The most lively moments in an otherwise lethargic MTV Movie & TV Awards came early Sunday night, and featured ersatz host Drew Barrymore—who dropped out as live emcee in solidarity with the writers’ strike that began last week. Barrymore starred in a few pretaped—and, notably, prewritten—segments that proved exactly why awards shows require writers in the first place.
At the top of the show, Barrymore inserted her Josie Grossie character from Never Been Kissed into several of this year’s nominees, including Wednesday, M3GAN, and Cocaine Bear. In another, she played younger sister Skipper in an effort to cameo in the upcoming Barbie movie. She was otherwise largely missing from the broadcast, which was also devoid of a red carpet or any in-person speeches after Paramount announced Friday that the show would go completely virtual.
Twitter content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards, a delightfully bizarre awards show with colorful category names (Stranger Things won “best kick-ass cast,” by the way) including a Cheetos-sponsored best kiss (“Cheetos popcorn congratulates Outer Banks for Best Kiss” a faceless announcer bellowed), felt subdued, even downright snoozy without any written sketches or star power. In fact, watching Sunday’s ceremony was a throwback to the pandemic-era awards show, complete with glitchy Zoom speeches and overstuffed clips packages. The only difference? It didn’t have to be this way, as multiple winners acknowledged in their speeches.
Although most of the year’s victors, including Adam Sandler, Elizabeth Olsen, and the Kardashians were no-shows, a few winners addressed the writers picketing for a new and fair contract with the industry’s major studios. While accepting best Ssow for HBO’s The Last Of Us, Pedro Pascal said he and the show’s creators were “standing in solidarity with the WGA that is fighting very hard for fair wages.” Drag performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, which won best competition series, expressed similar support, as did Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn, who won best breakout performance.
Jennifer Coolidge, who received the Comedic Genius Award (and was set to host the Saturday Night Live finale before the strike forced the show to go dark) was perhaps the most effusive in her stance. “Almost all great comedy starts with great writers, and as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight side-by-side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA, who are fighting for the rights of artists everywhere,” she said. “I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, ‘The play is the thing.’ Well, I don’t want to put words in his mouth or anything, but I think what he really meant was it’s everything.”
Savannah Walsh
Source link
