6 Memorable Moments From the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards: Hostless but Not Hopeless

Let’s be honest: Few in the music industry tuned into the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards to see who won this year’s Golden Popcorn Awards. The big question was: Would the producers be able to put on fun and entertaining show with so much working against them – losing their popular host and their red-carpet pre-show and ultimately not even going live – all in reaction to a strike by members of the Writers Guild of America.

The answer: Depending on your level of interest in old clips from past shows, the show was surprisingly watchable. As it turns out, the people who most deserve a Golden Popcorn this year may be MTV’s Bruce Gillmer, Wendy Plaut and Vanessa Whitewolf, who executive produced the show along with Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic and Barb Bialkowskijustfor getting a show on the air in difficult circumstances.

The show, now in its 31st year, had seemed to headed for a big night when it booked Drew Barrymore as host and corralled the red-hot Jennifer Coolidge to receive its Comedic Genius Award. They even came up with a clever tag line for the show: “Party more! Fan more! BARRYMORE!” But when members of the WGA went on strike on May 2, the show was thrown into chaos.

The first setback came on Thursday when Barrymore pulled out as host in solidarity with the striking writers. Also on Thursday, MTV called off the red carpet for the event. WGA said on Friday that it was planning to picket the show, which made holding a live show increasingly problematic.

So, the production team behind the2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards had just a few days to scramble and get a show on the air that would be worth watching. The two-hour show aired Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV with simulcasts on BET, BET Her, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1.

Producers of live television live for moments that test their mettle, though it’s probably safe to say that they would have preferred a drama-free roll-out of the show they originally envisioned, with their popular host and their red-hot Comedic Genius recipient both live at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif.

Here are six memorable moments from the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards.