The "People’s" Choice Awards . . .

. . . which I now affectionately call “A Waste of My Precious Time.”

Stan and I watched part of the train wreck that was the People’s Choice Awards last night. We only watched part of it because once you’ve had enough of Queen Latifah trying to be funny without writers, you have just had enough.

If you’ve read any news, you might know that the format of the People’s Choice Awards was changed. Normally a live show, it was partially pre-recorded to prevent a picket line of the Writer’s Guild of America members. It was hosted by the aforementioned Queen Latifah. (Out of curiosity, what the heck is she the queen of, anyway? And who is the idiot that made her the queen?)

It was terrible. To fill the time that would have been filled by presenters’ comedic speeches and acceptance speeches, they inserted clips from previous years, extra long clips of the nominees, and ridiculous “celebrity” makeovers. They also made up categories that were obviously created to take the place of awards for things that would have normally been accepted by the writers, like “Favorite Scene-Stealing Star,” “Favorite On Screen Match-Up,” and “Favorite User Generated Video” (which can alternately be called, “Favorite Ridiculous You-Tube Video”).

Furthermore, all of the acceptance speeches were pre-recorded. There was something lost because of that. The element of surprise was gone from the winners’ demeanor.

In fact, because of the fact that voting was still going on during the show, I started to wonder if they had asked all of the nominees to film an acceptance speech “just in case” they won.

In addition, there was this constant, annoying, mention of the fact that this was voted on by the “people,” who are apparently somewhere beneath the actors, or at least that is the impression I got from her “majesty” when she said, “This isn’t about us, it’s about you, the people.” Are entertainers not people? Are they better than us that we’re just “the people” and they are the “people’s choice.” I have never in my life been so tired of hearing the word people than I was last night.

It was by far the worst awards show I’ve ever watched.

Writers, we need you. We support your cause. We know how much you mean to the entertainment industry. We know that Hollywood is NOTHING without you. But please, if you have any compassion at all, PLEASE come back to work before the Academy Awards! I just couldn’t bear to see that wonderful ceremony reduced to the terrible mess that was the People’s Choice Awards!