES: Nathan Lane, in Encore!
Encore!
NEW TV COMEDY SERIES:(tie) Jesse and Will And Grace
NEW TV DRAMATIC SERIES: L.A. Doctors
TV DRAMATIC SERIES: E.R.
TV COMEDY SERIES: (tie) Seinfeld and Frasier
FEMALE MUSICAL PERFORMER: Celine Dion
MALE MUSICAL PERFORMER: Garth Brooks
ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE: Tom Hanks
ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE: Sandra Bullock
COMEDY MOTION PICTURE: "There's Something About Mary."
DRAMATIC MOTION PICTURE: "Titanic."
MOTION PICTURE: "Titanic."
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