MANILA, Philippines - Just when I thought the awards season ends with the Oscars, this writer received an invitation to the 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards, handed out annually by Nickelodeon and honors movies, TV shows, singers, Hollywood superstars, regional stars and online celebrities in over 60 categories! Kids vote online for their favorite animated movie, favorite villain, most wanted pets and their favorite BFF, among others. The Philippines’ own Nadine Lustre was named Favorite Pinoy Star beating fellow nominees Janella Salvador, Janine Gutierrez and Liza Soberano. Nadine did not attend the show and her award was not announced on air.
The show, also known as the KCAs, was held Saturday evening at the Galen Center inside the sprawling USC campus in downtown Los Angeles. It aired a day after in the Philippines on the Nickelodeon channel.
They say there ain’t no party like a Nickelodeon party. So what’s it like to be at the KCAs? It’s fun, indeed! Noisy, very noisy! Lots of screaming and lots of kids! Was I slimed? No. I was luckily seated far back in the audience so the green, gooey slime that has been the hallmark of every KCA show over the years never reached my side of the arena.
I have never watched a Kids’ Choice Awards show before in full, so being there on Saturday afforded me the chance to experience it all for the first time and it was something really cool! I was teasing my friends that it felt good being a kid again. It did feel good to be part of a show that celebrated what kids really loved and cared about during the past year. Oh, how they cheer for their favorite TV stars, many of whom, this writer, unfortunately barely recognized. But they are what the kids are watching and they are what matters to them.
To document the show, this writer got inspiration from a Fuse Magazine coverage of the 2015 show written by Maria Sherman. She wrote a pre-show minute-by-minute goings-on at the event and it made for fun reading. This writer tried to do that but I made my notes all the way to the very end. Here are some interesting tidbits of what was shown on TV and some that the audience at home did not see and experience.
3:30 p.m. The ticket said gates open at 3 and closes at 4:30. So I was at the designated parking with an hour to spare. And it’s at the garage where I first saw how giddy the kids were. They were better dressed than their parents who seem to be just following the commands of their kids. It was a cute sight!
4 p.m. Found my seat. It is at the arena level fronting the stage and almost eye level with the orange balloons, held mid-air, which I supposed will be dropped later in the show. It’s a huge stage with a ring in the middle — former wrestler John Cena is hosting, that’s why. There’s a giant yellow slide, too!
4:20 p.m. Kids in a pit by the stage called the slime area start screaming. Apparently, they are being prepped for more screaming during the actual show. Later, I asked one parent how the kids were selected and I was told Nickelodeon reached to their school and asked for volunteers.
4:30 p.m. No celebrity sighting yet.
4:45 p.m. A crowd warmer takes to the stage and starts to prep the audience. He instructs the kids in the pit and on the balcony onstage how to hold up their signs for John Cena’s entrance. We are told Wonder Woman is going to show up! Kids scream!
4:56 p.m. Men in orange suits walk in with toy guns and started shooting shirts to the audience. More kids screaming.
4:58 p.m. The entire hall roars. Kids scream as the show is set to start. The stars of Henry Danger open the show live from the orange carpet before John takes over.
5 p.m. John enters the arena similar to a WWF entrance. He rips off his tux to reveal his shorts and tank top, gets on the ring and starts firing toilet paper gun to the kids in the pit. There’s no denying this awards show is like no other.
5:04 p.m. Quick stage change to set up the new Smurfs movie.
5:06 p.m. Music superstar Gwen Stefani presents first award for Favorite Animated Movie. Moana gets the biggest applause but Finding Dory wins. Ellen DeGeneres takes to the stage to accept the award. She also wins two other trophies, Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie and Favorite #Squad. Camera takes a quick cut to the embattled Mariah Carey who was in the audience with her kids. Ellen makes the kids to take an oath to be on her squad and the kids did recite them loudly! Ellen should run for president!
5:10 p.m. Demi Lovato appears on stage to show a clip from Smurfs: The Lost Village. Then, she gets slimed! And here’s what I discovered. After a star gets slimed, they don’t move at all on stage. They wait for stage hands to bring them towels, pat them dry then they leave the stage. Amazing how quick the stage crew cleans up the mess!
5:15 p.m. Two orange Nickelodeon blimps start moving in the arena to take aerial shots of the audience. Kids take notice and start screaming. Did you see me wave at the camera?
5:19 p.m. Big Sean and Bethany Mota present the Favorite Female TV Star award to Zendaya. Kids scream as she encourages them to “continue to shine.”
5:22 p.m. Chris Pratt “takes over” the awards control room in a pre-taped segment to show a short Guardians of the Galaxy footage but Groot makes a mistake and Chris gets slimed!
5:26 p.m. John takes the slide on stage to re-enter and takes a selfie with the kids in the pit. Gwen Stefani’s handsome boys get captured by the camera.
5:29 p.m. During the break, comic superstar Kevin Hart gets up to congratulate Zendaya. Warmer instructs the kids how to use their cellphones for the first musical act that will follow the break.
5:32 p.m. There’s a faux arm wrestling challenge before Nat Wolff and Maddie Ziegler introduce Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello to sing their hit Bad Things. Kids did light up their cellphones but this writer is not too sure if the song’s racy lyrics are apt for the occasion.
5:38 p.m. During the break, we are instructed to put on the Wonder Woman gauntlets hidden under our seats for the next segment. More shirts are being shot to the air. One landed near me but a little girl beat me to it. Darn!
5:42 p.m. Stage is filled with Amazons and Aviators and they perform to awesome laser effects! Chris Pine and Gal Gadot introduce the now-viral Wonder Woman clip.
5:45 p.m. John Stamos presents the Favorite Villain trophy to Kevin Hart, who also wins two other blimps for Favorite BFF and Most Wanted Pet. He gets slimed!
5:49 p.m. Gigantic Power Rangers masks are rolled on stage as kids are prepped to chant “Go, Go Power Rangers” for the next act. More shirts are flying!
5:54 p.m. iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, now a grown-up, presents Favorite Kids TV Show, which, I reckon, is the most popular award of the night just because my eardrums almost broke from the loud screaming.
5:58 p.m. Cast of Power Rangers go onstage. And the kids in the pit get slimed!
6 p.m. Black and white flags and glow sticks are distributed to the floor audience for the next act. The stage crew is doing an amazing job. One group quickly sets the stage while another wipes the slime off the stage in no time!
6:05 p.m. School of Rock cast go on stage to present Favorite Viral Music Artist. No clue who the nominees that the kids are screaming about! Thirteen-year-old Jojo Siwa from Nebraska wins! She appears in a colorful garb reminiscent of how Jolina Magdangal used to dress back in the ’90s.
6:09 p.m. Dove Cameron and Miley’s little sister Noah Cyrus appear from the balcony to introduce the performance of the British group Little Mix, the Favorite Global Music Star winner. Attempts at community glow lights waving fail, however!
6:13 p.m. The glow lights and flags are collected. More shirts fly!
6:17 p.m. John and Nick Cannon have a live dance-off. Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin, the lead stars of Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans act as referees.
6:19 p.m. Isabela Moner and Benjamin Flores Jr., introduce a cool footage of the latest Transformers film.
6:25 p.m. Last commercial gap! Warmer promises an awesome finale with lots of confetti, pyrotechnic and balloons! Last set of shirts are shot to the audience.
6:28 p.m. Supermodel Heidi Klum and DJ Khaled present Favorite Music Group award to Fifth Harmony, which counts just four group members now after Camila, who performed earlier, bolted the group late last year.
6:32 p.m. John takes center stage one last time to close the show and he finally gets slimed! Balloons drop, confetti falls and pyrotechnics erupts! Kids erupt in deafening scream one last time!
6:35 p.m. Show is over. The ever-efficient crew emerges on stage and starts the clean-up process. Balloons are popped. And this writer goes back to his 40-year-old self.