The MTV Movie & TV Awards did a pre-taped show after the host retired
MTV stuffed the show with dozens of old clips, sometimes making it difficult to determine what was new and what was old.
NEW YORK – An unhosted, pre-taped, muted MTV Movie & TV Awards Sunday became the first major awards show to air during the writers’ strike, delivering a commercial broadcast featuring many recycled live clips from the past .
‘Scream VI’ won the Best Picture trophy, holding off competition from ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, ‘Elvis’, ‘Nope’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick.” In a pre-taped response, the Ghostface killer was humble: “To all the fans who voted, you’ve finally answered my question: What’s your favorite horror movie?”
‘The Last of Us’ was crowned Best TV Show, beating out the likes of ‘Stranger Things’, ‘The White Lotus’, ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Yellowjackets’. Pedro Pascal accepted the award and said that he, the cast and the creators were in solidarity with the authors on strike.
Tom Cruise took home Best Performance in a Motion Picture for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, beating out Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Michael B. Jordan and Keke Palmer. In a pre-recorded response, Cruise was seen flying a jet and thanking fans, while also plugging in his upcoming film ‘Mission: Impossible’.
Jenna Ortega won Best Performance in a TV Show for ‘Wednesday’, beating out Aubrey Plaza, Christina Ricci, Riley Keough, Sadie Sink and Selena Gomez. “Stranger Things” won for Outstanding Outstanding Cast.
‘The Kardashians’ won Best Docu-Reality Show, Best Breakthrough Performance went to Joseph Quinn of ‘Stranger Things’ and Pascal won Best Hero for ‘The Last Of Us’. Pascal also won half of the Best Duo award with co-star Bella Ramsey.
Best Comedic Performance went to Adam Sandler, for “Murder Mystery 2”, and “Scream VI” won for Best Fight, with Ghostface thanking voters again: “It’s about time someone finally appreciated my work.”
Host Drew Barrymore had retired in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America — later winning Best Host — and the show’s red carpet was rolled up. Facing a guild picket, MTV canceled the live event entirely.
While Barrymore wasn’t there, she left behind a bunch of sponsored bits, one featuring popcorn Cheetos and another pretending to play younger sister Skipper in the upcoming movie ‘Barbie. She was also in a commercial for Pluto TV and a parody of “Wednesday”. She kicked off the show by reprising her role as Josie Grossie from “Never Been Kissed,” trying to kiss several nominees in carefully edited comedic moments.
Jennifer Coolidge received the Comedic Genius Award on tape and thanked amazing writers, saying that almost all great comedy starts with great writers.
“I stand before you tonight side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA,” she said. Coolidge later also won for Best Frightened Performance for ‘The White Lotus’.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” won for Best Competition Series and recipients solicited protection for drag shows, while the Best Kiss award went to “Outer Banks'” Madison Bailey and Rudy Pankow. Many awards have not produced any response from the winner.
MTV filled the show with dozens of old clips, like a star-studded 2001 performance of “Lady Marmalade,” Lizzo belting out her hit “Juice” in 2019, or Rihanna in 2002 singing “Umbrella,” as well as other brilliant award speeches from previous winners like Melissa McCarthy, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. There was also a sneak peek of an upcoming episode of “Yellowjackets” and a clip from “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” Sometimes it was hard to tell what was new and what was old.
“Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” was nominated for Best Music Documentary, “Come Back Home” on “Purple Hearts” was voted Best Musical Moment, and Taylor Swift’s “Carolina” won Best Song. Elizabeth Olsen in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” was named best villain.
