Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

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The Kids' Choice Awards logo circa 1988.
The Kids' Choice Awards logo circa 1988.

The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards is an annual awards show, usually held in April, that honors the year's biggest television, movie and music acts, as voted for by the children who watch the Nickelodeon cable channel. The show features numerous celebrity guests, musical acts, and slime.

Contents

[edit] History

The awards have aired on Nickelodeon since 1988. In 1986, Nickelodeon produced a similar award show called The Big Ballot that was the inspiration for the Kids' Choice Awards. The Big Ballot allowed kids to vote with ballots from places like Toys "R" Us. Now, it is possible to vote online. The Kids' Choice Awards were created by Alan Goodman, Albie Hecht, and Fred Seibert.

[edit] Hosts

[edit] 1980s

[edit] 1990s

[edit] 2000s

[edit] Notes

¹For the 1996 show, Whitney Houston hosted from Universal Studios in Universal City, California while Rosie O'Donnell hosted via satellite from a New York Harbor cruise.

²For the 2000 show, Rosie O'Donnell was billed as the Master of Ceremonies. David Arquette, LL Cool J, Mandy Moore, and Frankie Muniz were each given the task to cover the four major categories (movies for Arquette, sports for LL Cool J, music for Moore, and television for Muniz). O'Donnell had a rather limited role as she mainly introduced Arquette, LL, Moore, and Muniz. As a result, all four of the individuals could be credited as co-hosts.

[edit] The Wannabe Award

The Wannabe Award is a lifetime achievement award that's presented annually at the Kids' Choice Awards. It's called The Wannabe Award because it's supposed to represent the best celebrity "role model" or inspiration (or the person for whom the kids want to be like). The Wannabe Award has been awarded since the year 2001 and replaced the Hall of Fame Award, which was first awarded in 1991. The Wannabe Award's color is silver whereas the regular awards are orange.

[edit] Winners

[edit] Mystery Slimed Celebrities

*Caught in crossfire

[edit] Controversy

Unlike other televised awards shows, the Kids' Choice Awards never says how it is determined which shows are nominated. Some choices make it hard to believe that "kids" had any say in the matter; for example, in 2003 and 2004, the only NFL team nominated for favorite sports team was the Miami Dolphins, and in 2006, after years of Tony Hawk winning the favorite male athlete award, no "extreme sports" athletes were even nominated.

The KCA voting method, online polling, has been criticized as opening the door for inaccurate and dishonest voting. Since the Nick.com website allows one to vote "Every time you visit Nick.com", it is possible for someone to vote tens to hundreds of times. Many feel that this opens the door for the use of computer programs to vote. As a result, it is believed by some that awards won may not be the actual "kid's choice", per se; rather, repeated voting by just a few people can turn the vote toward another celebrity, game, etc.

Also, since anyone who visits nick's website can vote, there is nothing to prevent adults from voting. Thus calling into question the legitimacy of it even being 100% kids choice.

Many allege that Nickelodeon may be rigging the votes so that a Nick actor, such as Romeo or Drake Bell, receives the award for best actor over a more-well known actor more deserving of the award. One particular instance in 2003 was when Mario Party 4 was seen by many as clear victor for the video game awards; however, critics alleged that Nickelodeon rigged the votes so that a game based on SpongeBob SquarePants, a Nick cartoon, would get the best video game award. Many believe, however, that SpongeBob's high ratings may have been the primary reason for its win, rather than a result of unfair practices by Nickelodeon. Also, it so happens that recently, SpongeBob has won favorite cartoon almost every year (similar to how Rugrats won every year between 1996 and 2001). Also for favorite cartoon, there are two or three Nicktoons are on the list. The Simpsons and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy are examples of shows that were nominated but never won because of Nicktoons (although The Simpsons did win one time). Some believe it's natural Nicktoons always win, because most people who vote are Nickelodeon watchers and beside Disney Channel shows and stars also win and that's a sign the show isn't rigged.

Many have criticized the show for containing stereotypically juvenile events like Best Fart and Celebrity Burp-Off. Also many argue that there are many categories that ordinary children don't care or know about like Best Hip-Hop Artist.

[edit] Infamous/Controversial Moments

  • In 1999, Britney Spears gave a performance via satellite in Florida. The performance was controversial because Spears was wearing tight-fitting white shirt that clearly gave the notion that she wasn't wearing a bra.
  • In 2001, MTV VJ Carson Daly was voted Favorite TV Actor for his work on Total Request Live. This is in spite of the fact that TRL isn't a scripted program with Daly simply hosting the show instead of playing a character.
  • In 2003, host Rosie O'Donnell (who just a year earlier, publicly disclosed her sexual orientation), issued a statement promising to not air her anti-Iraq War statements during the program. O'Donnell claimed that a lighthearted show like the Kids' Choice Awards wasn't the right place for making a political statement. "Peace is good. War is bad," O'Donnell said. "That's the message I'd like every child to learn." Nickelodeon said a "subtle" message would be acceptable, if O'Donnell decided to deliver it.[1]
  • In 2004, Favorite TV Actress Award winner Raven-Symoné ended her acceptance speech by shouting "Disney rocks!!!" This was perhaps seen as a reference of superiority from Nickelodeon's rival The Disney Channel (the network that broadcasts Raven-Symoné's show That's So Raven).
  • In 2006, Favorite Movie Actress Award winner Lindsay Lohan (who won for Herbie: Fully Loaded) accidentally exposed her bare bottom (the back of her short dress was clinging) as she was walking up on the stage to accept her award.

[edit] Trivia

  • The KCAs usually airs on the first Saturday of April at 8:00 p.m. with a marathon of a Nicktoon airing during the pre-show at 6:00 p.m. After the awards, a season or series premiere of a show airs at 9:30 p.m.
  • Rosie O'Donnell holds the record of hosting the show at the total of eight times. She hosted it eight years in a row.
  • When SpongeBob SquarePants received the best animated TV show in 2005, they created an animated short of SpongeBob receiving his award "orange blimp" with Gary.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rosie: No Politics During Kids' Choice Awards (FREEP Nickelodeon)

[edit] External links

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