The 2005 People's Choice Awards were broadcast last night and in the only televised awards show where the viewers determine the winners, there were few unexpected moments.

Among the surprise winners of the evening were Michael Moore's political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Both were highly controversial, yet huge box office hits this last year, and the viewers voted them Favorite Movie (overall) and Favorite Dramatic Movie, respectively. Moore and Gibson were on hand to receive their awards.

Moore, who dedicated his win to the U.S. troops fighting overseas, accepted his award saying, "I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more Fahrenheit 9/11s."

Gibson was also elated to have won, exclaiming, "Heck, I was just hoping to break even. If it wasn't for you guys, we would have been dead in the water." This may be the only major award Passion receives, as Gibson has publicly stated he will not campaign for the Oscars as most films do.

The big winner of the night wasn't green with envy; he was just green. Shrek 2 cleaned house (or is that swamp?) in five categories, and the ogre's alter-ego -- aka actor Michael Myers -- was on hand to accept. Others who won in multiple categories were actress Julia Roberts, comedienne/talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, and the TV show CSI.

Co-hosts Jason Alexander and Malcolm Jamal-Warner did their best to keep things moving along, and in a rarity for awards shows, the event finished within the allotted two hours of primetime television. The awards covered 38 film, television and music categories, including a number of new ones. Nominations were determined by editors at Entertainment Weekly, which produces the awards, and a panel of select fans. Final winners were then determined by Internet voting, from the fans at large. This year, the final voting was also open to Canadian viewers.

The show overall, however, was rather banal and devoid of any real memorable moments, save the appearance of musician Prince and the semi-incoherent acceptance speech offered by actor Johnny Depp via satellite for his win as Favorite Male Movie Star. Many of the scripted jokes seemed flat and camera pans of the audience of celebrities showed most seemed to be waiting for the after-parties.

I found the inclusion of three categories -- "Crest Fans Favorite Smile", "Pantene Fans Favorite Hair" and "Cover Girl Fans Favorite Look" -- to be nothing more than on-air product placements, rather than legitimate categories. And while I'm glad that the awards organizers finally opened up voting to the web -- after all, I've always wondered who these "select samples of viewers" were -- I feel the lack of any requirements to register before voting opened up the process to be the equivalent of "ballot stuffing". To test the theory, I went and tried to vote a second time and had no problems. This makes the People's Choice Awards seem like nothing more than a pr popularity contest, rather than a true representation of the general public's favorites.

But this is merely the first show in a string of televised awards for the season, and it is interesting to see who wins when the fans get to vote, instead of industry peers.

Here is a complete list of winners for the 2005 People's Choice Awards:

Motion picture: Fahrenheit 9/11
Drama motion picture: The Passion of the Christ
Comedy motion picture: Shrek 2
Animated motion picture: Shrek 2
Favorite sequel: Shrek 2
Animated movie star: Donkey in Shrek 2 (voiced by Eddie Murphy)
Movie villain: The Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 (voiced by Jennifer Saunders)
Favourite on-screen chemistry: Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates
Female movie star: Julia Roberts (her tenth straight win in this category)
Male movie star: Johnny Depp
Female action movie star: Angelina Jolie
Male action movie star: Will Smith
Leading lady: Renee Zellweger
Leading man: Brad Pitt
Funny female star: Ellen DeGeneres
Funny male star: Jim Carrey
Television drama series: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Television comedy series: Will & Grace
New television comedy series: Joey
New television drama series: Desperate Housewives
Female television star: Marg Helgenberger
Male television star: Matt LeBlanc
Late night talk show host: David Letterman
Daytime talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres
Reality show, competition: American Idol
Reality show, makeover: Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Reality show, 24/7: Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica
Crest fans favorite smile: Julia Roberts
Pantene fans favorite hair: Jennifer Garner
Cover Girl fans favorite look: Kate Hudson
Favorite group: U2
Female singer: Alicia Keys
Male singer: Usher
Favorite song (remake): "The First Cut is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow
Favorite combined forces: "Yeah" by Usher/Lil Jon/Ludacris
Country group: Brooks & Dunn
Country female singer: Shania Twain
Country male singer: Tim McGraw