• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 17, 2014

Just as retail stores seem to hang their Christmas decorations earlier and earlier every year, the Hollywood awards season seems to get longer too.

Two awards-show announcements came just this week, including one about an awards show nobody had ever heard of before, and the other about the one awards show everybody looks forward to every year. The latter show is the Academy Awards, and the former is a new awards show called “The Hollywood Film Awards.” Now the two are serving to bookend the ever-lengthening awards season -- starting with this HFA telecast on CBS Nov. 14.

But first things first: The Oscars announcement came from ABC on Wednesday.  It was about the host of next year’s telecast (on Feb. 22), who will be none other than Neil Patrick Harris, the lanky actor who first gained fame as a juvenile on the Stephen Bochco/David E. Kelley sitcom “Doogie Howser, M.D.” in 1989.

In recent years, Harris, now 41, has emerged as America’s entertainer-in-chief, hosting numerous awards shows (the Tonys four times, the Emmys twice, the TVLand Awards once) and Thanksgiving Day parade telecasts. He won a Tony for starring in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and starred as the womanizing Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother.”  When people joke that “they’ll soon be giving out awards for awards shows,” they are unwittingly referring to Harris, whose Tony Award hosting stints won him four Emmys.

Not to be outdone by ABC and the Oscars, CBS announced Friday that Queen Latifah would host the upcoming, but heretofore completely unknown “Hollywood Film Awards.”  The press release explained that these awards have been given out for 17 years, but this year, the “HFAs” will be televised for the first time.

At the bottom of the press release came an explanation of sorts: The Hollywood Film Awards were “founded” in 1997 by a guy named Carlos de Abreu -- invented out of thin air, you might say. (Not in the press release: A 2006 New York Times story described these awards -- referred to then as, simply, “the Hollywood Awards” -- as “dubious.”)

The press release gave little information other than the histories of those involved in this upcoming show – from Queen Latifah to the production company, Dick Clark Productions. In fact, the output of DCP, where the production of televised awards shows is concerned, is breathtaking.  According to the press release, the company produces “The American Music Awards,” “The Golden Globe Awards,” “The Academy of Country Music Awards” and “The Billboard Music Awards.” “The Hollywood Film Awards” is apparently one of three new ones from Dick Clark Productions that have been concocted just this year; the other two are “The American Country Countdown Awards” and “The People Magazine Awards.”

With ABC tying up the rights to the Academy Awards seemingly forever, CBS has no shot at them.  Nor does CBS have the Golden Globes, which have proven to be popular on NBC each winter.  So CBS will try and gain some traction in the movie-awards business with these “Hollywood Film Awards.”

The news release on the HFAs gave no information on other celebrities who might be on-hand to present awards or promenade down the pre-show red carpet.  Nor was there any word on nominees for these awards, or even who votes for them.

“ ‘The Hollywood Film Awards’ has recognized excellence in the art of cinema and filmmaking for 17 years, honoring some of the world’s biggest stars,” said the announcement released jointly by CBS and DCP.  “They are considered the official launch of the awards season.” 

Well, if they say so, who am I to argue?