If you need proof that sometimes TV just puts on a show to fill time and have a little fun, look no further than tonight on Fox.
Teen Choice 2015 airs live from the Galen Center in Los Angeles from 7 to 9 p.m. with hosts Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (Furious 7), Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) and Josh Peck (Grandfathered).
All three are also Teen Choice nominees.
This is the TV awards show where the winners take home surfboards -- full-size, ready-for-the-water surfboards. They would sort of dominate the mantel if that's where you stash your trophies.
And although there's no guarantee that everyone who voted in the 85 separate categories were teens, I'm fairly certain only teenagers could figure out all the many social media ways to vote or who all these people are.
Fans voted during three "waves" of nominations (surfboards, get it?) online at TeenChoice.com, once each day per category, per platform user ID, or post a category hashtag with their nominee's name to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
No need to try to understand, it's all moot now because voting ended Friday.
Bottom line: Teen Choice 2015 is Fox's annual attempt to generate buzz among younger viewers by (theoretically) allowing them to run the show.
I plan to watch in self defense because I checked out some of the offbeat categories and there were plenty of names I didn't know. That means they are probably huge stars in the middle-school set.
Evidently the buzz ploy worked. Fox claims that when the Wave 1 nominations were made available in early June, "500,000 fans flocked to Twitter and unlocked them in less than 12 hours!"
• Wave 1. The first wave included contenders in Choice movies, television, music, fashion, and comedian.
Movies and TV had the usual subcategories of action/adventure, sci-fi/fantasy, comedy, drama and animation.
Music contenders began with Choice male and female artists and group, and moved to subcategories of R&B/ hip-hop, country and favorite song.
Fashion got creative with nominees of Choice Male and Female Hotties.
Duking it out among the fashionable hottie guys are 5 Seconds of Summer, Austin Mahone, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Ryan Guzman and Zayn Malik.
Hmm. In what universe is Bieber considered a hottie?
And contending for the hottie ladies are Cara Delevingne, Fifth Harmony, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift.
Maybe Cyrus got on the list for her "Wrecking Ball" video costume.
• Wave 2. The second wave of nominees was released July 7 and included the categories of movie and TV villains, scene stealers, breakout stars, chemistry, liplock, hissy fit and summer movie and TV shows.
The summer movie contenders ranged from Terminator Genisys to Inside Out.
Liplock? I assume that means the coveted surfboard goes to the duo with the hottest screen smooch. This year the couples are: Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara (Hot Pursuit); Shailene Woodley and Theo James (Insurgent); Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine (Pitch Perfect 2); Blake Lively and Michiel Huisman (The Age of Adaline); Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell (The Duff); and Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1).
I'm rooting for Witherspoon and Vergara. Just because.
Of more interest to me is the hissy fit category. I'm not certain what constitutes a movie hissy fit, but vying for the honor this year are Witherspoon (Hot Pursuit); Lewis Black (as Anger in Inside Out); Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World); Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect 2); and Melissa McCarthy (Spy).
Three of the more interesting Wave 2 music categories were love song, break-up song and party song.
And proof that I'm decades beyond the target demographic are musical artists vying for "Next Big Thing." I've only heard of one of these: Bea Miller, Kalin and Myles, Neon Jungle, Skate Maloley, Spring King and Clark Beckham (American Idol runner-up).
Wave 2 also included sports stars, models, dancers and "Choice Selfie Taker."
If Kim Kardashian loses that last one, the whole thing is rigged.
• Wave 3. The final categories went out July 28 and included Web stars and social media stars: Choice Twit, Viner, Instagrammer and YouTuber.
Of course, any awards show worth the buzz has plenty of performers. This year's Teen Choice features 5 Seconds of Summer, Little Mix and, from Fox's hip-hop hit Empire, Jussie Smollet and Bryshere "Yazz" Gray.
Other stars who will show up to promote themselves and help hand out surfboards are Jack Black, R5, Sarah Hyland, Bethany Mota, Tyler Oakley, Gregg Sulkin and Bella Thorne.
R what?
R5 is a pop rock band of siblings named Lynch (three brothers and a sister), all with first names beginning with R, plus a family friend whose last name begins with R. If you were 13, you'd know that.
Style on 08/16/2015