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The 27th People's Choice Awards

January 7th, 2001

Awards season is underway and the starting pistol is sounded by the opening shot of the 27th Annual People's Choice Awards.The nominees list is below and we've highlighted the winners with "**".

The show tonight is hosted by King of Queens star Kevin James, who started the show off with some physical schtick aided by Ray Romano.

Ted Danson presented the first award of the night, Favorite Female Performer In A New Television Series. The winner was Bette Midler. Bette said that this has been one of the toughest experiences in her life, a comment she has made on several talk shows. She said she wouldn't have been able to handle the stresses of a weekly show without the great team behind it. Okay, Bette, Geena or Jessica: who'll still be on the air a year from now?

After enduring a little teleprompter mixup, Kevin James introduced the evening's next presenter, Roma Downey, who introduced the nominees for Favorite Male Performer In A New Television Series. Interesting to note that only one of the nominees hasn't already had their show cancelled. John Goodman, the winner, said that though the show was short-lived he had a hell of a ride.

Ray Romano then introduced the nominees for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture. The winner of that category was the Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro flick Favorite Comedy Motion Picture. Teri Polo accepted the award on behalf of the film's creators. They then showed a short pre-taped thank you from Ben Stiller.

Pre-taped segments? "How's that possible?" you say. Well, the People's Choice Awards have about as much suspense as a horror film that tells you when to cover your eyes. The nominees know before the show who the winners are and that's why the show is sometimes light on multiple nominees showing up. Many feel if they haven't won, why bother getting a tux?

NYPD Blue's Rick Schroeder then presented the award for Favorite Female Television Performer to Jennifer Aniston, who was very happy winning her first trophy. She said that she shared the award with the other Friends actors and joked that saying that wasn't part of her lucrative new contract. She also thanked her husband Brad Pitt.

The always classy Dixie Carter then came out to announce the winner for Favorite Drama Series. It's a tough category to decide but the audience favorite was once again ER. The cast thanked the people for their continued support and for giving them an hour of their time each week.

Wow, we're only 36 minutes into the show. It feels longer tonight.

Kevin James then introduced the next two presenters, Julie Warner and Paul McCrane, who presented the award for Favorite Television Comedy Series. The winner of that trophy was Friends, which gave Jennifer Aniston her second chance to go up on stage. She was joined by Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer, who did the thank you's. He joked that only three of the cast were there because they had spent the last three weeks voting them off the show as in Survivor.

The next presenters were Bobby Gillman and Mandy Moore who were there to do the duty of presenting the trophy for Favorite Musical Group Or Band to 'N Sync.

The Late, Late Show's Craig Kilborn was out next. He had a couple of good zingers. He said the PCA's were voted on by the people and then decided by the Supreme Court. He also said that they had happy news from Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones who announced that we'd soon be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet...as Michael was going to start dating again. After a taped bit blasting the category, he handed out the internet-voted award for Favorite Reality Based Television Program to Survivor. The show's producer, Mark Burnett, accepted the award and was joined on stage by several of the islanders whose names I have been able to forget after extensive therapy. Okay guys, now your 15 minutes of fame really are up. Really. Go away.

Christopher McDonald then presented the award for Favorite Motion Picture Star In A Comedy to Jim Carrey. Jim's pre-taped apology for not being there was composed of multiple clips of him apologizing for flubs on the Grinch set.

The boys of 'N Sync hit the stage again to present the award for Favorite Male Musical Performer. Nominee Garth Brooks performed his song from the movie Frequency. And surprise, surprise Garth didn't have to walk too far as he was the category's winner. Mentioning his relative absence from the scene recently, he thanked the public for their continued support.

The next presenter of the night was Kevin James' King of Queens co-star, Leah Remini. She handed out the second internet voted award of the evening for Favorite New Comedy Series. The winner was the David Letterman-produced Ed. Former Letterman producer Rob Burnett did the thank you's.

Charles Durning was out next to present the award for Favorite Motion Picture. The winner was The Green Mile which also won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture. Michael Clarke Duncan accepted the dual awards. Hopefully, he'll get a nomination next year for Best Performance by an Actor Sent to Accept an Award They Know They've Already Won, as he acted terribly surprised. Strangely, Duncan's acceptance speech sounded more like he won the two awards as opposed to being the guy thanking the people on behalf of the whole production.

Variety writer and PCA creator Army Archerd then introduced Dr. Frank Newport of the Gallup Organization who explained how the winners are chosen by a survey of a representative sampling of Americans.

Family Law's Tony Danza introduced the next internet-voted category, Favorite New Drama Series. The winner was the James Cameron creation Dark Angel. The thank you speeches were started off by the show's sexy star, Jessica Alba.

Kevin James then pointed out Mel Gibson's presence in the audience. He said that Mel appears in the current release What Women Want, while he appears in the upcoming What Women Settle For.

Back to handing out the trophies, West Wing's Bradley Whitford handed out the award for Favorite Female Musical Performer to Faith Hill, who was sporting a newer, shorter hairstyle.

Sandra Bullock, a frequent winner of the People's Choice Awards, was there to present the award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor and Favorite Motion Picture Actor in a Drama to Mel Gibson. Mel held up the two awards and said "Twins!". He said that the biz would soon be rained upon with awards but that these were more personal because they spoke of a relationship between the performer and the audience.

Last year's Comedy Actor winner, Adam Sandler, was the presenter for Favorite Female Actress. He joked that he was chosen because George Clooney was hungover, Matt Damon was at Pilates and Cuba Gooding Jr. couldn't find his cummerbund. The winner was Julia Roberts.

Julia joked that she loved making the film and not only "...because I had breasts for the first time."

As the show was about to run out of time (they don't let this one go over like the Oscars®) Army Archerd announced that Drew Carey was the winner of Favorite Male Television Performer without any fanfare or envelope.

Well folks, that's it for the People's Choice Awards for another year. Thank you for joining us. If you're up for another awards show, we'll be covering the American Music Awards tomorrow night.

And now the nominees and winners:

Favorite Male Television Performer

Favorite Female Television Performer

Favorite Male Performer In A New Television Series

Favorite Female Performer In A New Television Series

Favorite Motion Picture

Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture

Favorite Comedy Motion Picture

Favorite Motion Picture Star In A Comedy

Favorite Motion Picture Star In A Drama

Favorite Motion Picture Actor

Favorite Motion Picture Actress

Favorite Male Musical Performer

Favorite Female Musical Performer

Favorite Musical Group Or Band

Favorite Drama Series

Favorite Comedy Series

Favorite New Drama Series

Favorite New Comedy Series

Favorite Reality Based Television Program