Winners!! 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

With nominee-host Jane Lynch, an odd choice on the Academy’s part, at the helm of this year’s awards, the show took some unusual turns that were either pleasantly surprising or critically panned. As both ABC’s Modern Family and Downton Abbey (PBS’s Masterpiece Theater) can attest — with 5 and 4 wins, respectively, the most for all nominated programs — the 63rd edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards saw an unusual mix of expected shoo-ins and widely praised hopefuls leave with a statuette. I won’t spoil anymore of the excitement for you; check out the winners (in bold) and not-so-winners below.

Winners!! 27th TCA Awards

In what was perhaps a solid upset, Friday Night Lights took home the top trophy of the night.  Lights has been nominated for pretty much all of American television’s top awards, but winning one is a different story. Behind The Wire, Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and others, Lights will likely go down as one of the most under-appreciated shows in TV history…

But not last night! Last night its winning percentage was 50% (its only other nomination and only loss was to Mad Men), which is quite the success considering it’s usually hovering pathetically around 0%. The aforementioned Men and ABC’S Modern Family were the night’s biggest winners; each walked off with 2 trophies, which is about as good as it gets because the TCA is thankfully stingy with its awards categories (it only has 12). Other winners included newbie Game of Thrones, Nat Geo doc Restrepo, CBS’s The Amazing Race, and Oprah Winfrey. All winners appear below (in bold).

Nominees! 63rd Emmy Awards

We all (should) know about the Oscars of TV awards and here is this year’s batch of nominees. Staying true to the status of “standard-bearer” for all TV awards shows, the Emmys have again garnered immediate criticism, congratulations, and confusion. Todd Haynes’s Kate Winslet-starring period piece Mildred Pierce leads all programs with 21 nominations. Mad Men leads all drama series with 19 nominations and Boardwalk Empire follows close behind with 18 nominations. Of the comedy series nominees, Modern Family takes first with 16 nominations and 30 Rock finishes a close second with 13 nominations. So, what do you think? Is this moving toward a more balanced field of popular shows, acclaimed pieces, and deserving work, or are the snubs too glaring to approve the field?

Outstanding Drama Series	Outstanding Comedy Series
Boardwalk Empire (HBO) Dexter (Showtime) Friday Night Lights (The 101 Network/NBC) Game of Thrones (HBO) The Good Wife (CBS) Mad Men (AMC)	30 Rock (NBC) The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Glee (Fox) Modern Family (ABC) The Office (NBC) Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Outstanding Miniseries or TV Movie	Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
Cinema Verite (HBO) Downton Abbey (PBS) The Kennedys (ReelzChannel) Mildred Pierce (HBO) The Pillars of the Earth (Starz) Too Big to Fail (HBO)	The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) Conan (TBS) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC) Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Nominees! 27th TCA Awards

Around since 1984, the Television Critics Association Awards (TCA Awards) plays the awards game a little differently. They honor one individual actor in comedy and drama, not the usual “leading” and “supporting” actors. Fear not though, they do cover the usual “best comedy,” “best drama,” “news program,” “TV movie/miniseries,” and “reality TV” categories. Women stole the show last year, with Jane Lynch and Juliana Marguiles being the winners of the only two individual acting categories. Considering this year’s list of nominees their chances haven’t much improved, with the usual one actress nominated amongst five or so actors in both categories — but with their winning percentage, I’m not sure it matters how many female nominees there are. We’ll see.

Program of the Year

• Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
• Friday Night Lights (DirecTV / NBC)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• Justified (FX)
• Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Outstanding New Program

• Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• The Killing (AMC)
• Terriers (FX)
• The Walking Dead (AMC)

Winners!! 1st Critics’ Choice Television Awards

Alright, I guess I’ve taken a little too much time off (my bad — big time), but I just couldn’t let these awards shows escape coverage — especially ones just beginning. This post and the next one contain some older news, but important news nonetheless.

SAG Awards add some spice after a bland ceremony

The SAG Awards added some surprises to a field that was expectedly predictable last year.

One of the few TV/film combo awards shows out there (the most notable other than the Golden Globes), the 17th SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards have chosen an interesting mix of nominees — much unlike the heavily predictable field of nominees from last year’s ceremony. Being one of the Guild Awards — joined by the PGA (producers) and DGA (directors) — the SAG Awards are already integral in determining the Oscars’ field of nominees. But it also helps that last season, this Guild’s film nominees were all nominated in their respective Oscar categories. In other words, a predictable ceremony gave the SAG Awards a 100% accurate rating. If that percentage remains perfect this year, some  races’ frontrunners are in for a few shake-ups. The most notable additions are in the “Supporting” fields: Mila Kunis (Black Swan) continues to build more momentum for an Oscar bid, to the point where it looks all but secured; John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone) was talked about early on as a potential nominee, but faded for a bit and has since come back into prominence; and though The Town has been on the shortlist of the 10 “Best Picture” nominees since the awards season began, Jeremy Renner’s recent rise in popularity on “Supporting Actor” ballots bodes very well for his Oscar future. There also two surprising additions to the “Lead” acting fields: Hilary Swank is always an awards contender, but Conviction, the film in which she stars, didn’t receive astoundingly good reviews and most of the awards’ love so far has gone to her supporting cast of Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis; Robert Duvall was also praised for his role in Get Low — as were Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray — but he has previously seemed one spot short of appearing as a nominee, which could now change come the Oscars.

The Golden Globes announce film & TV nominees

The King’s Speech (in film) and Glee (in TV) lead the 68th version of the Golden Globes with 7 and 5 nominations, respectively. Besides Tom Hooper’s biopic, Lisa Choldenko’s family comedy The Kids Are All Right leads films nominated in the “Comedy/Musical” categories with 4 nominations. Glee is the clear leader for all TV nominees. In the four (Comedy) Lead and Supporting categories, the musical comedy’s four top actors — Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, and Chris Colffer — are nominated. The frontrunners for TV Dramas are Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Dexter, and The Good Wife, bunched together with 3 nominations each. While many may complain of snubs, especially in this year’s crowded “Best Actress” race, nominations for Halle Berry (Frankie & Alice), Mila Kunis (Black Swan), Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version), and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) are pleasant additions to an otherwise predictable field. The Cecile B. DeMille (i.e. “Tribute to the Old, White (Overdue) Entertainment Industry Vet”) goes this year to Robert DeNiro.

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• Black Swan
  Protozoa Pictures & Cross Creek Pictures & Phoenix; Fox Searchlight Pictures
• The Fighter
  Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media; Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media
• Inception
  Warner Bros. Pictures UK LTD.; Warner Bros. Pictures
• The King’s Speech
  See-Saw Films and Bedlam Productions; The Weinstein Company
• The Social Network
  Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing

WGA announces TV Awards nominees; 30 Rock, Modern Family, and Breaking Bad lead

Tine Fey and the rest of the "30 Rock" crew nab 3 WGA Awards nominations and the lead for the second straight year.

Though it has yet to announce the nominees for film-writing from 2010’s crop of movies, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) announced its TV nominees.  30 Rock and Modern Family lead the comedies represented, with three nominations — one for “Comedy Series” and two for “Episodic Comedy” each. Breaking Bad, also with three nominations, precedes the tally for dramatic series.