Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
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.
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.
Hosts
- 1986 - (The Big Ballot)
- 1987 - (No Show)
- 1988 - Tony Danza and Debbie Gibson
- 1989 - Nicole Eggert and Wil Wheaton
- 1990 - Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron and David Faustino
- 1991 - Corin Nemec
- 1992 - Paula Abdul
- 1993 - Brian Austin Green, Holly Robinson and Tori Spelling
- 1994 - Candace Cameron and Joey Lawrence
- 1995 - Whitney Houston
- 1996 - Whitney Houston and Rosie O'Donnell¹
- 1997 - Rosie O'Donnell and George Michael
- 1998 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 1999 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 2000 - Rosie O'Donnell, David Arquette, LL Cool J, Mandy Moore and Frankie Muniz²
- 2001 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 2002 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 2003 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 2004 - Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers
- 2005 - Ben Stiller
- 2006 - Jack Black
- 2007 - Justin Timberlake
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.
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.
Winners
- 1991 - Paula Abdul
- 1992 - Michael Jordan
- 1993 - Robin Williams
- 1994 - Boyz II Men
- 1995 - Tim Allen
- 1996 - Whitney Houston
- 1997 - Will Smith
- 1998 - Tia and Tamera Mowry
- 1999 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas
- 2000 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 2001 - Tom Cruise
- 2002 - Janet Jackson
- 2003 - Will Smith
- 2004 - Adam Sandler
- 2005 - Queen Latifah
- 2006 - Chris Rock
- 2007 -
Mystery Slimed Celebrities
- 1988 - Les Lye
- 1989 - Bill Kirchenbauer
- 1990 - Dave Coulier and Wil Wheaton
- 1991 - Corin Nemec
- 1992 - The audience of the awards.
- 1993 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachary Ty Bryan and Taran Noah Smith
- 1994 - James Earl Jones
- 1995 - Mark Curry
- 1996 - Queen Latifah
- 1997 - Rosie O'Donnell
- 1998 - Sean Combs
- 1999 - Randy Savage
- 2000 - Will Smith
- 2001 - 'N Sync and Tom Cruise
- 2002 - Adam Sandler and P!nk
- 2003 - Jim Carrey
- 2004 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Mike Myers
- 2005 - Will Ferrell, Johnny Depp and Ben Stiller*
- 2006 - Robin Williams and Jack Black*
- 2007 -
*Caught in crossfire
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. This is identical to games like Madagasgar:Operation Penguin winning the award, simply because kids reconizne the movie, instead of the game itself. 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. Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy is an example of a show that was nominated but never won because of Nicktoons. 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.
Infamous/Controversial moments
- In 1995, Keanu Reeves was nominated (but ultimately loss to Tim Allen in The Santa Clause) for Favorite Movie Actor for his work in the R rated Speed.
- 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, American Pie 2 (the sequel to the 1999, teen sex comedy) Jason Biggs helped present. What should be noted is that during the show, Biggs was introduced as the star of American Pie 2.
- 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 2002, veteran actress Julie Andrews was nominated for Favorite Movie Actress for her work in The Princess Diaries. Nickelodeon picked Andrews over a considerably more logical choice like her co-star Anne Hathaway (given that Hathaway was much closer to the age demographic of the KCAs' target audience). Andrews ultimately lost to Jennifer Lopez for her work in The Wedding Planner.
- 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 2005, Favorite Music Band winner Green Day was criticized by parents around the nation because the band was nominated for their work of the album American Idiot, which had high amounts of profane language and racial comments.
- 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.
Trivia
- New Kids on the Block provided the first ever musical performance for a Kids' Choice Awards show.
- Tom Kenny, who provides the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, has been a frequent announcer for the KCAs.
- 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.
- A lot of shows have premiered after the awards show, some include: CatDog, The Angry Beavers, Caitlin's Way, Hey Arnold, All Grown Up, Danny Phantom, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, SpongeBob SquarePants, and new seasons of Romeo! and Drake & Josh.
- At the end of the 2005 KCAs, Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead vocalist of the music group of Green Day, slipped and fell in the background.
- 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. This, however, may show that Nickeloden knew that SpongeBob was going to win, which may mean that the votes were rigged. It may have, although, been created after the votes were tallied and SpongeBob was declared the winner.
- Cosmo and Wanda (from The Fairly OddParents) appeared on the 2003 KCAs.
- The KCAs for 2007 are to be held March 31, 2007. They will be hosted by Justin Timberlake.