‘Dharma’ and ‘Closet’ Among People’s Choice Award Winners

ABC’s “Dharma & Greg” and NBC’s “Veronica’s Closet” tied as favorite new TV comedy series, while CBS’ “Brooklyn South” was named the most liked new dramatic series, in the 24th annual People’s Choice Awards televised Sunday on CBS.

Winners of the awards, held at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hanger, are determined by a nationwide Gallup poll.

NBC’s “ER” repeated as the favorite TV drama overall, while network-mate “Seinfeld,” which is to end after this season, garnered its third award for favorite comedy. Another NBC program, “Days of Our Lives,” was named favorite daytime drama.

“Home Improvement” star Tim Allen and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey were voted the top male and female TV performers, while the prizes for TV performers in a new series went to Kirstie Alley for “Veronica’s Closet” and Tony Danza for “The Tony Danza Show,” which has already been canceled by NBC.

In the musical categories, Whitney Houston and Reba McEntire (a co-host of Sunday’s show) tied as favorite female performer, while the male honors went to Garth Brooks.

And in the movie field, Harrison Ford (“Air Force One”) was named favorite actor, with Julia Roberts (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”) selected as favorite actress. “Liar Liar” was named best comedy, while “Jerry Maguire” took the prize for best drama (voting covered only those pictures released from Nov. 1, 1996, to Oct. 31, 1997, so current Oscar contenders such as “Titanic” and “As Good as It Gets” were excluded).