The 2021 Peoples Choice Awards winners have been announced and there's an interesting pattern.
While people voted for these winners, it wasn't a free for all. There were a limited list of nominees.
Squid Game - which may or may not be sci-fi - won most Bingeworthy TV Show from among the following nominees:
Lucifer won best sci-fi/fantasy TV show from among the following nominees:
Both beat Loki.
In best TV Show of 2021 where neither Squid Game nor Lucifer were an option, Loki won:
Tom Hiddleston also took best male TV star from among the following nominees:
We haven't seen Loki so can't comment on its worthiness for the award but the other results suggest that it may just be best out of that bunch of nominees.
How were nominees selected this year? That is unknown.
There is historical information about methods used to select nominees in previous years but it isn't clear if eg. the 2010 method they employed of video viewing data continued to be used.
On the E! Online website (who run the awards) they detail 2020 rules which seem to suggest that during a very narrow window, the public could submit up to 25 or 50 potential nominees with a curious "turbo voting" period.
This year's rules? A blank page. Also blank in wayback.
When it comes to voting there's no requirement and also no way to check that people have even seen the show.
Lots of people would have seen and enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok and if you hadn't seen or didn't like any of the other shows in that category, Loki might be a popular choice.
Because you've at least seen him in the movies and hope that your vote for him / the show isn't a vote for garbage.
Regardless, it's an official win for sci-fi.
In film, Black Widow took best movie:
Free Guy won best comedy movie:
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - which is probably more fantasy than sci-fi, won best action movie:
Cruella beat Dune for best drama. Seriously.
Scarlett Johansson won female movie star:
Simu Liu won best action movie star:
A good night for Disney / Marvel.
And there were some non-sci-fi winners. You can check those out if you're interested.
[ Main Image: People's Choice Awards banner. Credit: NBC Universal via Twitter. ]
E! Online. 2020 Official Voting Rules. The E! People's Choice Awards Rules. (viewed December 10, 2021)
NBC Universal. People's Choice Awards official site. (December 10, 2021)
Wikipedia. 47th People's Choice Awards. (viewed December 10, 2021)
Wikipedia. People's Choice Awards. (viewed December 10, 2021)