Sometimes, life is just too serious, you know? There are moments when you have to leave behind presidential campaigns and theological reflection, and concentrate on more important matters–like popular culture. Now, some of us are hooked on the Grammys, and some of us care about the Oscars and the Emmys, and some of us literary folks wait for the Pulitzers (coming up in the next week or so). But the real deal is going on Right Now: The 2008 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
This year’s host is the goofy Jack Black (who makes me laugh every time I see him–I have loved him ever since my kids and I watched “School of Rock.”) Right now, the Naked Brothers Band is singing “I Don’t Want to Go to School,” to cheers from hoards of preteen girls. The opening award was given by Josh Peck (from Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh) and a fully and tastefully dressed Janet Jackson. (Janet appearing on a prime-time children’s show: Talk about reputation rehab!)
Now I realize that many of you reading this post don’t have a clue about who half of these people are. But if you have a television in your house, and you have children younger than 16, you’re feeling me right now. Unless you’re my husband, who truly despises children’s television of all kinds and has gone for a walk. Watching TV with the boys has always been my thing, by choice. My sons and I have been Nick fans from Rugrats straight through to SpongeBob SquarePants.
The Kids Choice Awards is the culmination of each year’s shows, lots of celebrities, many of the singers and actors we all love, combined with signature symbols added by Nickelodeon that only kids could love: Celebrity Burping Contests (Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake are some of the nastiest burpers you could imagine) and the capacity to pour green slime on unsuspecting presenters at any time.
The show just ended with the pièce de résistance–the biggest celebrity sliming in network history, including 27 tons of green slime pouring over Jack Black and Orlando Bloom. Ok, you had to be there. But we had a blast watching the show. And I can go back to watching the campaigns sliming each other tomorrow….
