The 28th People's Choice Awards

Welcome to Digital Hit's coverage of the People's Choice Awards, a.k.a. the awards where the winners already know they've won and the losers usually don't show up. Just in case you don't know, the People's Choice Awards are based on a survey done by Gallup. The "nominees" aren't actually nominees, but rather the top three answers.

The host of the telecast is Kevin James from The King of Queens. He started the show off walking through the audience chatting with and pointing out various celebrities in their seats.

He did a little schtick about it being the people's night, so he gave out an autograph, made out with a guy's girlfriend, had a wrestling hold tested out on him, had a young boy spray him with pepper spray and took his pants off -- all because "the people asked for it."

Kelsey Grammer was the first presenter of the night. He was there to present Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series. The winner? Damon Wayans. Of course he's the winner, he was in the audience! Besides the usual suspects (agents, castmates, etc.), Wayans thanked his ex-wife for 19 wonderful years and four kids.

More schtick from Kevin who thanked Armani for helping him find a tuxedo in a "48 toddler". He then introduced a temp who explained how the internet voting worked for two of the categories.

Jill Hennesey and Miguel Ferrer were up to bat next, presenting the Favorite Male Musical Performer. The People's Choice Award went to Garth Brooks. He said that it never got old winning it.

Kiefer Sutherland quickly stepped up to present the next award. (This show is only 2 hrs as opposed to most shows which are 3.) The winner of Favorite Television Dramatic Series was ER, which was just gosh-darn surprising given the fact that most of the cast was there.

The District's Craig T. Nelson was the next presenter for the category Favorite Female Television Performer. The PCA went to Jennifer Aniston, who was in Sundance, but she taped her thank you...already holding the statuette.

Ellen Degeneres, who did a fantastic job hosting the Emmy Awards, was the next presenter. Ellen pointed out Julia Roberts in the audience and observed "Gee, I wonder if she'll win something?" She was there to present Favorite Male Television Performer which, she said, "...is not really my area of expertise." The People's Choice Award went to...a tie! The first winner was Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey congratulated the other winner, Ray Romano, before his name was announced. Ray was in the audience. (See how this works?) Ray introduced his two boys who were having their birthday today.

Melissa Joan Hart and Heather Paige Kent were out to present the Favorite Musical Group or Band award to *NSync. Oops. They haven't announced it yet, but three of the guys are there so let's go out on a limb. Chris thanked God for letting him perform with the other guys. The other guys thanked the people.

Two of the losers from The Amazing Race were there to present Favorite Reality Based Television Program. The Survivor cast is there so let's assume the winner is...Survivor: The Australian Outback. Their irritating producer accepted the award as did the winner, Tina Wesson. Can someone PLEASE cancel that show!

Tony Danza was the next presenter. He said the People's Choice Awards would like to pay tribute to the emergency workers and citizens for their heroism and dedication following the September 11th attacks. Following that he presented the award for Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Comedy. The winner was Eddie Murphy. He paid thanks via tape.

Susan Lucci presented Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series. The winner was...wait, a musical number from nominee Reba McEntire...think she's the winner? Of course she is.

Just as Ellen did at the Emmys, Kevin James came out wearing the swan dress that Björk wore at the Oscars. He said that this was actually an outfit that he wore all the time and they showed a taped segment of him golfing, in bars, and on the beach wearing it.

David James Elliot was the next presenter for the internet-voted Favorite New Television Comedy Series. Damon Wayans accepted for My Wife and Kids.

Jennifer Garner and her Alias castmates explained the PCA rules and then presented the award for Favorite Television Comedy Series. The award goes to Friends. Matt LeBlanc spoke on behalf of the cast and crew and thanked the fans.

The next presenter was Don Cheadle. He was there to present Favorite Motion Picture Actress to Julia Roberts. But let's wait for them to open the envelope first. The winner was Julia Roberts.

Kevin James then came out in a bear-like dress and introduced the next presenters, NYPD Blue's Garcelle Beauvais and Henry Simmons, to present Favorite Daytime Dramatic Television Series. The winner was Days of Our Lives. They cut to a shot of a beaming Julia Roberts, who loves the show and asked to be seated in front of the cast.

Variety columnist and PCA co-founder Army Archerd introduced the head of the Gallup organization to explain how the surveys were conducted.

The Agency's Paige Turco and Gil Bellows presented the internet-voted Favorite New Television Dramatic Series to Alias. The show's star Jennifer Garner accepted on behalf of the cast and crew.

Kevin said they were running short so he decided to play catch with Tony Danza.

The next presenter was Marisa Tomei. She was there to hand out Favorite Motion Picture. Smashmouth was there to sing "I'm a Believer" from Shrek so let's make a leap of faith and say they were the winner. Yep, of course it was Shrek. Sporting a shaved head, Mike Meyers was there to accept.

Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson were the last presenters of the night, handing out the award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor and Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama. The people's choice was Tom Hanks. He said he was a lucky man with a great job and singled out his two presenters, who have both appeared in films with him.

Just as the show was about to end, Kevin and Army announced that the winner of Favorite Female Musical Performer was Faith Hill.

And that's it for the People's Choice Awards for another year.

Nominees list:

Favorite Television Dramatic Series

• ER
• Law & Order
• The West Wing

Favorite Television Comedy Series

• Everybody Loves Raymond
• Frasier
• Friends

Favorite New Television Dramatic Series

• Alias
• Crossing Jordan
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Favorite New Television Comedy Series

• The Ellen Show
• My Wife and Kids
• Scrubs

Favorite Male Television Performer

• Drew Carey
• Kelsey Grammer
• Ray Romano

Favorite Female Television Performer

• Jennifer Aniston
• Calista Flockhart
• Oprah Winfrey

Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series

• Bob Patterson
  Jason Alexander
• Enterprise
  Scott Bakula
• My Wife and Kids
  Damon Wayans

Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series

• Crossing Jordan
  Jill Hennessy
• The Ellen Show
  Ellen DeGeneres
• Philly
  Kim Delaney
• Reba
  Reba McEntire

Favorite Reality Based Television Program

• The Real World
• Survivor: The Australian Outback
• Temptation Island

Favorite Daytime Dramatic Television Series

• All My Children
• Days of Our Lives
• The Young and the Restless

Favorite Male Musical Performer

• Garth Brooks
• Tim McGraw
• George Strait

Favorite Female Musical Performer

• Faith Hill
• Jennifer Lopez
• Britney Spears

Favorite Musical Group or Band

• *NSYNC
• Backstreet Boys
• Dixie Chicks

Favorite Motion Picture

• The Fast and the Furious
• Pearl Harbor
• Shrek

Favorite Motion Picture Actor

• Mel Gibson
• Tom Hanks
• Denzel Washington

Favorite Motion Picture Actress

• Sandra Bullock
• Jennifer Lopez
• Julia Roberts

Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Comedy

• Jim Carrey
• Eddie Murphy
• Ben Stiller

Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama

• Tom Hanks
• Anthony Hopkins
• Denzel Washington