You know what we don’t have enough of? Awards shows — especially ones that allow celebrities to be honored by non-celebrities. So thank goodness for the People’s Choice Awards, which allows Joe and Jane Q. Public to determine who are the best and brightest in pop culture this year. The PCAs don’t reward talent so much as those with the highest Q score, best PR machine or most Twitter followers.
To ensure that as many stars show up to the event as possible, the PCAs have over 40 categories, which range from generic (Favorite Competition TV Show) to overly specific (Favorite TV Crime Drama). This results in a nominees list that tends to be surprising and even downright odd. Here’s a deep dive into the weirdness that is this year’s People’s Choice Award TV nominations:
Everyone’s a winner in the “New TV comedy” and “New TV dramas” categories
Do you remember when you were a kid, and you’d receive a “participation” ribbon just for competing in a swim meet or a science fair? This category is kind of the same thing. Every single show that premiered this season was nominated for a PCA, which means that there are 10 nominees per category. Note to Dads and Dracula: this is the only nod you will ever receive. Live it up.
Favorite comedic TV actor nominees have something in common
Now here’s something interesting and kind of cool. All five actors nominated — Darren Criss, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons and Neil Patrick Harris — are either gay, portray gay characters or both. Okay PCAs, you’ve slightly redeemed your existence.
Network shows don’t have to fear getting pushed aside for cable
The People’s Choice Awards, seeming to understand how rarely network series get attention from the Emmys and Golden Globes, have gone to enormous lengths to make sure that network series get recognized here. This means that that categories are broken out into “Favorite Network TV Drama,” “Favorite Cable TV Drama” and even “Favorite Premium Cable TV Show.”
So not only does a show like Chicago Fire get thrown a bone for “Favorite Network Drama,” it doesn’t have to worry about being beaten out for an award by a critically beloved show like Homeland. Similarly, fan faves like Pauley Perrette (NCIS) and Stana Katic (Castle) will never ever be nominated for golden hardware, but in the PCAs, they’re considered frontrunners.
The segregation of network and cable series also means some bizarre nominations, like Pretty Little Liars facing off against Downton Abbey for Favorite Cable TV Drama. In what other universe would these two shows be nominated together? (Sidenote: Apparently, the people also think PBS is on cable.)
One of these categories is not like the other
The PCAs have a category called “Favorite Series We Miss Most,” but to go by the nominees — 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Fringe, and The Office — it’s like this is a category from the 2010 Emmy Awards that wandered off and got lost, and has mistaken the People’s Choice Awards as its home.
Sharknado vs. The Bible
No, this isn’t the name of a new Syfy movie starring Ian Ziering and Jesus. The two TV movies are squaring off against each other in “Favorite TV Movie/Miniseries” category. It might be the only category in which I’m genuinely intrigued to see who wins.
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